Chapter 25: Elena Tests Lillian

The test did not happen at the table.

That would have been too obvious.

Elena Whitmore preferred pressure that looked like coincidence.

Lillian encountered it the following afternoon at the Whitmore Foundation offices, where the final gala schedules were being circulated and vendor confirmations quietly adjusted. The building was less ceremonial in daylight. Glass corridors. Neutral carpeting. Power stripped of ornament.

Elena appeared at Lillian’s side as if summoned by timing alone.

“Miss Bloom,” she said pleasantly. “I was hoping to see you.”

Lillian stopped. “Is something needed.”

“Only clarification,” Elena replied. “After last night, several committee members had questions.”

Lillian waited.

“They were curious how someone without formal affiliation became so… central,” Elena continued. “It’s unusual.”

“So was the seating,” Lillian said. “Yet it was decided.”

Elena smiled. “By my grandmother. Not by consensus.”

“That is often how decisions are made,” Lillian replied.

Elena walked