Northstar took three weeks to say yes. They asked for everything: Tribeca's budget, our contractor references, Nadia's models, my vendor history, and a list of every project either of us had touched in the last five years. At the end of the third week, Caleb Ross calle

The first ugly story went up at six twelve the next morning. I was brushing my teeth when Nadia sent the link.

**FROM HOUSEWIFE TO DEALMAKER: DID MARA BENNETT BUILD HER NEW FIRM ON VALE CONNECTIONS?**

I read the first three paragraphs standing barefoot in my kitchen. An

Northstar's conference room had a better view than my apartment and worse coffee.

Nadia sat beside me with the Vale debt summary open on her laptop. Across the table, Caleb Ross had brought in two people I had not met before: Northstar's credit director and an outside