Chapter 9
The invitation had been on our fridge for a month. Harbor Community Foundation, annual gala, ballroom at the Bayview Hotel. Richard's company sponsored a table every year. He'd told me three weeks ago I shouldn't go because I should be resting.
Mara set the cream dress on her bed. It wasn't mine. It was hers, a simple navy wrap that tied at the waist and left room for the bump.
"You don't have to go," she said. "Heller said you can skip it."
"I know," I said. "But if I don't show up, he tells everyone I had a breakdown. If I do, he has to see me standing up."
Heller had called that morning. "He'll be there with Keller and two board members. If you go, you go with Cho as your guest, not alone. You do not speak to him without her. You don't drink anything you didn't see poured. You leave when Cho says leave."
I put on the dress. Mara pinned my hair back. The bruise on my shoulder showed at the neckline, yellow now. I didn't cover it.
The Bayview ballroom was all glass and string lights. Waiters moved with trays of champagne I didn't take. A small jazz trio played near the bar. I saw Richard by the foundation banner, in a dark suit, laughing with a man in a white shirt and a woman holding a program. When he saw me, his laugh stopped mid-breath.
He came over fast, too fast. Cho stepped slightly in front of me.
"Amelia," he said. His eyes flicked to Mara's dress, to my shoulder, to Cho. "I didn't know you were coming. You should be home."
"I'm invited," I said. "My name was on the invitation too."
Keller appeared at his elbow, smooth. "Amelia, we had an understanding about keeping this private—"
"Private like offshore?" I said, quiet. Not loud enough for the next table to hear, but Keller heard. His jaw tightened.
Richard tried to smile for the people watching. He put a hand toward my arm. I stepped back.
"You need to come outside with me," he said, low. "We need to talk without an audience."
"We can talk right here," Cho said. Her voice was pleasant, level. "Or not at all."
A board member drifted closer, a woman in a silver dress with a Harbor Foundation pin. "Richard, is everything okay?"
"Fine," Richard said. He recovered quickly. "My wife had a medical incident. We're just concerned."
"I'm fine," I said to the woman. "Baby's fine. We got the heartbeat checked. Harbor General took good care of us."
The woman looked at my shoulder, at the bruise, then at Richard. She didn't ask more, but she didn't walk away either.
Richard leaned in, close enough that I could smell his cologne, the same one from the helicopter.
"You think that recording makes you safe?" he whispered, so only I could hear. "You come home tonight and we delete it together and this goes away. You stay out here playing victim and I'll make sure that pilot says you asked for the scenic route. I'll make sure the share paperwork says you consented. You have no idea what I can file before Monday."
My chest went tight, but my feet stayed planted.
"I kept two copies," I whispered back. "One's already with the company."
That wasn't true yet — Heller was sending it in the morning — but I watched his eyes widen just like they had in the helicopter. The same shock.
He grabbed my wrist. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough to hold.
Cho's hand was on his forearm before I could pull away. "Sir, let go."
He released me. The woman in silver stared.
"Amelia, come home," he said louder, for the room. "Please."
"No," I said. "I'm not going home with you."
I turned and walked toward the exit with Cho. The jazz trio kept playing, but a few tables had gone quiet. Mara waited by the door with my trench coat folded over her arm. She'd brought it from her apartment, cleaned.
Outside in the parking lot, the air was cool off the ocean. Heller's car was already there, engine running.
"He threatened you on the floor?" Heller asked as I got in.
"Yes," I said. "He said he'd have pilot say I asked for route. And he'd file consent before Monday."
"That's witness tampering and forgery again," Heller said. She started recording on her phone. "Say it once more, verbatim, for the log."
I did, word for word. Cho corroborated.
From the ballroom doors, Richard watched us. He didn't follow. Keller pulled him back inside.
Mara handed me the trench coat. I held it on my lap, feeling the pocket where the recorder had been.
"Monday he files," I said. "We file first."
May you like
Heller nodded and pulled out of the lot. "First thing tomorrow. Emergency injunction on the shares. And we give detectives the gala audio."
Behind us, the hotel lights reflected on the bay, steady and bright. I didn't look back.
