Chương 9
Alessia's amusement vanished.
She opened the next message.
Someone posted part of it online.
Alessia stared at Daniel's message until the words stopped looking like language.
Valerio noticed the change in her face.
“What happened?”
She turned the phone toward him.
His eyes moved over the screen once.
Then again.
“How much of it?”
“I don't know.”
“Who posted it?”
“I don't know.”
“Send Daniel that.”
Alessia pulled the phone back.
“No.”
“No?”
“I am not turning Daniel into an investigator because somebody with bad judgment has Wi-Fi.”
Valerio looked at her for a moment.
“That is surprisingly reasonable.”
“Thank you.”
“I don't like it.”
“Also thank you.”
Her phone vibrated.
Another message from Daniel appeared.
It's only about seven seconds.
Chair pull and fall.
No audio after.
Someone sent it to a local gossip account.
Alessia's stomach sank further.
“Seven seconds.”
Valerio held out his hand.
She hesitated, then gave him the phone.
He read the message.
“That's enough.”
“For what?”
“For strangers to invent everything else.”
Alessia leaned back against the pillow.
The fracture throbbed under the splint.
A few minutes earlier, surgery had been the largest thing in her mind.
Now she imagined thousands of people watching her fall in formal clothes and deciding whether she deserved it.
She hated that her brain could hold both fears at once.
Valerio typed something.
“What are you doing?”
“Replying to Daniel.”
“I said—”
“I asked him not to engage with anyone and not to send comments or screenshots unless there is something we actually need.”
Alessia held out her hand.
“You are absolutely organizing my life.”
He returned the phone.
“I am organizing Daniel.”
“That is somehow worse.”
She read his message.
It was annoyingly sensible.
Don't argue online.
Don't send the video to anyone.
Tell Nina the same.
If hotel security asks for statements, cooperate.
Otherwise go home.
Alessia looked up.
“You sound like someone's father.”
“Cruel.”
“You're old enough.”
“Now we're done.”
She almost smiled, but her phone buzzed again.
This time it was her mother calling.
Alessia let it ring.
Valerio did not comment.
It rang until voicemail.
Immediately, a text arrived.
Call me now.
Then another.
This has gone public.
Alessia laughed once, softly.
“What?”
Valerio asked.
“She says it like I published a press release.”
He took a slow breath.
“Do you want me to call her?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to block her?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to stop offering solutions?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent.”
He folded his arms.
“I can do that.”
The phone rang again.
Alessia turned it facedown.
For almost a minute she listened to the hospital around them.
A blood pressure cuff inflated somewhere nearby.
A metal drawer closed.
Someone coughed repeatedly behind the next curtain.
Then the curtain to her bay opened and Dr. Shah returned.
“We're going to keep you here a little longer to monitor sensation and swelling.”
Alessia nodded.
“Okay.”
“You're getting some feeling back?”
“A little.”
Dr. Shah touched different points along the foot and asked Alessia to identify them with her eyes closed.
The sensation remained uneven but present.
“That is reassuring,” Dr. Shah said.
Alessia opened her eyes.
“Can I go home tonight?”
“If the orthopedic team remains comfortable and your symptoms continue improving.”
“How am I supposed to get upstairs?”
Valerio said, “You have an elevator.”
Alessia glared at him.
Dr. Shah looked between them.
“Is the elevator reliable?”
“No,” Alessia said.
“Yes,” Valerio said.
Alessia turned.
“It got stuck last month.”
“For four minutes.”
“You weren't in it.”
“You told me the exact duration.”
“Because I timed it.”
Dr. Shah raised one hand.
“Stairs are the problem, not emotional trust in elevators.”
Valerio nodded.
“That's fair.”
Alessia said, “I have five steps at the building entrance.”
“Do you have someone who can help you?”
Valerio opened his mouth.
Alessia pointed at him.
“Don't.”
He closed it.
Dr. Shah looked amused.
When she left, Valerio said, “You are not going up those stairs by yourself.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good.”
“I was planning to crawl.”
“Very dignified.”
“That would improve it.”
Alessia looked down at herself.
Her pale dress was wrinkled and smudged at one hip.
One shoulder had a faint gray streak from the ballroom floor.
She suddenly became aware that she was still dressed for a wedding that was probably now being dissected online.
“I need clothes.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what I own.”
“I have seen clothing before.”
“You'd come back with black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt.”
“Yes.”
“I don't own either.”
“You should.”
“I own gray sweatpants.”
“Then I will bring gray.”
“You don't know where they are.”
Valerio stared at her.
“Where are they?”
“In my apartment.”
“Very helpful.”
She laughed despite herself.
The pain medication had begun to soften the sharper edges of her discomfort.
Not enough to make her sleepy, but enough that her body no longer seemed to be broadcasting alarm from every nerve.
Her phone lit again.
A message from Nina.
I'm so sorry.
Alessia opened it.
I did not post anything.
I sent the original only to you just now.
Daniel says someone recorded my screen when I showed it to hotel security.
Alessia sat straighter.
“What?”
Valerio leaned forward.
She read the message aloud.
His expression hardened.
“Hotel security let someone record her screen?”
“She says someone recorded it when she showed them.”
“That could mean anything.”
Nina sent another message.
I think it was Paige.
She was behind me.
Alessia frowned.
“Paige?”
Valerio shook his head.
“Who is Paige?”
“Veronica's cousin.”
“Close to her?”
“Depends on the month.”
“That's useful.”
Alessia gave him a look.
“Don't make a spreadsheet.”
“I wasn't going to.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“I was absolutely thinking about it.”
She opened the file Nina had sent but stopped before playing it.
The thumbnail was enough.
Her own body angled backward.
Veronica's hands on the chair.
Alessia closed the file immediately.
“I can't.”
“You don't have to.”
“I should.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because everyone else has seen it.”
