Chương 3
“Please.”
She remembered a night twelve years earlier when a pipe had burst above the first Halcyon property during renovation. They had stood ankle-deep in water at three in the morning, broke and exhausted, passing wet invoices into plastic tubs. Julian had looked at her with the same helplessness then.
She hated that the memory still had access to her.
Maya turned to Howard.
“Use the north conference room. No phones.”
Vanessa laughed again.
“Absolutely not.”
Maya looked at her.
“You don’t have to come.”
“I’m not going anywhere alone with either of you.”
“Fair.”
That answer seemed to surprise her.
Maya nodded toward Howard. “He stays. Bring Camille too.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“Why Camille?”
“Because she’s general counsel.”
“This is personal.”
“No. It stopped being personal when company money paid for the ceremony.”
Julian went pale in a way the cameras had not managed to produce.
Vanessa looked between them.
“What company money?”
Maya did not answer.
She did not need to.
Vanessa looked at Julian.
His silence answered for her.
Within ten minutes, the Halcyon Grand had developed two realities.
In the ballroom, the foundation’s executive director took the microphone and announced that the gala program would resume after “an unexpected service disruption.” Nobody believed the phrase, but people were grateful for it. Staff removed broken glass. The quartet began playing again, softly and a little too fast. Guests returned to their tables while pretending not to refresh social media.
In the north conference room, Vanessa sat at one end of a twelve-foot table with a towel wrapped around her wrist.
Maya sat opposite her.
Julian remained standing.
Howard stood beside the door.
Camille Brooks arrived carrying a laptop, two phones and the expression of a woman who had spent thirteen years preventing wealthy people from creating discoverable evidence and had finally met an evening too ambitious for her.
Camille was forty-seven, small, exact and usually impossible to surprise.
She looked at Maya’s wet trousers.
Then Vanessa’s gown.
Then Julian.
“I leave for forty minutes to take a call from Chicago.”
Nobody answered.
Camille set her laptop down.
“Who is hurt?”
“No one seriously,” Maya said.
Vanessa said, “My wrist.”
Howard said, “No visible swelling yet.”
Camille looked at him. “Police?”
“Not called.”
“Video?”
Howard exhaled through his nose.
“Probably from twelve angles.”
Camille sat down.
“Of course.”
Julian pulled out a chair but did not sit.
“This needs to remain a private domestic matter.”
Camille looked at him for a long time.
“Julian, there are already clips online.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“One has more than sixty thousand views.”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
Maya looked at the tabletop.
Camille continued, “The caption says hotel heiress attacks employee after discovering employee is owner’s wife.”
“I’m not an heiress,” Vanessa said automatically.
Camille blinked.
“Okay.”
Vanessa rubbed her forehead.
“Sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because it’s easier than the other parts.”
Vanessa gave her a hostile look.
Camille accepted it without reaction.
Julian took out his phone.
Maya said, “Don’t call public relations yet.”
“I need to contain this.”
“You can’t contain twelve videos.”
“I can stop staff from commenting.”
“Staff shouldn’t comment.”
“So we agree.”
“No. I’m saying don’t turn them into suspects because you lied.”
Julian dropped the phone onto the table.
“I did not ask Vanessa to throw anything at you.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Congratulations.”
He flinched.
She leaned forward.
“Did you tell me you were divorced?”
Julian looked at Camille.
Camille held up one hand.
“Do not look at me before answering a factual question.”
Maya almost laughed.
It came out as a breath instead.
Julian sat.
“I told you the marriage was over.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I believed it was functionally over.”
“Did you tell me you were divorced?”
He looked at Vanessa.
“Yes.”
The room changed.
Maya had thought she already understood what Julian had done.
She had been wrong.
Vanessa’s face became very still.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do know.”
“Vanessa—”
“When?”
He rubbed his eyes.
“Probably in Napa.”
“Napa was eleven months ago.”
“Yes.”
“You told me the decree had come through while you were in London.”
Julian said nothing.
Vanessa stared at the towel around her wrist.
Maya remembered London. Julian had called from his hotel at 5:20 in the morning Atlanta time. He had asked whether she wanted him to tell the board they were separated.
She had said not yet.
He had sounded relieved.
At the time, she had mistaken that relief for grief.
Camille opened her laptop.
“I need to separate several issues before everybody makes this worse.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Can it get worse?”
Camille gave Julian a flat glance.
“Yes.”
She began counting on her fingers.
“First, there was a physical confrontation witnessed and recorded by guests. Second, there may be employment issues because Maya was working in an operational role when it happened. Third, we may have misuse of company funds connected to tonight’s private event. Fourth, Julian appears to have made material misrepresentations to Vanessa about his marital status. Fifth, if any representations were made to investors, lenders or business partners regarding ownership or governance that conflict with reality, I need to know before morning.”
Julian shifted in his chair.
Maya saw it.
So did Camille.
She stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Camille’s voice softened.
That was more dangerous than when she raised it.
“Julian.”
He glanced at Maya.
Maya felt a familiar pressure behind her eyes.
“What did you do?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“That sentence should be illegal,” Vanessa said.
Nobody laughed.
Julian clasped his hands.
“Royce Capital has been discussing an investment.”
Vanessa’s head came up.
“My father’s company?”
“Not directly.”
“You told me he was considering the hospitality fund.”
“He is.”
“My father told you no.”
“He told me not under the existing leverage structure.”
Maya stared at Julian.
“What investment?”
Julian’s gaze moved toward the window.
“Expansion capital.”
“For what?”
“The Denver property. Possibly Charleston.”
May you like
“We voted against Charleston.”
“We delayed Charleston.”
