Chương 11
“You called me trash without using the word.”
Victoria flinched.
Good.
Maya disliked enjoying that too.
“You said people like me didn’t belong in your family’s hotel.”
Victoria stared into her coffee.
“I know what I said.”
“What people?”
Victoria said nothing.
Maya waited.
“I thought you were some influencer.”
Maya blinked.
That was not the answer she expected.
“What?”
“You had a folder. You were behind the desk. There had been two women earlier trying to get into the gala for content.”
“And that explains my face?”
“No.”
“My clothes?”
Victoria looked away.
Maya leaned forward.
“What people, Victoria?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“People who think rules don’t apply to them.”
Maya sat back.
The irony was so enormous that saying it aloud would have cheapened it.
Victoria saw it anyway.
“Oh, screw you.”
Maya smiled.
“There you are.”
Victoria laughed despite herself.
Then covered it with her hand.
The moment vanished quickly.
Victoria looked tired again.
“My whole life, people have used my family.”
“That sounds difficult.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Victoria studied her.
“Why?”
“Because having money doesn’t prevent difficult things.”
“No, apparently it just invalidates them.”
“Who said that?”
“Everyone online.”
Maya shrugged.
“Stop reading it.”
“You think I haven’t tried?”
“Yes.”
Victoria almost smiled again.
Then her face hardened.
“My father is going to remove me from the family foundation board.”
Maya said nothing.
“He told me last night.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because you’re the reason.”
“No.”
Victoria looked up sharply.
“You assaulted me because you believed nobody would stop you.”
“That is not—”
“Maybe I’m the event that forced consequences. I’m not the reason.”
Victoria’s eyes filled with anger.
“God, you sound like him.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Maya considered that.
“Insulting.”
Victoria laughed once.
A real laugh.
Then she looked embarrassed.
Maya drank coffee.
It had gone lukewarm.
Victoria said, “Are you pressing charges?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“My lawyer thinks you’re waiting to use it against us.”
“Your lawyer is reasonable.”
Victoria stared.
“Are you?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised both of them.
Maya put down the cup.
“I’m angry enough that part of me wants to watch you suffer.”
Victoria went still.
Maya continued before she could respond.
“And I don’t trust that part of me to make the whole decision.”
Victoria looked at her for a long time.
“Why would you tell me that?”
“Because you should know I’m not pretending to be better than you.”
Victoria’s voice lowered.
“You are better than me.”
Maya hated how vulnerable the sentence sounded.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. I just didn’t hit you.”
“That seems like a fairly significant distinction.”
“It is.”
Victoria stared at the table.
Maya saw something then.
Not redemption.
Not innocence.
Fear.
“What happened before you came to the hotel Friday?”
Victoria’s eyes snapped up.
“Nothing.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re not my therapist.”
“Thank God.”
Victoria looked annoyed.
Maya waited.
Eventually Victoria said, “My fiancé left.”
Maya blinked.
“When?”
“Friday afternoon.”
That explained nothing.
It explained something.
“Why?”
“He’s been sleeping with somebody else.”
Maya looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“Okay.”
“He told me in a restaurant.”
“Jesus.”
“He said I make everything about control.”
Maya said nothing.
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“Yes. I hear it.”
Maya looked at her.
Victoria’s fingers tightened around the cup.
“I went to the hotel because there was an event. Because people there know me.”
“Because they treat you differently.”
Victoria did not answer.
Maya understood.
She had gone somewhere she expected to feel powerful.
Then she found Maya behind the reception desk.
A stranger.
Improperly dressed by Victoria’s standard.
Unimpressed.
Holding a folder Victoria could not take.
None of that excused what followed.
But motive had finally become specific.
Maya said, “You were looking for a room that would obey you.”
Victoria swallowed.
“That’s dramatic.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe true.”
They sat quietly.
After a while, Victoria asked, “Did Rosa talk to you?”
Maya’s face changed.
Victoria saw it.
“Of course she did.”
“You remember her.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Victoria looked out the window.
“I found the earring in my bag.”
“I know.”
“I told Cal.”
“You called your assistant.”
“She called Cal.”
“Did you call Rosa?”
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was embarrassed.”
Maya stared at her.
“That’s your answer?”
“Yes.”
“Her locker was searched.”
“I know.”
“She quit.”
“I know.”
“Because you were embarrassed?”
Victoria raised her voice.
“I said I know.”
People nearby looked over.
Victoria lowered it again.
“I know.”
Maya sat back.
“You keep saying you know things.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Maya looked at her.
Victoria’s voice shook slightly.
“You want me to tell you I’m a terrible person.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I want to know why you kept doing it.”
Victoria went still.
Maya continued.
“Rosa. Jamal. The valet. The spa attendant. Me.”
Victoria’s face drained.
“You know about Jamal?”
“Yes.”
Victoria looked toward the door.
“Did you throw the glass?”
“I threw it at the wall.”
“And it cut him.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you apologize?”
Silence.
Maya nodded.
There was the pattern.
Not violence alone.
The inability to remain present after harm.
Victoria could explode.
Other people cleaned the glass.
“What happens after you hurt somebody?” Maya asked.
Victoria frowned.
“What?”
“Do you leave?”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do managers come in?”
Victoria looked away.
“Do they tell you it’s handled?”
No answer.
Maya felt something cold settle into place.
Victoria had power.
But the organization had trained her in how to misuse it.
It had absorbed consequence so efficiently that consequence began to feel unreal.
Maya stood.
Victoria looked up.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not finished.”
“I think we are for today.”
Victoria stood too.
“Are you going to tell my father about my fiancé?”
“No.”
Suspicion crossed her face.
“Why?”
“Because it has nothing to do with him.”
Victoria looked almost offended by the privacy.
Maya picked up her bag.
“Call Rosa.”
Victoria went pale.
“What?”
May you like
“You heard me.”
“What would I say?”
