Chương 14
“I’m tired of statements.”
The elevator arrived.
Neither entered.
The doors closed again.
Victoria looked at Maya.
“Rosa hung up.”
“I heard.”
“She said, ‘I don’t need your apology to know what happened to me.’”
Maya nodded.
“That sounds like Rosa.”
Victoria gave her a sharp look.
“You barely know her.”
“I know.”
“That’s annoying.”
“Yes.”
Victoria looked down the empty hall.
“My father removed me from the foundation.”
“I heard.”
“And the board suspended my access to all hotel properties.”
“That too.”
“For a year.”
Maya said nothing.
Victoria looked at her.
“You don’t look happy.”
“Should I?”
“I thought you wanted consequences.”
“I do.”
“Well.”
Victoria spread her hands.
“Enjoy.”
Maya stared.
“That’s not how consequences work.”
Victoria’s mouth twisted.
“Here comes the general manager lecture.”
“No lecture.”
“Good.”
Maya walked toward the stairs.
Victoria called after her.
“Are you pressing charges?”
Maya stopped.
She turned.
“Yes.”
Victoria went completely still.
Maya had made the decision the night before.
She had expected satisfaction.
There was none.
Victoria swallowed.
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
“Why now?”
“Because the board review and criminal complaint are different things.”
Victoria nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
Maya watched her.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know.”
Victoria almost smiled.
“You say that a lot.”
“So do you.”
The elevator arrived again.
Victoria stepped inside.
Before the doors closed, she said, “I won’t fight the facts.”
Maya believed she meant it.
Whether she would manage it was another question.
Filing the police report was boring.
That surprised Maya.
The detective was polite.
The room had beige walls.
A printer jammed halfway through.
Maya repeated the sequence.
Victoria approached.
Argument.
Reach for folder.
Maya caught wrist.
Victoria struck her.
Kick.
Witnesses.
Video.
The detective asked whether Maya wanted prosecution.
“Yes.”
He asked whether she feared Victoria.
Maya thought about it.
“No.”
“Any ongoing threats?”
“No.”
“Any prior relationship?”
“No.”
He typed.
The computer froze.
He apologized.
Maya sat beneath fluorescent lights while he restarted it.
Justice, apparently, involved waiting for Windows.
When she left, Luis was outside.
She stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
He held up two coffees.
“Emotional support.”
“You hate coffee.”
“One is hot chocolate.”
Maya took it.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I know.”
They sat on the hood of his car in the parking lot.
Luis looked at her.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
“Better answer.”
She drank the hot chocolate.
It was too sweet.
Luis said, “Mom would be proud.”
Maya stared at the cup.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because dead people become too convenient.”
Luis looked offended.
“That is the most Maya sentence ever spoken.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“She might’ve told me I was being stubborn.”
“She definitely would’ve told you to fix your hair before television.”
“I’m not going on television.”
“You say that now.”
Maya looked at him.
He smiled.
She bumped his shoulder.
For a few minutes they watched cars move through the lot.
Thursday morning, Jamal Reed applied for banquet supervisor.
The external hiring manager ranked him second.
Maya read the evaluation.
The first-ranked candidate had more recent supervisory experience.
Jamal had better hotel-specific knowledge but weaker scheduling skills.
Maya hated the result.
Then realized why.
She wanted the story to repair itself neatly.
Victim returns.
Promotion.
Applause.
That was not management.
She approved the first-ranked candidate.
Then she asked HR to offer Jamal an assistant banquet manager position that had opened the previous week, contingent on the same competitive process.
He accepted after negotiating salary twice.
His attorney sent Maya an email containing only:
He negotiates everything.
Maya replied:
Good.
Friday marked one week since the confrontation.
The hotel was full.
The viral story had begun to fade because another public scandal had taken its place.
Online attention was cruel but mercifully distractible.
Maya stood in the foyer beneath the chandelier at 8:15 p.m.
A wedding party moved toward the ballroom.
White orchids had been replaced that morning.
The reception counter gleamed.
A woman in a green gown asked where the restroom was.
A child slid across the marble in socks until his father caught him.
Normal life.
Lena approached carrying a tray of welcome packets.
“Ms. Torres?”
“Yes?”
“My aunt wants to ask something.”
Maya tensed.
“What?”
“She wants to know if there are any housekeeping supervisor openings.”
Maya smiled.
“There aren’t.”
Lena looked disappointed.
“But there may be next quarter.”
“Should she apply?”
“If she wants to.”
Lena nodded.
Then hesitated.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Did you fire Dean?”
Maya looked across the foyer.
Dean stood near the entrance speaking with another security officer.
“No.”
Lena’s eyebrows lifted.
“He falsified the report.”
“Yes.”
“So…”
“He received a final written warning, lost supervisory duties for six months, and has mandatory compliance training.”
Lena looked uncertain.
“You think that’s enough?”
“I think firing him would be easier.”
“For who?”
“Me.”
Lena considered that.
Maya continued.
“He did something wrong under pressure. Then he preserved evidence and brought it forward when he had nothing to gain.”
“That makes it okay?”
“No.”
Lena nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You hate that answer.”
“A little.”
“Good.”
Lena smiled.
Then walked away.
Maya watched Dean.
He looked embarrassed most days now.
That was probably healthy.
At nine, Richard appeared beside her.
“You’re monitoring the lobby.”
“I’m standing.”
“You have been standing here twenty minutes.”
“Are you monitoring me?”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at him.
He wore no tie.
That still seemed wrong.
“How’s the board?”
“Annoying.”
“Good.”
“They formed a special governance committee.”
“Good.”
“They want me to step back from direct employment decisions involving family matters.”
“Very good.”
Richard looked offended.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“A little.”
He smiled.
Then looked toward the ballroom.
“I spoke to Denise.”
Maya turned.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
“To apologize.”
Maya waited.
“She told me not to apologize for sleeping with her.”
“That sounds promising.”
“She told me to apologize for making her question whether every professional decision afterward had been contaminated by it.”
Maya said nothing.
“She was right.”
May you like
“Probably.”
“I offered to release her from the NDA.”
