Chapter 3 - The Cost of Staying

I called Noah twice. Straight to voicemail.

Adrian wanted me to stay inside Sterling House while he sent a car to campus. I wanted my brother alive, which made obedience tempting.

"Who's driving?" I asked.

"My security team."

"The team whose camera stopped recording when your sister attacked me?"

He put the phone down. "You're right. I'll call campus police directly."

I watched him make the call and repeat the threat without softening a word. He asked the dispatcher to send officers to Noah's dorm, then gave her his own number.

My hands shook after he hung up. I hated that he noticed.

"You can go," he said. "I'll handle the rest."

"My father went to his boss with evidence and ended up dead. Handling the rest is exactly what people like your family always promise."

He absorbed that without defending himself.

My best friend Tessa called from the catering van. "Maya, the boss says you're fired. Vanessa told him you broke her ribs."

"Her ribs were fine when she demanded an arrest."

"I know. I was there."

"Did you record anything?"

A pause. "I recorded the first kick. I didn't want to say it over the radio."

My knees nearly gave out. "Keep the original. Don't send it to anyone except me."

"Already backed it up. Twice."

Adrian heard enough to understand. "I can protect her job."

"Don't. Protect her name."

His phone rang again. The campus officer had found Noah. Alive, irritated, and unaware anyone had photographed him. I breathed for the first time in minutes.

"Where do we go from here?" Adrian asked.

I reached into the lining of my apron and removed a brass locker key. My father had sewn it into the hem of his old work jacket. Four days earlier, an anonymous letter had told me to bring it to the gala.

Adrian read the number stamped in the metal: 417.

"What's in the locker?"

"I came here to find out."

He stared at the key. "There aren't any lockers numbered that high in this house."

"There used to be. In the basement security archive."

A knock sounded at the pantry door.

"Mr. Sterling?" Reed said. "Your sister wants the waitress brought to the main stage. She's showing the guests something."

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From the ballroom came Vanessa's amplified voice.

"Before the auction continues, I'd like everyone to meet the woman who assaulted me."