Chapter 1 - The Woman in the Water

The first thing I heard after my head hit the fountain was laughter.

Not a nervous laugh. Not the kind people make when they're frightened and don't know what else to do. This was a pleased, bright little laugh, as though the woman in the emerald gown had just delivered the best joke of the evening.

"A maid will always be a maid," Vivian Vale announced.

Cold water rushed down the back of my uniform. My left knee struck the fountain's marble edge, and pain shot up my thigh. Above me, a hundred crystal lights glittered. Around me, the Aster Grand's most expensive guests stared into their champagne glasses and pretended not to see.

I pushed wet hair out of my eyes. "You shoved me."

Vivian touched the blue stone at her throat. "Careful. People will think you don't know your place."

My mop floated past a carved stone cherub. Somewhere behind the crowd, someone whispered, "Did she seriously do that?"

I got to my feet. Water poured from my sleeves onto the ivory marble. One young waiter took a step toward me. His manager caught his elbow and pulled him back.

Then Graham Vale, the hotel's president, shouldered through the guests. Black suit. Perfect hair. The expression of a man used to being obeyed before he finished speaking.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped at me. "You're making a scene."

I looked at his wife, who was still smiling. Then I looked at the people who had watched me fall and said nothing.

"No," I told him. "Your wife made the scene. I'm ending it."

Vivian snorted. "And how exactly will you manage that?"

I reached into the inner pocket of my soaked housekeeping jacket. My phone was in its waterproof case, where I'd carried it every shift for nineteen days. I tapped the only number pinned to my emergency screen.

Dana Pierce answered before the second ring.

"Nora?"

"It's time," I said. "Serve the notice. Release the hold. And make sure no one destroys the records."

Across from me, Graham went still.

"Who did you call?" he demanded.

I put the phone down slowly. "Someone who knows what you've done."

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He turned to the head of security. "Lock the service doors. Nobody leaves this building."

And just like that, the party became a trap.