Chapter 10 - The Price of Silence
Vanessa laid out the offer with the cheerful precision of someone ordering flowers.
The Sterlings would drop the assault complaint. An anonymous donor would cover Isabel's medical bills. Naomi would receive a year's salary and access to a safe apartment outside the city. In return, she would publicly admit that she hit Vanessa without provocation, withdraw claims about Riverside Towers, and sign a confidentiality agreement.
"And my mother?" Naomi asked.
Vanessa folded her hands. "The investigation is closed."
"That's not an answer."
"Your mother is dead, Naomi. Your sister is alive. Be smart about which one you can still help."
Daniel whispered, "Vanessa, stop."
"No," Naomi said. "Let her finish."
Vanessa's eyes narrowed. "I can also make things worse. Employers don't like violent staff. Landlords don't like troublemakers. Neither do judges."
Maya stepped between them. "Any settlement proposal goes through counsel. We're done tonight."
Vanessa moved closer, lowering her voice. "You think anyone will believe a waitress over us?"
Naomi's hands shook. She kept them at her sides. "I'm not asking you to believe me. I'm asking you to stop lying."
For a moment, Vanessa looked as though she might hit her again. Then she laughed, climbed into the car, and slammed the door. Daniel remained on the sidewalk.
"You should go home," Naomi told him.
"I don't know where that is anymore," he said.
At two the next morning, Nia Brooks emailed Maya. Her lawyer had received an order from Sterling Foundation attorneys demanding preservation of the production footage for their own civil claims. The demand gave Nia the protection she needed to keep the original card.
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Then came a second email, this one from an address Naomi didn't know. Attached was a still frame of Rosa in the Riverside basement, standing beside a maintenance man carrying a heavy chain.
The message contained seven words: HE'S STILL WORKING FOR THE STERLINGS. TOMORROW'S GALA.
