Chapter 5 - A Story Prepared in Advance
By breakfast my face was on gossip sites. Clips showed me breaking the glass, never Vanessa handling it. Someone called me a blackmailer. Mrs. Alvarez offered me paid leave.
Dad called while I was in the laundry room.
"Emily, I saw the video. Please tell me you're all right."
"I'm not hurt badly."
"And Michael?"
"He didn't drink."
Dad let out a shaky breath. "Then you did something good. But remember, good people can still get crushed between rich people fighting."
I wanted to tell him Luca would protect us. Instead I said, "I'm trying to get things written down."
At noon Luca's attorney, Nora Ellis, met with Leo, Mrs. Alvarez and me. She took separate statements, asked what each person had actually seen, and warned us not to guess. She wasn't trying to make my account dramatic. She was making it dependable.
Afterward Camille found me near the staff lockers. "I didn't write that caption," she said. "But I saw the draft on Vanessa's tablet yesterday afternoon."
"Why would she make a story about me before she knew I'd interfere?"
"She expected somebody to object to the champagne. She had three versions ready. One blamed Leo. One blamed Michael for losing control. Yours named 'an unstable maid.'"
"Who approved them?"
Camille looked toward the closed study door. "Carlo's public relations consultant."
She showed me a printed guest-list revision with six unfamiliar donors added at the last minute. One was Gordon Pike, finance director of Harbor Steps. Another was a lawyer who represented the contractor Michael had questioned.
I asked Camille to give the original to Nora. I wouldn't hand them another excuse to call me dishonest.
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"I can hand it over," Camille said. "But if Carlo knows I talked, I'm finished here."
The service elevator opened behind us. Gordon Pike stepped out, glanced at the paper in her hand, and said, "Actually, Camille, you're already finished."
