Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO KNEW
Victor stopped begging.
That was how I knew it was bad.
He sat down.
Slowly.
Celeste stood across the room.
Still wearing a hotel robe over her ruined dress.
“What is everyone talking about?”
Nobody answered.
Dad asked Victor.
“How many complaints?”
Victor rubbed his face.
“Elias—”
“How many?”
“Formal?”
Dad’s voice sharpened.
“All.”
Victor looked at the carpet.
“Twenty-three.”
Celeste laughed.
“Those were ridiculous.”
I stared at her.
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew.”
Victor whispered.
“Stop.”
She kept going.
“People complain when you expect standards.”
Maria was standing near the door.
Celeste saw her.
“Oh, please.”
Maria’s face tightened.
“You broke a glass beside my face.”
“You dropped champagne on me.”
“You threw it.”
“Same difference.”
I stepped forward.
Dad caught my wrist.
Not hard.
Just enough.
“Lena.”
I stopped.
Celeste smiled.
She wanted me angry.
She wanted another punch.
I understood.
So I sat down.
That bothered her more.
Dad asked Victor.
“You signed the certification.”
Victor nodded.
“Why?”
“We needed the facility.”
“Why didn’t you discipline her?”
Victor looked at Celeste.
“She is my daughter.”
Dad’s voice became very quiet.
“So is Lena.”
Nobody moved.
Then Adrian’s mother, Margaret Cross, entered.
She had been listening outside.
“Victor.”
He looked up.
Margaret held a tablet.
“The video is online.”
Celeste swore.
“How bad?”
Margaret turned the screen.
Six million views.
The clip started with the slap.
Then the hair pull.
Then my punch.
Then Celeste disappearing over the edge.
The internet loved the mud.
But another clip was spreading faster.
Maria talking.
Then the valet.
Then the housekeeper.
Employees from Harrow Crest properties started posting their own stories.
Not all about Celeste.
Some about managers.
Some about unpaid overtime.
Some about injuries.
Some about harassment complaints that vanished.
Victor’s phone began ringing.
He did not answer.
Dad’s attorney did.
“Mercer Dominion legal.”
A pause.
His expression changed.
He covered the phone.
“It’s the bank syndicate.”
Victor stood.
“What do they want?”
The attorney looked at him.
“They’re invoking the governance review.”
Celeste stared.
“Because I slapped somebody?”
Dad looked at her.
“No.”
“Because your father lied to lenders to protect you.”
Victor’s phone rang again.
This time the caller ID showed the board chairman.
He answered.
Listened.
Then sat back down.
“They suspended me.”
(To be continued)
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