Chapter 2

With four days left, Evelyn entered the townhouse for the last time as the project lead. Claire's foundation dinner was about to be held there.

"Evelyn, you know this project better than anyone." Claire stood in the middle of the hall with photographers gathered behind her. "People keep saying the two of us don't get along. Help me get this last dinner right and it will put that to rest."

Evelyn gave her a brief look, refused to engage with any of it, picked up the run sheet and worked through the lighting, the rigging and the fire exits item by item.

Soon, everything Claire wanted to stage or prove would have nothing to do with her.

At four the stage rehearsal began.

Evelyn had just reached the side hall when a metallic shriek tore through the air. A decorative lighting rig overhead tipped violently and came crashing down toward the main stage.

"Claire!"

Screams went up. Crew hauled Claire clear and the rig grazed her shoulder and came down hard on the floor, throwing fragments everywhere.

The site dissolved into chaos. Within ten minutes, reports were already spreading online and blaming the accident on the safety protocols Evelyn oversaw.

Claire held her arm, white-faced, her voice shaking. "Evelyn, do you hate me that much?"

Evelyn's brow drew tight. "Who made the last change to the rigging plan?"

"Are you accusing me?"

"The original plan had no such mounting angle."

Sophie came quickly from backstage with a tablet in her hands and pulled up the build log.

"Evelyn did not change it." Sophie turned the screen toward them. "At 11:42 last night, Claire's private team submitted a second change request. The system recorded the account and the exact time. Evelyn was at the hospital with me for a follow-up last night. She did not even have permission to access this system."

The surrounding noise died, and every eye turned to Claire. Her face changed instantly.

"You're an assistant. How dare you question me in public?"

Sophie did not give an inch. "I am stating what is in the record."

Julian hurried onto the scene, took the tablet, and skimmed the log. Evelyn watched him go through the change record from start to finish.

She thought that would be the end of it.

But Julian handed the tablet back to Sophie.

"Leave the site for now."

Sophie stared at him. "Why?"

"Tonight is Claire's first public event since she took over the foundation." Julian's voice cooled. "Whatever the investigation finds, you should not have gone over management's head to challenge her in public."

Evelyn looked at him. "You read the log and you are still sending Sophie out?"

Julian sidestepped her question and motioned to security. Two guards moved toward Sophie.

Sophie tried to argue, but one guard seized her arm.

"Don't touch me. I can walk."

She pulled hard out of his grip, her heel came down on the edge of a step on the spiral staircase, and her foot went out from under her.

Evelyn heard a single dull thud.

Sophie tumbled head over heels down the stairs.

The entire hall fell silent. Evelyn froze for one second, then ran to her.

"Sophie!"

Blood trickled from Sophie's temple. Evelyn dropped to her knees, not daring to touch Sophie's neck, and called her name again and again. When the paramedics arrived, she gave them Sophie's medical information, her fingers trembling uncontrollably.

"Twenty-eight, no known drug allergies..."

Halfway through, she realized her hands were shaking too hard to clench into fists.

Julian did not arrive outside the operating room until two hours later.

"The best spine specialists available are on their way," he said. "Hartwell will cover every cent of her medical expenses."

Evelyn said nothing.

"The lawyers are preparing a compensation package. She will never have to worry about money again. I'll set up a trust for her and reassign your team. You don't need to turn everything upside down over one assistant—"

"She has a name. Sophie Lane." Evelyn cut him off sharply. Her voice stayed low, yet she did not care that directors and lawyers were listening.

"I know."

"You don't." Evelyn looked straight at him. "You read the construction log. You knew she was telling the truth, but you let security throw her out anyway, because Claire's dignity mattered more than the truth."

Julian's voice dropped. "This is not what I wanted to happen."

"And you were the one who chose."

"I am doing everything I can to put it right."

Evelyn pulled a thin smile onto her face. "What if she never walks again? Do you think everyone else is expendable as long as it serves your selfishness and your love life?"

Julian's face froze.

Evelyn did not argue further. She returned to the bench outside the operating room. Once her anger receded, an icy chill spread through her. For the first time, she understood that if she had walked away sooner, Sophie would never have been dragged into this mess.

A calendar reminder came up on her phone. Four days until she left New York.

Evelyn looked at the screen and changed the number four to a three.