“We didn't do anything!”
They scrambled to distance themselves, panic written all over their faces.
“Wait until you do, and it'll be too late.”
My voice came out cold.
“Right now you haven't laid a finger on me. Legally, that means you can still walk away clean. Go out that door on your own, and I'll pretend none of this happened.”
“But if you really want to be his accomplices, don't blame me for using every single thing I learned in law school to put you behind bars for the rest of your lives.”
Not one of them was laughing anymore.
The skinny one suddenly looked panicked and turned toward the doorway.
“Mr. Sanchez, this……this isn't what you told us.”
“You said she was just some regular woman, that all we had to do was scare her a little.”
“She knows how to fight and she knows the law. We can't mess with her.”
I turned to look too—Brent Sanchez, back again.
He was leaning against the doorframe. Then he smiled.
“Georgina, I have to say—this is the first time I've noticed that mouth of yours is almost cute.”
He straightened up from the doorframe.
Tossed a towel at them.
“Since her mouth won't stop running, stuff it.”
“You know, Georgina?”
“Last time you were this loud was when you were singing at that karaoke lounge.”
“Marian and I were right next door. The second she heard your voice she went all tense—pressed herself into me even harder.”
Every word was a knife punched straight through my chest.
“Brent Sanchez, I told you.”
I ground the words through my teeth. “I will make you regret this.”
He patted my cheek, then pulled the door shut himself this time.
“I said you stay here the whole night before you get let out. That's your punishment.”
“Georgina. You'll endure it.”
That night lasted forever.
My earlier threats had done their job. The three drifters sat obediently off to the side and didn't dare bother me.
The next morning, the moment they were let out, they tripped over each other rushing to find Brent and collect their money.
Once the signal jammer was removed, my phone flooded with unread messages and missed calls.
One of them was from Assistant Lambert.
On the phone, he told me, “Mr. Sanchez drove back himself. He took Secretary Cox with him. They're passing some tourist spot on the way, so the two of them are stopping to spend a couple days there. He even put in for time off.”
He paused, sounding like he hated having to say the next part.
“He also said……you should buy your own train ticket back.”
“Got it.”
I moved to put on my shoes, and a searing pain shot through my foot.
I pulled the shoe off. Someone had put thumbtacks inside it. Several of them.
One had already driven deep into the sole of my foot, and blood was seeping out.
I needed to get to a hospital.
That was when Marian sent me a video.
She was standing in front of the Disney castle in a princess dress, holding up a Mickey-shaped ice cream bar, smiling into the camera.
“Georgina! Look, I'm already at Disney getting my photos. Have you made it back to the office yet?”
She brought the ice cream to her lips and took a bite, tilting her head. “Oh, I almost forgot.”
“Those thumbtacks that accidentally ended up in your shoes—did they go through your feet? Are you lying in a hospital bed right now?”
She blinked.
“Aw, that's really too bad. How could you be so careless? You don't even check your shoes before you put them on?”
She let out a little laugh.
“Georgina, you told me once, ‘The only people who can destroy a marriage are the two people in it. No outsider has that kind of power.’”
“I didn't argue with you at the time because I didn't want to embarrass you in front of all those people.”
