He pointed at a bottle on the table：“Richard, you ever tried top-shelf reserve liquor? Costs more than you'd believe. Tell you what—today's your lucky day. Drain this bottle, and I'll let you walk out of here.”
I don't drink. Alcohol dulls the brain.
“I don't drink.”
I shook my head. I was done playing along. They clearly had no intention of stopping, so I laid my cards on the table：“Richard, I'm the owner of Obsidian Club. That multibillion-dollar project you were just talking about? I'm the one running it.”
I was completely serious when I said it.
Not a single one of them believed me.
Every face in the room looked at me the way you'd look at a monkey doing tricks.
Then they burst out laughing again.
Grayson pointed at me：“Tony, you are something else. What'd you major in at that Ivy League school—bullshit?”
“I'm dying over here. What's next, you're the Emperor of China?”
Celeste was howling with laughter too.
I let out a breath and looked at them：“Think about what you're saying. An Ivy League grad working as a waiter—you ever actually seen that?”
That gave them a beat of pause, but the contempt in their eyes didn't waver.
Richard sneered：“Does it matter whether you're a waiter or not? What matters is that even with your Ivy League degree, you're still poor standing in front of me.”
He stood up and pointed at the bottle：“You drink this, or I crack it over your skull. Pick one.”
“If I drink it, I can go?”
But Bridget suddenly stood. She picked up the bottle, drew a long breath：“I'll drink it for him. Then let him leave.”
Why was she helping me?
Was she afraid that if I stayed here, got pushed too far, I'd say what happened that night?
I watched her, and something inside me wouldn't settle.
That was when the door to the Lakeview Suite swung open.
Shelagh walked in first. Lucius was right behind her.
Lucius was a regular face on the local news, so most people in the room recognized him immediately.
And Shelagh, as my executive assistant, had never gone out of her way to avoid the public eye, so she was well known in her own right.
Richard spotted them and crossed the room in an instant, bowing as he went：“Uncle Lucius, Assistant Harding, what brings you here?”
Everyone else scrambled to their feet.
Everyone except me. I stayed right where I was, sitting on that oak barrel.
Richard's face twisted：“Tony, get the hell up! Can't you see who just walked in?”
