"Get her drunk in a bit, then take her to a hotel room."
I lowered my head and pretended I hadn't seen anything.
"And if I don't drink?"
Muriel gave a thin smile. "Then you're not walking out that door today."
I smiled too, and looked her straight in the eye.
"Muriel, you've been provoking me all night, and I let it slide."
"Now I'll give you one last chance."
"Get out of my way."
"Otherwise I'll strip you of everything that lets you swagger like this, until you're on your knees begging me to forgive you."
Muriel doubled over laughing, as if she'd heard the funniest joke in the world, until tears came to her eyes.
"You all hear that, everyone?"
"Daniela says she's going to make me sorry, make me get on my knees and beg. Ooh, I'm so scared."
The room filled in around her with jeers and laughter.
Muriel's tone turned even more smug.
"I'd really love to see it. How exactly are you going to make me sorry?"
"Are you going to send that vagrant husband of yours to pick trash off my doorstep?"
I said nothing, didn't argue. I just pulled out my phone and calmly typed out one line.
"That Russell Henson. Remove him."
"Run a full investigation on him."
"The moment you find anything, press charges immediately."
Seeing that I stayed quiet, Muriel assumed I'd lost my nerve, and her smile only grew more pleased with itself.
"Daniela, you used to have such a mouth on you. What happened, cat got your tongue?"
"Did marrying a pauper leave you too ashamed to speak?"
"Don't worry. We're old classmates, after all. I won't really make fun of you."
She lifted her glass and took a sip.
"Come on, come on, a toast to you."
"This is a class reunion, isn't it? Everyone should be having a good time."
"If you're really in a tight spot, you can just tell me. I'll have my husband help you out."
Muriel smiled her fake little smile and deliberately pushed the glass into my hand.
The classmates around her chimed right in.
"Exactly, exactly. Muriel's the wife of Sheridan Group's general manager now. Whatever trouble you run into down the road, you go to her, and how could she say no?"
"Today you have to give Muriel some face and drink all nine of these. She's our connection, you know."
"If you won't drink, we'll be the first ones to say no!"
A pack of loyal dogs, truly.
"Muriel, do you really know who I am?"
"Even if your husband is the general manager of Sheridan Group, all it takes is one word from me and he's fired, out on the street. You want to bet?"
Muriel froze for a beat, then laughed until she was crying again.
"Oh my God, how did I never notice you had such a gift for comedy before?"
"Dani, you're so impressive. Are you about to tell me that pauper husband of yours is the owner of Sheridan Group?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"That's right."
The laughter cut off.
The room went silent for two seconds.
Then Muriel was the first to burst out laughing.
"Daniela, have you lost your mind? With your husband in his baggy shorts and flip-flops, he's the owner of Sheridan?"
"Listen to yourself. Who's going to believe that?"
"Back in school you were nothing but a scholarship kid living off the poverty grant, and now you dare tell a lie this big without worrying it'll blow up in your face."
The class president joined in with his own sneering.
"Daniela, that's laying it on a little thick, don't you think?"
"Right. The owner of Sheridan is named Dickerson. He's been in the finance magazines, I've seen his picture."
"The man's in his forties. How old is your husband?"
"Vain to the bone, that's what you are. No wonder your life turned out this pathetic, Daniela."
