Chapter 2: One Word, and the Camera That Never Blinked
"Enough."
That was the word.
One word.
Thirty years of staying quiet, staying small, staying out of Gareth's way — and I said it so calmly that the room went still again.
Gareth blinked.
He hadn't expected that.
"You want to do this here?" he said.
"In front of everyone?"
"You already did," I told him.
"You picked up that board and you swung it at an eight-year-old girl.
In front of two hundred people.
So yes.
We're doing this here."
My mother grabbed my arm.
"Marissa, don't you dare—"
I pulled free.
Nora was still pressed against my side, shaking.
I could feel her bl00d soaking through my sleeve.
A woman near the back — one of Gareth's colleagues, I think — had her hand over her mouth.
A few guests had their phones out.
Then the hotel manager stepped forward and said something I didn't expect.
"Ma'am.
We need you to come with us.
The security office has already pulled the ballroom footage."
Gareth's face changed.
Just slightly.
Just for a second.
But I saw it.
May you like
And so did the manager.
Because whatever that CCTV camera had recorded in the thirty minutes before Gareth grabbed Nora's jacket — it wasn't what he'd told the room.
