Chapter 3 - Five Thousand Dollars and a Lie
By morning, the photograph had traveled farther than Diane could have imagined.
Someone had added a cruel caption. Another person had called the kiss an attempted extortion. A local gossip page repeated Catherine's suggestion that money was missing from her purse.
Nobody mentioned the offer.
Nobody mentioned the other five thousand dollars.
At breakfast, Diane turned her phone face down. Sadi was busy trying to eat toast without smiling. Diane had promised her sister that the dentist appointment would happen, and she refused to let a ballroom scandal take that promise away.
"Can you pick me up after school?" Sadi asked.
"I can."
"Don't look sad when you come. My teacher notices."
Diane laughed once, although her throat hurt. "I'll practice smiling on the bus."
After Sadi left, Diane called Simon Hale. He confirmed that her shifts were still suspended. She asked whether the hotel had reviewed its security cameras.
"Guest privacy is involved," he said.
"A woman is accusing me of taking money. The cameras could show her handing it over."
"I've referred the matter to our security department. That's all I can say."
"Please don't let anyone erase it."
He went silent long enough that Diane wished she hadn't needed to ask.
She went to the hotel anyway. Nora met her at a café across the street with her apron folded in her bag. She looked angry.
"Catherine's assistant was asking where the east hallway cameras pointed," Nora said. "He said the footage was embarrassing to important guests."
"Did he ask them to delete it?"
"I don't know. But I heard him tell the security desk to handle it discreetly."
It wasn't proof of anything. Diane knew that. But it was enough to make her frightened of waiting.
Nora gave her the address of a neighborhood legal clinic. An hour later, Diane sat opposite Grace Lin, a patient attorney who listened without interrupting as Diane explained everything.
She told Grace about the first offer.
The five thousand dollars.
The kiss.
Ravi's grip.
Catherine's demand that she return the money.
And the accusation appearing online.
"I shouldn't have kissed him," Diane admitted. "He didn't agree to it."
"That matters," Grace said. "And so does the fact that someone deliberately offered you money and hid her reason for doing it. We need to keep those facts separate."
"Can Catherine have me arrested?"
"Anyone can make an accusation. It doesn't make it true. We should preserve what happened before people rewrite it."
Grace wrote formal requests asking the hotel and the event organizers to keep the camera recordings, staff rosters, and any communications about the incident. She also asked Nora to provide a signed witness account of the cash exchange.
Diane watched her type. For the first time since the kiss, there was something she could do besides apologize and hide.
"What will this cost?" she whispered.
"Our clinic is helping you without a fee at this stage. We will tell you clearly if that changes."
Diane exhaled. She had expected another bill she couldn't pay.
On the way home, she stopped at the landlord's office. Mr. Keene had given her several warnings about the rent. This time she placed thirty-six hundred dollars on the counter and asked for a receipt.
He counted the money in silence.
"Three months," he said. "You're current on the old balance. Next month's rent is still due on the usual date."
"I know."
"I hope whatever changed keeps working."
Diane didn't answer. Nothing had started working. She had merely moved one problem out of immediate danger and into the next month.
At the dental clinic, Dr. Alvarez examined Sadi's treatment estimate and explained which appointments could be staged. There would be a consultation payment first, then scheduled treatment over time. She promised no miracle and no free procedure. But she wrote down a payment plan and a charitable dental program Diane could apply to.
"There is a waiting list," the dentist warned. "Please don't count on approval until you hear from them."
Diane thanked her. It was a practical answer, and practical answers were better than glamorous promises from strangers.
She paid for the consultation and bought Sadi's school supplies on the way back. By evening, the five thousand dollars had shrunk sharply. But the rent receipt rested safely in a kitchen drawer.
Sadi found Diane looking at the photograph again.
"Is that you?" she asked.
Diane locked the screen too late.
"Yes."
"Why is that man holding you?"
Diane knelt so their eyes were level. "I made a foolish choice at work. Somebody tricked me, and a man got angry. I should have asked before kissing him. But nobody was allowed to hurt me because of it."
"Are you going to jail?"
"There's no reason for you to think that. A lawyer is helping me sort it out."
Sadi thought about the answer. "Did you do it for my teeth?"
Diane couldn't lie to her.
"I was worried about money," she said. "But my choices are mine. You are not responsible for them."
Sadi moved forward and wrapped her arms around Diane's neck. Diane held her for a long time.
The next morning, a thick envelope arrived from Catherine Voss's attorneys. Grace asked Diane to bring it unopened to the clinic.
Inside was a demand.
Catherine claimed that Diane had taken five thousand dollars without permission, created a public scandal, and threatened to expose her unless she received another payment. The letter demanded the return of the money, a written apology, and a promise never to discuss Catherine publicly.
"But it's backwards," Diane whispered. "She offered me the money."
Grace pointed to one sentence near the bottom. "They're saying they may take further action if you don't agree. That isn't the same thing as proof."
"They think I'm too poor to fight."
Grace looked up. "They may be counting on your fear. Don't answer this yourself."
Diane left the clinic with a copy of the letter and the knowledge that Catherine had turned a cruel dare into a formal accusation.
On the bus home, another message appeared. This one came from an unfamiliar law office, not an anonymous account.
It said Ravi Greedy was willing to provide his account of the evening if Diane wanted to meet in the presence of her own attorney.
Diane read it twice.
May you like
The man whose name had frightened the entire ballroom was offering to become a witness.
And she couldn't decide whether that made her safer or more afraid.
