The Heiress Wakes to a Second Chance novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Nothing Goes Away

Iris calls the police herself in the corridor, Dane refuses to blame the drug, and Philip goes live to end the engagement while Sylvia calls a board vote to declare Iris unfit.

The phone kept ringing in Philip's pocket.

"Give me my phone," Iris said.

Philip's smile stayed in place, but he took too long to answer.

"Of course, sweetheart. I picked it up so you wouldn't lose it."

He held it out.

The screen showed a missed call from Daphne and a text thread open to Dane's number.

Iris turned the phone around so the crowd in the doorway could see it.

"This message went out at 11:07 last night," she said. "I was in this bed, and I could not lift my arms. I did not send it."

A woman in the front row lowered her phone a few inches.

Aunt Sylvia stepped forward and put a warm hand on Iris's shoulder.

"Iris, honey, you're in shock. Everyone, please. Give her some privacy."

Iris took the hand off her shoulder and set it aside.

She dialed 911 and put the call on speaker.

"I'm at the Ardmore Hotel, room 1412," she said when the dispatcher answered. "I was drugged at my own party. A man had sex with me while I could not move. I want police and an ambulance, and I want this floor sealed."

The corridor went completely silent.

A hotel manager pushed through the crowd and whispered that the hotel could handle this discreetly.

"No," Iris said. "Lock the floor, and keep the camera footage from this corridor exactly as it is."

The manager looked at Sylvia, who gave a small nod.

He went to do it.

Every phone that had been raised to film her was now filming a woman reporting a crime.

Dane stood by the bed with his trousers on and his shirt in his fist.

He did not look at the guests.

He looked at Iris, and when the dispatcher stopped talking he spoke.

"I was the man," he said. "I'll say it to the police and to anyone here."

Philip laughed, short and sharp.

"Convenient."

"I'm not done." Dane's voice did not rise. "I was on top of her, and she told me to get off. I don't know what was in my drink. I'm not going to hide behind it."

Iris stared at him.

She had expected a denial, or tears, or a story about how she had invited him.

She had not expected him to say it plainly in front of three hundred people's phones.

It did not make her forgive him.

It did make her listen.

"Then you'll stay where you are," she said, "until the police come."

"Yes."

"Iris." Philip lowered his voice and took a step toward her. "Let's not do this in front of everyone. We can talk about what you remember."

"What I remember is you taking my phone."

His jaw tightened.

Then he did something she did not see coming.

He took out his own phone, turned it toward his face, and tapped the screen.

"Hi, everyone," Philip said, his eyes filling on cue. "I'm going live because I want you to hear it from me."

Iris watched the counter jump past four hundred viewers.

"This morning I found my fiancee in a hotel bed with another man. I loved her. I thought we were building a life." His voice cracked. "The engagement is over. I just ask that you respect my family's privacy."

Behind him, a few of the guests murmured and shook their heads at her.

"Poor Philip," someone whispered.

Iris crossed the corridor in her sheet and took the phone out of his hand.

She turned it so the camera showed her face.

"I did not cheat," she said. "I was drugged. Philip carried me up here, took my phone, and left me alone with whoever came through that door."

Philip's face went white for half a second.

Then he took the phone back and ended the stream.

"She's not well," he said to the crowd, gently. "Please don't film this."

"Iris."

Aunt Sylvia had gone very quiet.

She came close, and her voice was soft enough that only Iris and Dane could hear it.

"You are making a terrible mistake. I could have kept this out of the papers. Now it's all anyone will see."

"I want the police to see it," Iris said.

Sylvia looked at her for a long moment, and the warmth went out of her face.

Then she turned to the crowd and spoke in the clear, sorrowful voice that had raised money for the foundation for twenty years.

"My dear friends. I'm so sorry you had to see this. Iris has been under terrible strain since her father passed."

She paused.

"Effective today, I'm calling an emergency meeting of the Kellaway Foundation board. On Friday we will vote on whether Iris is fit to manage her own affairs."

A phone chimed in the silence.

Then every guest in the doorway began to type.

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