Betrayed, I Rise novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: Four Hundred Guests

"You gave him Mom's ring."

"I gave him my blessing," my father said. "The ring came with it."

"It isn't yours to give."

"Everything in that house is mine to give."

He pressed the elevator button.

"Seven o'clock. Wear something that isn't covered in varnish."

The doors closed on him.

I stood there looking at my own reflection in the brass.

Then I went back to the boat and finished tightening the chock.

That night, in a staff room behind the kitchen, I opened the diner owner's garment bag.

The dress was navy silk, simple, with thin straps.

It smelled faintly of cedar and old perfume.

It fit.

I found a cracked mirror over the sink and put my hair up with two pencils from the front desk.

When I came out, Troy was waiting in the service hall.

He had on a dark suit that was a little tight in the shoulders.

He'd shaved.

He looked at me, and then he looked at the floor, and then he looked at me again.

"The diner lady," he said.

"The diner lady."

"She had good taste in 1994."

"You clean up okay too."

"Coast Guard formal. Last worn in 2021." He tugged at a sleeve. "It's winning."

He held out his arm.

I took it.

The ballroom was already full.

Four hundred people in black tie. Chandeliers. A string quartet by the windows.

On the far wall were three huge screens, playing a slideshow of Wexford Hotels.

The first photo that came up was a sunrise over the Montauk dunes.

I'd shot it at twenty, lying on my stomach in wet sand.

Across the bottom it said: Skylar Hallett for Wexford Hotels.

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