Chapter 2
Carl started stammering before Alexander finished speaking.
“Mr. Sterling, I was about to intervene.”
I almost laughed.
About to.
Those two words cover a thousand acts of cowardice.
Alexander looked at him.
“You watched a customer strike your employee and order her to kneel.”
Carl’s mouth opened.
Closed.
Tiffany crossed her arms.
“This is ridiculous. Fire her and send me champagne. I’m not standing here being judged by some salesgirl.”
Some salesgirl.
I had heard worse.
Poor girl.
Pretty girl.
Wrong-side girl.
Girl who should be grateful.
Girl who should lower her eyes.
Alexander stepped closer.
“What is your name?” he asked me.
“Mara,” I whispered.
“Mara Ellison.”
He nodded once.
“Mara, did she touch you?”
My cheek throbbed.
“Yes.”
“Did anyone here try to stop her?”
My eyes moved to Carl.
He looked at me with desperate warning.
Please.
Don’t.
That was what his face said.
I thought of my mother’s medical bills.
The rent due Friday.
My little brother’s community college tuition.
I needed this job.
But I had needed dignity long before I needed a paycheck.
“No,” I said.
“No one tried.”
Carl looked like he might faint.
Alexander removed his phone.
“Security, close the front doors.”
Tiffany’s friends stopped smiling.
One whispered, “Tiff…”
Tiffany snapped, “Shut up.”
The glass doors locked with a soft click.
Alexander looked toward the corner camera.
“Pull the last ten minutes of footage.”
Carl rushed forward.
“Sir, surely we can handle this privately.”
“We are handling it privately,” Alexander said.
“Before police make it public.”
Tiffany’s face changed.
“You wouldn’t.”
Alexander finally smiled.
It was not warm.
“I absolutely would.”
Her boyfriend muttered, “Tiffany, apologize.”
She spun toward him.
“To her?”
He did not answer.
That was the moment I understood their world.
They did not fear being cruel.
They feared being seen standing beside cruelty when power shifted.
A security guard arrived with a tablet.
Alexander watched the footage.
I did not need to look.
I remembered every second.
The tossed dresses.
The handbags on the floor.
The compliment.
The slap.
The command.
Kneel.
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
He handed the tablet to the guard.
“Call LAPD.”
Tiffany lunged toward me.
“This is your fault!”
I flinched.
Before she reached me, Alexander stepped between us.
His voice dropped.
“Try touching her again.”
Tiffany froze.
For the first time that day, she looked scared.
May you like
Not of justice.
Of a man more powerful than her father.
