Chapter 7 - The Recording Maria Refused to Sell.
Ashley did not take Maria far.
That was the first surprise.
The second was that Maria went with her on purpose.
Owen tracked them to a small Catholic church three blocks from Grant headquarters, where Maria entered through a side door and Ashley waited in the parking lot.
By the time Owen arrived, Ashley had already driven away.
Maria remained inside.
Her new attorney, Rachel Kim, met her there ten minutes later.
Nathan and Lauren waited at Owen's office until Rachel called.
"Maria is safe."
Lauren closed her eyes in relief.
"Can we speak with her?"
Rachel paused.
"She wants to speak with Mrs. Mitchell only."
Nathan looked at Lauren.
"That's fine."
Rachel gave them an address for her office and asked Nathan not to come upstairs unless Maria requested it.
Nathan drove Lauren there himself.
He stayed in the lobby.
Lauren took the elevator alone.
Rachel met her at the reception desk and led her into a small conference room.
Maria sat at the table with a paper cup of tea between her hands.
She looked exhausted.
Lauren stopped near the doorway.
"I'm sorry."
Maria looked up.
"For what?"
"You lost your job because of what happened to me."
Maria shook her head.
"I lost my job because I would not lie."
Lauren sat across from her.
"Did Ashley threaten you?"
Maria almost smiled.
"Miss Grant does not threaten the way ordinary people threaten."
"What does that mean?"
"She offers choices where every choice helps her."
Lauren waited.
Maria wrapped both hands around the tea.
"She told me the Grant attorneys would ruin my reputation if I accused the family of wrongdoing."
Rachel made a note.
"Then she said she could make all of it disappear if I signed."
"Why did you go with her to the church?"
Maria looked down.
"Because she said she wanted to confess."
Lauren blinked.
"Confess to you?"
"She knows I attend that church."
"Did she confess?"
Maria gave a tired laugh.
"No."
"What did she say?"
Maria looked directly at Lauren.
"She said Nathan would never destroy his mother's company for you."
Lauren felt a cold pressure in her chest.
"Anything else?"
"She said you would understand soon."
Maria reached into her handbag.
Rachel watched carefully but did not stop her.
Maria placed an old phone on the table.
"This is not the phone they took."
Lauren stared at it.
"You had another one?"
"For music while I work."
Maria unlocked it.
"Last night I was polishing the table in the west corridor when I heard Miss Grant speaking with Mrs. Mitchell."
Lauren's pulse quickened.
Maria opened a voice memo.
"I started recording because I had heard things before."
"What things?"
Maria looked uncomfortable.
"Things about you."
She pressed play.
The recording began with the muffled sound of dishes and footsteps.
Then Ashley's voice emerged.
"You said she would crack before the baby came."
Evelyn answered.
"Lower your voice."
"I'm tired of waiting."
"Then stop behaving like a child."
"Nathan should have been mine."
"Nathan is not property."
Ashley laughed softly.
"That's rich coming from you."
Lauren looked at Maria.
Maria motioned for her to keep listening.
On the recording, Evelyn spoke again.
"I need his proxy, not another scene."
"He won't sign while she's whispering in his ear."
"Then give me time."
"You've had two years."
There was a pause.
Then Ashley said the sentence that made Lauren's skin prickle.
"Maybe she needs a reason to leave him."
Evelyn's reply came immediately.
"Do not do anything reckless."
"I didn't say I would."
"Ashley."
"Relax."
The recording ended.
Lauren sat very still.
Rachel spoke first.
"There is more?"
Maria nodded.
"Later."
She opened a second file.
This one began only minutes before the confrontation.
Ashley was speaking to someone on the phone.
Her tone was different.
Sharper.
"He'll come when she calls him."
A man's voice answered faintly through the speaker, too distorted to identify.
Ashley continued.
"I don't need to hurt her."
A pause.
"I need him to see her lose control."
Another pause.
"Yes, the camera is handled."
Lauren's eyes moved to Rachel.
Rachel had stopped writing.
The recording continued.
"Evelyn will clean up whatever is left."
Then the file ended.
Lauren felt nauseated.
"She planned it."
Maria nodded.
"I believe she planned to provoke you."
"But I didn't lose control."
"No."
"So she kicked me."
Maria's eyes filled with regret.
"I am sorry I did not come sooner."
Lauren reached across the table.
"You came now."
Maria held her hand for a moment.
Then she pulled away and opened one final recording.
"This is why they wanted my phone."
The audio was clearer.
It had been captured after Nathan and Lauren left for the hospital.
Evelyn spoke first.
"Delete the foyer clip."
A man's voice answered.
"I can't erase the backup without leaving a log."
Lauren recognized Caleb.
Evelyn responded.
"Then leave the log."
"Nathan will see it."
"By then I will have spoken to him."
Another voice entered.
Ashley.
"Give me your tablet."
Evelyn said something too low to hear.
Then Ashley spoke again.
"If he sees one clean version, it's over."
Caleb answered.
"There are other cameras."
A chair scraped.
Then Evelyn said something Lauren would remember for a long time.
"Not anymore."
The recording ended.
Lauren looked at Maria.
"Who saved Camera Fourteen?"
Maria shook her head.
"Not me."
"Caleb?"
"Maybe."
Rachel leaned forward.
"Mrs. Mitchell, before we go further, Maria needs protection from retaliation."
Lauren nodded.
"Whatever she needs."
"That is not something you should promise casually."
"I'm not promising casually."
The door opened.
Nathan stood outside with a receptionist behind him.
His face was pale.
"Lauren, I need you downstairs."
She stood.
"What happened?"
Nathan looked at Maria, then at Rachel.
"Someone posted a video online."
Lauren's stomach dropped.
"What video?"
Nathan turned his phone toward her.
A social media account had uploaded a fifteen-second clip from the mansion foyer.
But this version began after Ashley's kick.
It showed Lauren standing abruptly, reaching toward Ashley, and Ashley falling backward.
The caption read:
PREGNANT WIFE ATTACKS FAMILY FRIEND DURING PRIVATE DINNER.
The clip had already been viewed eighty thousand times.
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