"Pull Bennett's campaign financials. Every donation, every offshore account. I want to know where every dollar came from. Start with the construction contracts he buried last year. Lisa's voice trembled.
"What are you doing?" "Making sure," Marco said, "that when Bennett falls, he doesn't get up." She rubbed her temples. Marco, this is insane. You can't just He turned, gaze sharp.
He used his daughter to humiliate you. Then he used you to save himself. You still want to protect him? Her voice broke. "No."
I just I don't want anyone hurt. For a moment, he softened. Neither do I. But people like Bennett understand only pain, reputation, money, fear. We'll use the only language they speak.
She didn't know what scared her more. His calm certainty or how right he sounded. That night, she stood on the balcony of the penthouse looking out over the city. Wind tugged at her hair. Far below, traffic lights blinked like restless stars.
Behind her, the sliding door opened. Marco stepped out holding two glasses of whiskey. He offered her one. "I don't drink," she said. "You do tonight."
She took it anyway. It burned going down. For a while, neither of them spoke. Finally, Lisa whispered, "I don't get it." You could ignore me.
You could let Bennett crush me. You have no reason to fight this hard. Marco's eyes stayed on the skyline. "You're wrong." "Then tell me."
He glanced at her, expression unreadable. Because when I was a kid, my mother cleaned houses for people like him. People who smiled while they made her feel small. She died believing she was less than them. Lisa's throat tightened.
He looked at her again. I promised myself a long time ago that if I ever saw another woman treated like that, I'd make sure whoever did it remembered her name. She blinked back tears. You think you can fix the world like that? "No."
He said quietly. But I can fix this. The next morning the world woke up to chaos. Headlines everywhere. Leaked footage shows senator's daughter attacking waitress Bennett family caught in scandal.
Public demands answers. The real footage, the uncut version, had been released anonymously at dawn. Millions of views in an hour. Olivia's spit crystal clear. The sound of laughter.
The cruel tone in her voice. And then the calm voice that cut through everything. "You're going to apologize. And you're going to mean it." Marco's.
The internet went wild. Some people still hated Lisa, but most didn't. Hashtags flipped overnight. Justice for Lisa trended. Strangers defended her online.