“I hope Lena learns boundaries.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked.
“Because tonight, you are not going to be standing alone.”
He reached into his jacket and placed an envelope in my palm.
“What is this?”
“Evidence,” he said. “A voice memo of Lena bragging to her friends about how she coached Ethan before the wedding. I’ve been gathering it for weeks.”
I let out a breath that felt like six days of held air.
“I hope Lena learns boundaries,” I said.
Richard’s eyes warmed. “She will. Very soon.”
It looked like a toy. I almost laughed.
He slid a small portable recorder from the envelope and set it between us. “I’ll have this under the table at dinner. One tap on my phone, and it plays. You decide when.”
I turned it over in my hands. It looked like a toy. I almost laughed.
The koi turned beneath the surface, orange flashes under green.
“Let’s do this,” I replied. “I’m done.”
***
That night at dinner, Lena was performing her sweetest self for the waitstaff, complimenting the sommelier, laughing too brightly. She turned to me between courses.
