The Waitress Who Could Not Afford to Lose
Chapter 02 - The Waitress Who Could Not Afford to Lose
Six hours before the slap, June Parker had been sitting outside a physical therapy clinic, counting the cash left in her wallet. Her mother, Marian, had been injured in a bus collision the previous winter. Recovery was slow, insurance disputes were slower, and June's two part-time jobs covered little beyond rent and food.
Marian had raised June alone in a narrow apartment over a laundromat in Queens. She had once worked for Eleanor Bellamy, back when the Bellamy fortune still meant something other than glossy magazine profiles. When June was a child, Eleanor visited their kitchen, drank tea from chipped mugs, and asked how school was going. June had remembered her as an elegant woman who never made her feel poor.
At the clinic, Marian gripped June's hand. “You don't have to go tonight.”
“I do. I already accepted the shift.”
“You know who's giving the speech.”
June nodded. Victoria Bellamy—soon to be Bellamy legally, though she already used the name socially—would present the foundation's new initiative. That initiative had begun with a notice to the residents of Harbor House, the transitional housing program Eleanor established. They had sixty days to leave. The building would be sold, its revenue redirected to a luxury education center inaccessible to most of its former residents.
June had worked at Harbor House during school. She knew the people who lived there. A young woman named Tessa had recently passed her licensing exam in nursing; a quiet man named Elliot had opened a bicycle-repair business. Neither had anywhere affordable to go.
Marian reached into her purse and handed June the brass key. “I promised Eleanor I'd protect it. I thought the foundation would protect itself.”
“Why didn't you tell Adrian?”
“I tried. The letters went unanswered. Then his office said I was confused.”
June studied the red ribbon, faded nearly pink. “And the document?”
“It's a certified copy. The original is in the deposit box, with Eleanor's correspondence and the ledger. You don't need to confront anyone tonight. Find somebody trustworthy and give them the evidence.”
May you like
June put the key around her wrist. She intended only to approach Adrian discreetly after the speeches. But at the ballroom, she overheard Victoria ordering security to remove Harbor House protesters from the sidewalk and saying, “They should be grateful we let them stay this long.”
June knew exactly what her mother meant by protecting a promise. She also knew that silence had already cost people their homes.
