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.“Give a murderer a break.”There was a moment of stunned silence, but when she held out her hand to check her nails, she knew she had them.Some broke into laughter.“Leana, what happened tonight?”“Isn’t it obvious? I think we’ve all learned tonight that I can be one ugly, murdering runt.” She shrugged.“Or something like that.”Again the cameras, in earnest.She dropped her hand and became serious.“Look,” she said.“Tonight, we’re here to raise money for charity, which is a lot more important than what happened to me earlier.If you’d like, I’ll make a brief statement and then join our host, Anastassios Fondaras, to help support this event.”“Would you be as detailed as possible, Leana?”Leana looked over at the reporter who asked the question and said, “Of course.I was sucker punched by a prank.That’s all it was.Some of you know I have a new hotel opening in a month on Park Avenue called The Park, which apparently has made someone a little upset and angry with me.Maybe it’s the owner of a neighboring hotel.Maybe they heard my hotel kicks ass, because it does.We can talk about that later if you’d like.At any point during the party, just ask me and we’ll talk.But for now, who knows? On the tarp that’s covering the building, someone wrote in red spray paint that I’m a murdering.”She stopped.“You’ll need to fill in that last word for yourself.I won’t say it because it’s offensive to me and degrading to women.Those who are interested will be reading about it in tomorrow’s papers and hearing more about it on tonight’s newscasts, so soon everyone will know what someone thinks of me.And I’m here to tell you—I’ve never been more flattered.”“What’s happening now?”“The police are looking into who might have done it and I have no doubt that they’ll succeed.They’re the country’s best.I also want to admit something.I may be taking this in stride now because I’ve had time to process it and dismiss it, but as you’ll see in the photographs and news footage that were taken of me when I arrived at the scene, I wasn’t so cool then.I’ve been called a lot of things, but never that.At least not in spray paint across the front of a building.They got to me and it will show in the images.I took it hard and I regret it because I gave them the reaction they wanted.”She reached out for Mario’s hand and pulled him close.“I’m only human.What I’d like everyone to remember is the big picture.There are a lot more important things to focus on in this world than someone taking a cheap shot at me.I’m fortunate.I know that.There are too many who have it far worse than I do.That’s why I’m here tonight, to support this event.But since I knew some of you would be curious about my reaction, I just wanted to say that I’m not taking any of this seriously and I hope that you won’t either.It is what it is and yes, it sucks.But frankly, whatever.”Someone started to ask a question but Leana pressed on.“Just one more thing.I have a few dozen journalists in front of me and I’m not about to miss an opportunity to ask a question like this because you of all people will know the answer.”She let a beat of silence pass.“Where on that ship can a girl get a drink?”CHAPTER SEVENAs she and Mario moved past the last of the reporters, she turned a final time to give them a shot with a different background, waved to them and then put her arm around Mario as they moved into the yacht itself.“You were brilliant,” he said.“We’ll see.”“I’m proud of you.”She winked at him and then heard somebody to her right say, “Look at them.They must be from California.Who dresses like that? Jeans and heaps of fake diamonds.Anastassios should banish them.”Leana recognized the voice.She stopped and faced Lady Alexa Ionesco of Spain.Once, she had been great friends with Leana’s parents before Elizabeth Redman was sent to jail for committing murder and society had a falling out with the Redman family.Leana never cared about the circles in which her parents and sister once moved.It was fake, not her scene.She only had participated when she was called upon by George and Elizabeth to be at one of their events because at a young age, that apparently was her duty.Back then, she could give a rat’s ass what anyone thought of her, especially someone like Ionesco, who probably got her title by opening up her checkbook and saying, “How much?” But now that she was going into business for herself, she knew better.She had to play the game [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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