Serious misconduct.
Fraud.
Violence.
Deliberate property destruction.
Any of those could end the negotiations immediately.
“Claire,” she whispered.
“Please.”
Twenty minutes earlier, she had been smiling because she thought she had destroyed my career.
Now hers depended on what happened next.
Mom rushed toward us.
“That’s enough. Claire, tell Ms. Hayes this was just a family argument.”
Eleanor’s expression turned cold.
“Destroying an eighty-thousand-dollar instrument is not a family disagreement.”
Mom immediately fell silent.
Vanessa looked close to panic.
“I’ll pay for it.”
I looked at her.
“With what money?”
She said nothing.
“The investment money?”
The hallway became completely quiet.
Then the stage manager appeared.
“Claire, you’re up.”
I turned toward the stage.
Behind me, Vanessa said something I had never heard from her before.
“I’m begging you.”
I stopped.
Not because I felt sorry for her.
Because I wanted her to understand something.
