22. Madison #3
Heads turned. People started running. Graham was shouting for someone to cut the engine. Greer was sprinting for the life preserver. Raymond was already pulling off his jacket.
Raymond dove in. Greer threw the life preserver. Graham cut the engine and the boat lurched hard, everyone grabbing for balance. Spencer was yelling instructions. The chaos was instant.
They got her to the swim platform. Raymond helped her climb up, her dress soaked and clinging, her makeup running down her face in black streaks. She was coughing and sputtering, playing up the drama for everyone watching.
And then she pointed at me.
“She pushed me,” Valerie wailed. “Madison pushed me overboard. She attacked me. She tried to kill me.”
I stared at her. The audacity of it. The sheer brazen lie of it.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Greer said, stepping forward with fury in her eyes. “Madison was standing three feet away from you. She never moved.”
“She pushed me,” Valerie sobbed. “I swear to God, she pushed me. You weren’t watching. None of you were watching. You didn’t see what she did.”
“Shut the fuck up, Valerie,” Emery said, moving to stand beside me.
Valerie kept crying, pointing, insisting. The girls flanked me on either side, a wall of protection I hadn’t asked for but was grateful to have.
I looked at Valerie, dripping on the swim platform, and I felt nothing but disgust.
“I didn’t even touch you,” I said, my voice calm and level. “You jumped. You threw yourself over that railing because you wanted everyone to think I attacked you. And I’m not going to stoop to your level by screaming about it. Everyone here knows exactly who you are.”
Valerie’s face contorted with rage. “You lying bitch. You lying, jealous, pathetic…”
“Madison!”
Ford’s voice cut through the noise. I turned and saw him pushing through the crowd, his face white with panic, two drinks abandoned and spilling on the deck behind him.
“Madison, are you okay?” He reached me and his hands were on my arms, my shoulders, my face, checking me over like he expected to find wounds. “What the hell happened? I heard screaming. Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m okay, Ford. I’m not hurt.”
“She pushed me, Ford,” Valerie wailed from the platform, her voice pitching higher.
“Madison pushed me into the water. She’s been threatening me all day and then she just shoved me right over the railing.
You have to believe me. You know what she’s really like.
You know how jealous and unstable she is. ”
Ford’s hands stilled on my shoulders. He turned slowly to look at Valerie.
“Shut up, Valerie,” he said, his voice flat and cold. “Nobody here is going to believe a word you say.”
“But Ford, I’m telling the truth,” she yelled out. “I swear she pushed me. Why won’t anyone believe me? Why does everyone always take her side?”
“Because we know her,” Ford said. “And we know you. Why don’t you get yourself checked before you embarrass yourself any further.”
He turned back to me, dismissing Valerie completely. His hands came up to cup my face, tilting my head so he could look into my eyes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, his voice softer now, meant only for me. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “She jumped, Ford. I was standing right there and she just threw herself over the railing. I never touched her.”
“I know,” he said.
I searched his face. “You weren’t even here. You didn’t see what happened.”
“I don’t need to see it,” he said. “I know you.”
“You believed me,” I said, and my voice cracked on the words. “You didn’t even ask what happened. You just believed me.”
His face crumpled. Pain and regret flooded his features, naked and unguarded.
“Of course I fucking believe you, baby,” he said, his voice rough. “There was never any question. Not for a single second.”
Graham docked the boat twenty minutes later. Raymond’s assistant was waiting at the marina with a car, a young woman in a crisp blazer who looked deeply uncomfortable with the situation she’d walked into.
Valerie was wrapped in a towel, her performance finally exhausted. She didn’t look at anyone as Raymond guided her toward the gangway.
“She needs to get checked out at the hospital,” Raymond said. “Make sure she didn’t swallow too much water.”
He stopped in front of me and Ford, his face tight with embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I had no idea she was capable of this. I never would have brought her if I’d known.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
“I’m cutting her off completely,” Raymond said. “The consulting work, everything. She’s done. I’ll make sure everyone in my circle knows what happened here today.”
“I’ll go with them to the hospital,” Emery said, stepping forward. “Make sure she doesn’t try spinning any stories to the doctors or nurses.”
Greer hugged me tight before following the others down the gangway. Graham clapped Ford on the shoulder and said he’d call tomorrow.
And then it was just the two of us, standing on the empty deck in the fading light.
Ford turned to me, his eyes soft, his voice quiet.
“Let me take you home?” he asked.
I nodded.