Page 52 of The Birthday Girl
“Ms. Banks,” Heather said, her voice tight with nerves. “Reporters are blocking the doors. Some of them are live. They’re demanding your presence now.”
Tahlia’s eyes cut to Ezra, unblinking. “Then it seems my performance begins sooner than expected.”
Ezra’s thumb skimmed across the tablet screen as he refined the draft with nervous speed. When it was complete, he extended the tablet with both hands, his palms slick with sweat. Tahlia took it without a word and scanned the draft, her eyes moving steadily across the lines he had prepared.
When she finished, she set the tablet down on the conference table. “This will do. Remove the word prays. I don’t pray. Everything else stays. Deliver it exactly as written.”
Ezra nodded quickly, relief flashing across his face as he took the tablet back.
Tahlia straightened the hem of her blazer and collected her clutch from the table before gesturing toward the door with the flick of a hand. “Let’s go.”
The corridor outside the boardroom was lined with silent employees, each one careful to press themselves flat against the wall as she passed. No one spoke, and no one met her eyes.
The private elevator at the end of the hall opened, and Tahlia stepped in first, Ezra following with a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Heather squeezed in last with her phone glued to her ear. The ride down passed in silence, the only sound the faint whir of cables and the shallow rhythm of Ezra’s breathing.
When the doors parted, the lobby roared to life. Reporters crowded the exits, their cameras flashing, voices tangled in overlapping demands. Security strained to hold them back, but the tide was pressing forward, relentless and hungry.
Tahlia adjusted the strap of her clutch and stepped out, and the media immediately began to bombard her with questions.
“Ms. Banks, is it true you were the last person seen with Tyriq Lawson?”
“Are you cooperating with the investigation?”
“Do you deny being involved in his disappearance?”
The barrage washed over her without breaking her stride, so Ezra hurried to her side. Security forced a narrow path through the chaos, positioning themselves as a wall between Tahlia and the press. She stopped in the center of the lobby’s marble expanse, chin lifted, her expression sculpted into controlled detachment.
Ezra stepped forward and cleared his throat, stealing a glance at Tahlia before beginning. “Ms. Banks has asked me to read a prepared statement.”
The crowd hushed, cameras angling tighter.
“First, Ms. Banks wants to acknowledge the public’s concern for Mr. Lawson. She understands the shock and pain this news has caused. However, she also wants to be clear: she has had no involvement in his disappearance. Any suggestion otherwise is false, defamatory, and deeply hurtful.”
Flashes from cameras popped like gunfire as Ezra pressed on, his voice steadier now. “This morning’s circulation of a single photograph, stripped of context, is an attempt to humiliate her while the man she loves is missing. She, too, learned of his disappearance when the article broke.”
Tahlia forced tears from her eyes, dropping her head in her palms, and sobbing quietly.
“Despite the pain and humiliation Mr. Lawson caused my client, the love she has for him never went away. Ms. Banks asks the public to see this for what it is, an effort to smear her name when the focus should remain on finding the love of her life.”
Ezra lowered the tablet, his final words hanging in the air. For a heartbeat, the lobby was silent except for the stutter of camera shutters. Then, a voice cut through the crowd.
“She’s lying!”
The reporters surged, and microphones jerked toward the sound. Danielle shoved her way forward, her hair wild, mascara streaking down her cheeks. Her sobs broke into ragged cries as she pointed a trembling finger straight at Tahlia.
“She killed him! She killed Tyriq!”
Gasps rippled across the press pool, the cameras whipping from Danielle’s tear-streaked face to Tahlia’s icy stillness.
“My baby’s father is gone!” Danielle’s chest heaved as she fought for breath, grief and rage spilling into every word. “Don’t let her fool you with her crocodile tears and her fancy speeches. Tyriq is missing because of her. Everybody who gets close to her ends up dead!”
The lobby descended into chaos as reporters shouted over one another, the feeding frenzy ignited.
“Ma’am, what proof do you have?”
“Ms. Banks, do you deny this?”
“Are you saying Ms. Banks killed Tyriq Lawson?”
