Chapter 1 - THE FOUNTAIN
Naomi Vesper heard Blake Mercer before he reached her.
Hard shoes on stone.
Fast.
Angry.
She tightened her grip on the wooden cane in her right hand.
The gala fountain rushed beside her.
Music played somewhere behind the crowd.
Then Blake’s voice came close.
“Get out of here, you freak!”
The short wooden stick struck Naomi’s guarded upper arm.
Pain flashed through her shoulder.
She lifted her cane instinctively.
Blake knocked it aside.
The cane hit stone.
Naomi stepped backward.
“Blake, stop.”
He struck her shoulder again.
Then shoved her with his forearm.
Her heel caught the fountain edge.
For one second there was nothing beneath her.
Then freezing water.
Naomi surfaced choking.
Gasps erupted around the courtyard.
She found the fountain rim with both hands.
Blake laughed above her.
“Look at you—you’re pathetic!”
Julian Mercer stood beside him.
Naomi recognized his voice immediately.
“You never belonged here.”
She reached for the stone edge.
Could not get enough leverage.
Her soaked midnight-blue dress dragged against her legs.
Then another voice cut through the crowd.
“Naomi!”
Adrian.
He dropped beside the fountain and seized both her hands.
“I’ve got you.”
He pulled her up carefully.
Wrapped his navy jacket around her shoulders.
Naomi clung to his forearm.
Adrian turned toward his brothers.
“What the hell did you do to her?!”
Blake’s laughter stopped.
Julian said:
“She came here to ruin the night.”
Naomi shivered.
Then said something Adrian had not expected.
“I came here to stop them using my name.”
Silence.
Blake’s face changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Adrian slowly turned toward Naomi.
“What name?”
Naomi reached inside the soaked pocket of her coat.
Her fingers found the waterproof document sleeve she had carried all evening.
Inside was a copy of a city procurement packet.
Across the accessibility certification page appeared:
NAOMI VESPER
Independent Accessibility Consultant
May you like
And beneath it—
a scanned signature Naomi had not authorized for that submission.
