I nodded slowly. It didn’t surprise me. The broadcaster had planned to make a documentary about The Darlington’s rich and historic past and significance in the media to mark the hotel’scentenary. In the past, the hotel had often served as a location for films and TV shows and had also been booked frequently as a location for photo shoots. And until recently, The Darlington had been an integral part of London Fashion Week. At the beginning of the month, however, we’d had to pull out of this year’s event. The designers had all jumped ship, fearing their collections would suffer from negative media coverage. Even Natalia Asterdam, my best friends’ mother, had pulled out.
“OK. And the bad news?”
Rakesh wrinkled his nose. “That wasn’t all of the very bad news.”
I held back a groan. “Is it too early for a drink?”
“Not under these circumstances, but I don’t have anything here.”
“Shame,” I muttered, but it was probably for the best. It was enough that my mother had developed a predilection for drowning her sorrows in wine. Plus, it wouldn’t make my headache any better. “What else?”
“Diana D’Angelo gave an interview.”
I frowned. “The actress?”
“Yes. She spoke with theINsiderabout her experience with your dad. She said that he was very pushy at the last film festival, and ‘accidentally’ brushed against her breasts with suspicious frequency,” Rakesh said, tight-lipped, attempting to stay professional. It was clear he and I had the same opinion of my father, but I couldn’t tell him how I felt. Vivian Edwards, my dad’s crisis manager, had instructed me not to say anything negative about my dad in the presence of employees. If any of them decided to breach confidentiality, it could come back to haunt us. I wouldn’t have minded if it only affected my dad, but he was inextricably tied to the hotel, which I didn’t want to damage—it was the onlyreason I kept my mouth shut and listened to Vivian, my dad, and his lawyers. For the time being, at least.
“Was that the last of the very bad news?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I sighed with relief. “And the bad news?”
Rakesh shrugged and rifled around in the chaos on his desk. “The usual. Negative coverage. Two new resignations, which brings the total to almost forty. And more cancellations. The hotel is sixty percent booked this week, but next week, it’s only fifty-five. I’ve emailed you the report.”
“Thank you. Who resigned?”
“Priya and Sahra. Two room attendants. But it won’t really affect us.”
“Especially if we’re only sixty percent booked,” I muttered, concerned.
“Perhaps it’s just a postsummer dip.”
I murmured an agreement, although we both knew it wasn’t true. Yes, bookings usually dropped in the autumn before picking up again in the winter months leading up to Christmas, but even in the off-season, The Darlington had always been at least eighty percent booked up. “Do we need to start thinking about redundancies?”
“Not yet. The resignations are taking care of that.”
“That’s...” I started, but I had no idea how to finish the sentence.Gooddidn’t seem to be the right word. The fact that our employees were leaving—whether out of sympathy for the victims or fear for the future of the hotel—wasn’t good news. In fact, it was very bad news. “I have to go now. Thanks for the update. Don’t let your wife catch you smoking.”
Rakesh pursed his lips. “I won’t. Hang in there.”
I left his office and made my way to the conference centre to join the meeting with my dad and one of his lawyers.
As a kid, I’d always been creeped out by this room, its walls lined with portraits of deceased Darlingtons. Logan and I had firmly believed that the room was haunted, and the pictures of the dead were watching us. But today, I was more afraid of the living who were waiting there for me: my dad and Mr. Boyd. Vivian would presumably also be in attendance. My dad had hired her several months ago to clean up his image, a feat she’d achieved once before with a professional athlete who had fallen into disrepute after similar allegations.
“You made it,” my dad snapped, irritated, when I stepped into the room. He sat grimly at the head of the table, which was now technically my place. His dark-grey suit was the same shade as his hair. Looking at him was like looking into my future, only I hoped my eyes would be less embittered. “What took you so long?”
“I was busy,” I answered evasively, hanging my coat on the coatrack next to the door. I sat down in a chair to his right; I didn’t want to start a debate about which seat belonged to whom. “What’s so urgent?”
The mood in the room soured at my question, like a glass of milk left out in the sun for too long. My dad’s expression grew even darker. For a split second, worry flickered across Vivian’s face, before it was replaced by her usual steely resolve. It seemed the update about the BBC and Diana D’Angelo hadn’t been the only very bad news today.
Mr. Boyd spoke up. “I got a phone call this afternoon. Apparently, it has been decided to take your father’s case to court. The authorities say there is enough evidence for a lawsuit.”
“The audacity!” my dad objected. The vein on his forehead popped—something I’d always feared as a child, because it meant I was in trouble. “I did nothing that those women didn’t want. To make out now that I assaulted them is outrageous. This is defamation! Can we file a libel suit against them?”
I bit back a snide comment. My dad pretty much asked the same question at every meeting. His default response to criticism was to silence the other party using his money or power instead of reflecting on himself. Self-reflection was a concept that I only understood thanks to Shelley, my old nanny. She had set great store by making Logan and me aware of our privilege and liked to bring us down to earth.
“I’d counsel against it at this moment in time, Mr. Darlington,” replied Mr. Boyd. His hair had been sparse since I’d known him, but in the last few months, it seemed to have grown even thinner. Presumably because of my dad and this case, which was enough to make anyone want to pull their hair out. “A defamation suit could reflect poorly on you. We can think about that once we’ve won the case and the full extent of the situation is clear.”
