Regarding her as if she was an alien from another planet, Allerton downed the full glass.
Desmond suavely gave her a half bow. “I didn’t think I would live to see the day someone could make Gabriel lose his temper. I hope I’m not on Ms. Mathers’ list.” Desmond used his charm to defuse the tense situation, giving Allerton time to regroup, which was exactly what Ginny didn’t want. She wanted his emotions in an upheaval. Allerton acted like a goldfish, all tiny and innocent on the outside, but Ginny’s goal was to poke the hidden monster beneath.
“I can’t say for sure. You’ll have to check.” Ginny shrugged. “But I can save George and Amelia from having to search, as well as”—she gave an imperceptible gesture toward two men who stood to her left—“Mr. Emerson and his partner, Mr. Varela.”
“What did we do to make the list?” Aaron Emerson walked closer to the expanding group of irate listeners.
Satisfaction poured through her veins as Desmond’s attempt of defusing Allerton’s temper was rekindled by her drawing his cronies into the conversation.
“Well, it was something about a mother and child being killed when they were forced to cross a road that you built for your water trucks. There was a well you dug for them in exchange for your company purchasing their water rights—which you use to make bottled water to sell in different countries.”
“That was a miscalculation, which was rectified,” Aaron defensively explained as he loosened his expensive silk tie.
Ginny’s blood boiled at the young mother and child being classified as a “miscalculation.”
“How? Did you bring the mother and child back to life? Did you compensate her other two children and her husband?”
“We built a well closer to their village.”
“I’m sure that eased her family’s grief.” Ginny stared at him disdainfully.
The group of Allerton’s cronies sidled closer to Aaron in a show of support, like flies gathering over a pile of shit. The very people who had gathered here to amuse themselves as she was being brought to slaughter were now on the defense.
“It always comes down to money, doesn’t it?” Aaron’s glass of wine shook with anger. “Will millions of dollars bring them back?
“No price can be placed on a person’s life,” she answered her own question for him, “but at the very least, it might make you think twice about drilling a well near to where people can use it and don’t have to walk for two hours to get clean water, which, by the way, your company promised to do before the rights were sold. Instead, you used a loophole, built the wells where you didn’t have to use expensive machinery and then you had the gall to convince them you did it all out generosity and concern. But in reality, you didn’t make their lives easier, you made their lives hell holes. And those are the lucky ones. Other islands and towns, you convinced them you’d build schools for their children and provide teachers for them. I’m sure those countries and towns thought they hit the jackpot … until the wells you built were again too far away, and the schools were closed because they were too far for the children to walk to. Saves you money when the schools closed and you didn’t have to pay for the teachers and supplies. And what did you do with all of those water rights that the locals couldn’t use? We all know the answer to that.” Ginny waved her hand toward the cart that a waiter was pushing around with cans of soda and different brands of water. Then she dropped her hand and shrugged. “Or that’s what Zoey said in her podcast about you.”
“I have built over two hundred schools!”
“Would you like to know how many are still in operation?”
Aaron Emerson was so angry he seemed ready to chew his tongue off. It wasn’t a good look.
His partner, Abbott Varela, was in better control. “This Zoey person should be prepared for a letter from our lawyer. As her friend, you may inform her that we don’t take negative publicity lightly.”
“I would … if I had cell service.”
Ginny glanced toward Gavin at his snort of laughter. She was surprised he hadn’t stepped in to shut her up. Instead, she saw him tilt his wine glass at her in a salute, with Desmond chuckling beside him.
“Bravo, Mrs. James.” Desmond raised his wine glass toward her, imitating Gavin’s salute. “Your adoptive family benefited from our loss. It makes me wonder if you would’ve had the same outspokenness had you never been lost at sea.”
“Naturally, I’ve questioned the difference of the life I would have had.” Ginny looked around the room, taking in the occupants and the opulent surroundings.
“Have you come to any conclusions?” The female voice that came from the glass doorway of the balcony, silenced the room.