Riker looked at her.
“I want my lawyer first,” Lily said.
“Then the police get both messages.
Nobody answers them.
Nobody threatens them.
Nobody gives them the clip.”
Riker’s gaze stayed on her for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“Your call.”
It was a small sentence, but it steadied her more than any promise of revenge could have.
Lily called Evelyn Shaw, the attorney who had helped negotiate her publishing contracts and later handled several legitimate Cross family businesses.
Evelyn answered before the second ring.
“Tell me you’re somewhere safe.”
“I am.”
“Good.
Jonah sent me the public video.
Start at the beginning.”
Lily did.
She described Derek grabbing her, the kick, the girlfriend filming, Riker’s arrival, Derek’s apology, and the new recording that suggested the encounter had been planned.
Evelyn did not interrupt until Lily reached the anonymous messages.
“Screenshot everything,” she said.
“Do not crop the screen.
Preserve the original files.
Ask mall management in writing to retain every camera angle covering that atrium, the entrances, parking areas, and the corridor outside their office.
And Lily?”
“Yes?”
“Do not let anyone on Riker’s side contact Derek.
Not even to tell him to stop.”
Riker’s eyebrow moved slightly.
“She’s looking at me, isn’t she?” Evelyn asked.
For the first time since the kick, Lily almost smiled.
“Yes.”
“Tell your husband that restraint is about to become very expensive for Derek.”
Riker heard her through the speaker.
“I like her,” he said.
Twenty minutes later, the police arrived.
The mood in the management corridor changed immediately.
Mall employees who had been frozen by Riker’s reputation suddenly had procedure to follow.
Witnesses were separated.
Statements were taken.
Security footage was copied and preserved.
Derek tried to change the story almost at once.
According to him, Lily had confronted him first.
He claimed she had become emotional about their past relationship, Riker had arrived unexpectedly, and the situation had spiraled into intimidation.
His girlfriend, whose name was Vanessa Cole, supported him.
She admitted that Derek had made physical contact with Lily but called the kick an accident.
Then one officer showed them the mall’s overhead camera angle.
There was nothing accidental about it.
The video showed Derek holding Lily’s arm while she pulled away.
It showed him stepping toward her and driving his foot into the side of her leg.
It showed Vanessa repositioning her phone before the contact happened, as if anticipating the best angle.
Derek stopped talking.
Vanessa asked for a lawyer.
Lily sat in a small first-aid room while a paramedic examined her ankle.
It was badly sprained but not broken.
