Chương 4
“Since October?”
Michael nodded.
“Was she at the resort opening in Scottsdale?”
“Yes.”
“New York?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother’s birthday?”
“No.”
The speed of the denial made Catherine laugh once.
Michael’s face hardened. “I am trying to be honest.”
“You are sorting your lies by which ones can still survive.”
Sophie made a soft sound. Michael turned toward her again.
Catherine watched him touch the edge of the pink cap with painful tenderness. The anger in her did not disappear. It became complicated by the fact that he loved their daughter. She had wanted him not to. Hatred would have been cleaner if he were capable of only one thing at a time.
“Amber said you told her the marriage was over.”
“I told her we were struggling.”
“That isn’t what she said.”
“She misunderstood.”
“Did she misunderstand the hotel room?”
Michael rubbed his mouth. “I was afraid to come home.”
The answer surprised Catherine enough that she stopped.
He continued, his voice dropping. “Every conversation became about what I had done wrong. The nursery, the appointments, work, my travel. You looked at me like I was already failing.”
“You missed three appointments.”
“I was trying to keep the company from losing the Meridian financing.”
“You told me the meetings were optional.”
“Because you were pregnant and anxious.”
“Do not make your lying a medical accommodation.”
Michael looked toward Daniel, perhaps expecting embarrassment or sympathy. Daniel’s expression remained still.
Catherine leaned back against the pillow. Pain pulsed low in her abdomen. “Did you tell Amber I was unstable?”
Michael did not answer.
Her skin went cold.
“What did you tell her?”
“That you were having a hard pregnancy.”
“That is not the same sentence.”
“I said you were emotional.”
Daniel’s eyes moved to Michael.
Catherine almost smiled. “Of course you did.”
“I wasn’t trying to discredit you.”
“You were explaining why your pregnant wife objected to your affair.”
“I never discussed details with her.”
“She knew I was in labor.”
Michael looked away.
The truth came not as a revelation but as the sudden shape of an absence. Amber had known Catherine was calling. She had known why. Michael had either told her or allowed her to see enough to understand, then gone into the shower while his wife’s contractions were less than three minutes apart.
Catherine reached for the call button.
Michael’s head lifted. “What are you doing?”
“The visit is over.”
“Catherine.”
She pressed the button.
“I came here.”
“After she answered your phone.”
“I left as soon as I knew it was serious.”
“You knew it was serious before you went to the hotel.”
“That’s not fair.”
The old phrase, used through years of disagreements, broke something quieter than trust. Michael said it whenever fairness meant Catherine should ignore what was inconvenient for him.
Lena entered, followed by the security officer.
Michael looked at Sophie one last time. “I will be back tomorrow.”
Catherine’s body tensed before she could stop it.
Lena noticed. “Visits will be arranged through the charge nurse.”
“I’m her father.”
“No one has disputed that,” Lena said. “You still have to leave.”
Michael’s eyes returned to Catherine. “Do not let people turn this into something it isn’t.”
Catherine held his gaze. “You brought what it is into the room.”
After he left, she began to shake.
Lena pulled another blanket over her. Daniel checked her pulse. Catherine hated the efficiency of their concern. She wanted someone to be clumsy, to say the wrong thing, to admit there was no appropriate response to discovering five months of adultery while trying to nurse a child.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she said.
Daniel’s hand paused at her wrist. “Like what?”
“Like I’ve been injured.”
“You have.”
“I had a cesarean.”
“That too.”
She turned her face away and cried without sound.
Daniel remained until her breathing slowed. He did not touch her except to adjust the IV line when it pulled against her hand.
At noon the next day, Catherine’s attorney arrived carrying a paper cup of coffee and no visible sympathy.
Priya Shah had been recommended by a woman Catherine barely knew from the board of a children’s museum. She was small, silver-haired, and dressed in a charcoal suit that made everyone else in the hospital room look unfinished.
“I need facts,” Priya said after introducing herself. “Feelings matter, but facts are what I can organize.”
Catherine appreciated her immediately.
She described the affair, the recording, the corridor incident, and Michael’s messages. Priya listened without interruption, occasionally asking for a date or exact phrase.
“Do you want a divorce?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you want him excluded from contact with the baby?”
Catherine looked at Sophie, asleep against her chest. “I want contact to be safe.”
“Do you believe he intends harm?”
“No.”
“Do you believe he may act impulsively when angry?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe he will use legal or financial pressure to regain control?”
Catherine thought of Michael’s message. You cannot keep my daughter from me.
“Yes.”
Priya nodded. “Then we prepare for all three possibilities without pretending they are the same.”
She asked about property. Catherine explained the penthouse, the lake house, the investment accounts, and Harrison House Group.
The company had begun twelve years earlier with one renovated apartment building and money from Catherine’s late father. Michael handled acquisitions and financing. Catherine created the interiors, brand, and partnerships that turned the firm into a luxury residential and hospitality business. They each owned forty-one percent. The remaining shares belonged to two early investors and several senior employees.
“Who controls day-to-day operations?” Priya asked.
“Michael.”
“Who controls the brand?”
“I do.”
“Who controls the board?”
Catherine hesitated. “Usually Michael.”
“That was not the question.”
“No one alone. There are five seats.”
“Yours?”
“Mine, Michael’s, Nolan Reese’s, and two outside members.”
“Can you access financial records?”
“Yes.”
“Have you recently?”
“No.”
May you like
Priya wrote something down. “Do so before he decides access is part of the marital dispute.”
“He wouldn’t lock me out of my own company.”
