Chương 5
Priya gave her a flat look.
Catherine reached for the laptop on the bedside table.
Her credentials still worked. The internal dashboard opened to a photograph of the company’s newest property, a glass tower in Fulton Market. She clicked through expense summaries while Priya reviewed the hospital incident report.
At first, nothing appeared unusual. Then Catherine searched Amber’s name.
Five trips surfaced. Scottsdale. New York. Miami. Los Angeles. Toronto. The company had reimbursed suites, meals, car services, spa charges, and two purchases from luxury boutiques listed as client gifts.
Catherine’s fingers went still.
“Those were business trips,” she said.
Priya leaned closer. “Possibly.”
“Amber attended executive meetings.”
“Possibly.”
“There are receipts.”
“Receipts show money was spent.”
Catherine opened the Scottsdale reimbursement. A room-service dinner for two had been charged at 1:18 a.m. The guest listed on the suite was Michael Harrison. Amber’s separate room, billed on the same report, showed no minibar or restaurant charges.
A knock sounded before Catherine could open the next file.
Evelyn entered carrying fresh flowers. She saw Priya and stopped.
“This is Priya Shah,” Catherine said. “My attorney.”
Evelyn placed the flowers on the counter. “That was quick.”
“So was the affair.”
“Catherine.”
Priya closed the laptop. “I can step out.”
“No,” Catherine said.
Evelyn took the chair beside the bed. “Michael called me.”
“I assumed he would.”
“He says you will not speak to him.”
“That’s correct.”
“He is terrified you’re going to prevent him from seeing Sophie.”
“Michael is frightened of consequences. It is one of the few emotions he respects.”
Evelyn glanced at Priya, clearly uncomfortable with the audience. “He made a terrible mistake.”
“Several hundred, apparently. They’re itemized.”
“What does that mean?”
Catherine turned the laptop around and opened the expenses.
Evelyn scanned the page. The color left her face slowly. “The board knows about these trips.”
“The board knows about business travel.”
“You don’t know that they were personal.”
“Neither do you.”
Evelyn folded her hands. “Please do not destroy the company while you are angry.”
Catherine stared at her.
There it was. Not denial. Not concern. Preservation.
“My father’s money built that company.”
“And your work made it successful. I know that.”
“Then why are you speaking as if it belongs to Michael?”
“I’m not.”
“You asked me not to destroy it, not him.”
Evelyn’s composure cracked. “Because you are the one I can speak to.”
The answer was honest enough to hurt.
Catherine looked down at Sophie. “That has been everyone’s arrangement with Michael, hasn’t it? Ask the reasonable person to absorb whatever he does.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled, but she did not cry. “I did that with his father.”
“And Michael learned it worked.”
The room became still.
Evelyn stood. “I came to ask whether I could hold my granddaughter.”
Catherine almost said no. She wanted the refusal to reach backward through years, punishing Evelyn for every silence that had shaped her son.
Then Sophie stretched in her sleep, face wrinkling as though mildly offended by the world.
Catherine nodded.
Evelyn washed her hands and lifted the baby with care. The older woman’s body softened around the child. She whispered something Catherine could not hear.
Priya watched from the window, giving them the privacy of pretending not to.
After a few minutes, Evelyn returned Sophie to the bassinet.
“I should have taught him better,” she said.
Catherine adjusted the blanket. “He is thirty-nine.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing for him.”
“I wasn’t.”
For once, Catherine believed her.
Michael filed for an emergency parenting hearing two days after Catherine and Sophie left the hospital.
Priya called while Catherine sat in the back seat of her sister-in-law’s SUV, a folded pillow pressed against her incision. Downtown slid past beneath a clear blue sky washed clean by the storm. Sophie slept in a rear-facing car seat, one mittened hand beside her cheek.
“He’s claiming you denied reasonable access and created a dangerous confrontation in the hospital,” Priya said.
Catherine stared at the phone. “He rushed me.”
“The filing says you became emotionally volatile, threw objects, and used the infant to provoke him.”
“I slammed down a phone.”
“I have the incident report.”
“Daniel saw it.”
“So did nurses and security. We are not without witnesses.”
Catherine looked toward the driver’s seat. Her sister-in-law, Rebecca, kept her eyes on traffic, though her grip tightened on the wheel.
“What does he want?” Catherine asked.
“Immediate unsupervised parenting time and joint access to medical information. His attorney also requested that neither parent make public statements about the marriage.”
“He thinks I’m going to post the recording.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
The answer was true when she said it.
Priya told her not to return to the penthouse alone. Michael was staying at a hotel, but his belongings remained there. A private security consultant would change access codes and document the condition of the property. Catherine hated the idea of strangers photographing her closets and counting wine bottles, yet she agreed.
The penthouse smelled faintly of lilies and cold coffee.
Someone had cleared the kitchen counters. Michael’s shoes were gone from the entryway, but his coats remained. Catherine stood beneath the chandelier while Rebecca carried Sophie’s seat toward the nursery.
On the dining table lay a blue folder.
Inside was a proposed statement from Harrison House Group.
Michael Harrison and Catherine Harrison are jointly navigating a private family matter. Both remain fully committed to the continued success of Harrison House Group and request respect for their family’s privacy.
No mention of the affair. No mention of Amber. No mention of Catherine’s medical leave.
At the bottom, a yellow note in Michael’s handwriting read: We should release before rumors start. Please don’t make this worse.
Catherine laughed so suddenly that pain caught her side.
Rebecca came back into the room. “What?”
Catherine handed her the note.
May you like
Rebecca read it and swore.
She was married to Catherine’s older brother, David, who had died three years earlier from a ruptured aneurysm while jogging. Since then, Rebecca had become family through deliberate choice rather than marriage. She was a middle-school principal, wore sneakers with business clothes, and had no patience for the polished evasions of Catherine’s world.
