Chương 5
“Sophie did?”
Maya nodded.
“She pushed Vanessa’s hand away.”
Six years old.
Forty-three pounds.
Barely tall enough to reach Vanessa’s waist.
“And Vanessa?”
Maya swallowed.
“She shoved her.”
The room went very quiet.
“Hard?”
“Hard enough.”
Maya’s voice cracked.
“Sophie went backward into the fountain. I grabbed her dress. She pulled me in.”
Ethan looked down at the sleeping child.
He imagined that fraction of a second.
Sophie falling.
Maya reaching.
Water.
Panic.
By the time Ethan heard Maya scream, Sophie had been beneath the surface.
He did not remember deciding to jump.
One moment he was twenty feet away.
The next he was in the water.
Martinez closed her notebook.
“We’ve located Ms. Price.”
“Where?” Ethan asked.
“She left the venue before officers arrived.”
“Of course she did.”
“She has since contacted an attorney. We’re working through that process.”
Ethan almost asked whether she would be arrested.
He stopped.
Real life did not move at the speed rage preferred.
“What about Ryan?”
“We’re still establishing exactly what he intended and what he knew would happen.”
“He told someone to make a six-year-old disappear.”
“He told someone to remove Ms. Bennett and your daughter from the wedding. What that means legally depends on evidence and context. The physical act at the fountain is clearer.”
Ethan disliked the answer.
That did not make it wrong.
Martinez stood.
“I’m not telling you to be patient. I’m telling you not to make this harder to investigate.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You think I’m going to do something?”
“I think your brother is downstairs.”
Maya looked up.
“He’s here?”
“He came voluntarily with his father and an attorney.”
Ethan laughed softly.
“Of course he brought an attorney.”
Martinez gave him a level look.
“That’s not evidence of guilt.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You thought it loudly.”
For the first time all night, Ethan almost genuinely smiled.
Martinez left.
Maya rested her head against the wall.
After a minute, Ethan said, “Why were we even at that wedding?”
She opened her eyes.
“Your father.”
“That’s not enough.”
“You wanted to come.”
“I wanted to confront Ryan.”
“You said you wouldn’t.”
“I said I wouldn’t do it during the wedding.”
“Apparently your schedule changed.”
He looked at her.
She regretted it immediately.
“Sorry.”
“No.”
Ethan sat back.
“That was almost funny.”
Maya let out a tired breath.
“I hate you a little when you get reasonable.”
“I’m not reasonable.”
“No. But you look like you are, which is worse.”
Sophie slept between them.
For the first time since the fountain, neither of them spoke about Ryan.
At four thirty in the morning, Sophie was discharged.
Ethan’s father was waiting in the hallway.
Thomas had removed his bow tie. His tuxedo jacket hung over one arm, and his white shirt was wrinkled at the waist. He seemed older than he had at dinner.
Ethan stopped.
Maya did too.
Thomas looked at Sophie.
“How is she?”
“Going home,” Ethan said.
“Can I see her?”
Sophie was awake, leaning against Ethan’s shoulder.
She looked at Thomas.
“Grandpa?”
Thomas’s face crumpled.
He recovered quickly, but not quickly enough.
“Hey, peanut.”
She reached for him.
Ethan hesitated.
He hated himself for it.
Then he transferred her carefully into Thomas’s arms.
Thomas held her as if she were made of warm glass.
“You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
“No.”
Thomas kissed her wet-smelling hair.
“No, sweetheart. You don’t apologize.”
Sophie touched his shirt collar.
“Your flower is gone.”
Thomas looked down at the place where his boutonniere had been.
“I lost it.”
“It was nice.”
“It was.”
Ryan appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Ethan saw him before Thomas did.
Ryan had changed clothes.
Gray sweatpants, hospital gift-shop sweatshirt, no tuxedo.
For some reason, that made Ethan angrier than the tuxedo had.
Ryan stopped when he saw Sophie in their father’s arms.
Thomas turned.
His face hardened.
“Stay there.”
Ryan did.
Maya took Sophie back.
Ethan moved into the corridor.
Ryan raised both hands slightly.
“I’m not coming closer.”
“Good.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“No.”
“Please.”
There was something humiliating about hearing Ryan say please.
Ethan had wanted it.
Now it gave him nothing.
“My attorney told me not to speak to you.”
“For once, take professional advice.”
“I need you to know I didn’t tell Vanessa to hurt anybody.”
Ethan stared at him.
“I didn’t.”
“You told her to get them out.”
“Yes.”
“You told her to make them disappear.”
“For twenty minutes.”
Ethan took a step forward.
Ryan did not retreat.
“Do you think the twenty minutes helps?”
“No.”
“You think saying you only wanted your daughter hidden until your first dance makes you sound better?”
Ryan’s eyes flicked toward Sophie.
Ethan saw it.
“Don’t.”
Ryan looked back at him.
“What?”
“Don’t look at her like you get to feel something useful now.”
“That’s not fair.”
Maya made a sound behind Ethan.
Ryan’s eyes moved toward her.
“Maya.”
“Don’t say my name.”
He stopped.
Thomas stepped between his sons.
“We are not doing this in a hospital corridor.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Careful, Dad. You’re starting to sound like the rest of us.”
Thomas absorbed that without answering.
Ryan rubbed his palms against the thighs of his sweatpants.
“I panicked.”
Ethan waited.
Ryan looked at the floor.
“Claire’s father saw Sophie. He asked why she looked like me.”
“And?”
“I thought he was joking.”
“Was he?”
“No.”
Ethan glanced at Thomas.
His father looked stunned.
“You knew?” Thomas asked Ryan.
Ryan’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“For six years?”
“Yes.”
Thomas took one step backward.
“You let me hold her.”
Ryan frowned.
“What?”
“You let me hold that child every Christmas. Every birthday.”
“She’s Ethan’s daughter.”
The sentence hit all of them differently.
Ethan felt something fierce and almost grateful.
Maya closed her eyes.
Thomas stared at Ryan.
Ryan realized too late what he had said.
“I mean—”
“No,” Ethan said. “You got one thing right tonight.”
Ryan looked at him.
May you like
Ethan’s voice softened.
“She is my daughter.”
