Chương 4
Alexander almost admired the sentence.
It managed to call four children liars without using the word.
“Then you should be eager for the building footage to clarify it.”
Mercer slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“I don’t answer to you.”
“No.”
Alexander nodded toward Claire.
“You answer to her question.”
Claire was staring at Mercer now.
“Why did you go to my apartment?”
“I told you.”
“You could have emailed the documents.”
“They were confidential.”
“You could have brought them this morning.”
“You weren’t responding.”
“That was intentional.”
“Claire, this constant hostility is exactly what has people concerned about your judgment.”
Emma’s hand found her mother’s.
Claire looked down at it.
Something in her face steadied.
“Leave.”
Mercer gave her a long look.
Not theatrical.
Not furious.
Wounded, almost.
That made him more difficult to read.
“You are making a serious mistake.”
“Maybe.”
“You think he is going to help you?”
Claire glanced at Alexander.
“I have no idea what he’s going to do.”
“That should terrify you.”
“It does a little.”
Alexander lifted an eyebrow.
Claire gave him a brief exhausted look.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Mercer’s mouth twisted.
“This is unbelievable.”
“No,” Alexander said.
“It’s merely inconvenient.”
Mercer stepped backward.
The broad man who had remained near the entrance moved with him.
Before turning away, Mercer looked at Lily.
The child shrank against her chair.
Alexander saw it.
Mercer saw that he saw it.
Neither man said anything.
Then Mercer left.
The broad man followed.
Through the window, Alexander watched them cross the sidewalk toward a black sedan.
Mercer stopped beside the rear door and immediately made a call.
Claire sat down without being invited.
Her knees seemed to have lost their usefulness.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Sophie said, “Are we in trouble?”
Claire looked at her.
“Yes.”
All four girls went quiet.
Claire closed her eyes.
“No, sweetheart, not like that.”
She reached across and touched Sophie’s hand.
“You are not in trouble.”
“You said yes.”
“I meant we have a problem.”
“That’s different.”
“It is.”
Lily looked at Alexander.
“Are you still our dad?”
Claire covered her face with one hand.
Alexander considered the question.
“Your mother appears to need coffee before we negotiate further terms.”
Claire lowered her hand.
“I don’t drink coffee.”
“Tea?”
“Coffee.”
Alexander almost smiled.
A server approached cautiously.
Claire ordered black coffee, then changed it to a latte halfway through the sentence.
The server looked at Alexander.
“Another tea, Mr. Hayes?”
“Yes.”
The man left quickly.
Claire noticed.
“Does everyone know you?”
“No.”
“That sounded like a lie.”
“It was an incomplete answer.”
“Is that what you call lying?”
“When I’m being generous with myself.”
For the first time since reaching the table, Claire laughed.
It came out unexpectedly and died just as fast.
She rubbed beneath one eye with the heel of her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“You apologize frequently.”
“I have four daughters.”
“That doesn’t explain it.”
“It explains more than you think.”
Emma climbed into the chair beside her.
Claire immediately started fixing the girl’s ribbon.
Emma endured the attention with the suffering expression of someone who considered herself too old for public grooming.
Alexander looked away.
He had once attempted to tie Ethan’s school tie after watching a three-minute video on his phone.
The result had resembled a noose designed by a drunk architect.
Ethan had taken one look in the mirror and said, with extraordinary gentleness for an eight-year-old, “Maybe Mrs. Cole can help.”
Alexander had threatened a union president before breakfast that day.
The tie defeated him.
His phone vibrated.
Marcus.
Alexander answered.
“You’ve missed the warehouse meeting,” Marcus said without greeting.
“Move it.”
Silence.
“Move the warehouse?”
“The meeting.”
“Good, because I was about to ask where you planned to put six hundred thousand square feet of brick.”
Alexander looked at Claire.
She was pretending not to listen.
“An hour.”
Marcus sighed.
“Something happen?”
“Yes.”
“Something with guns?”
“No.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Federal agents?”
“No.”
“Then I’m scared to ask.”
“Children.”
Marcus was silent again.
“How many?”
“Four.”
“That is more children than I expected.”
Alexander ended the call.
Claire stared at him.
“Was that about me?”
“No.”
“That sounded like it became about me.”
“It became about my schedule.”
“I’m disrupting your work.”
“Yes.”
She blinked.
Most people preferred reassurance.
Alexander rarely provided it when the truth was simpler.
Claire looked down at the table.
“I should take them home.”
Emma immediately said, “No.”
Claire frowned.
“Emma.”
“He knows where we live.”
Claire’s shoulders tightened.
“Mrs. DeLuca is there.”
“He knows when she goes downstairs.”
The latte arrived.
Claire did not touch it.
Alexander’s fresh tea came with a tiny wrapped biscuit he had not ordered.
Lily took it.
“You should ask.”
She froze with the wrapper halfway open.
“Can I have it?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Claire looked at Alexander.
“You don’t have to get involved.”
“I am already involved.”
“You can stop.”
“So can Mercer.”
She picked up the latte and put it down without drinking.
“You don’t understand who he is.”
“That problem seems reversible.”
“Daniel is our chief operating officer.”
“Our?”
“My company.”
“Bennett Medical Logistics.”
She nodded.
“My father started it thirty-one years ago with two leased vans and a warehouse that flooded every spring.”
She glanced at the girls.
“He died last year.”
Emma looked down.
Claire reached for her daughter’s hand.
“My brother and I inherited controlling shares, but Michael has been living in Singapore for most of the last six years.”
“Which left you running the company.”
“Mostly.”
“And Mercer?”
“My father hired him fourteen years ago.”
Claire wrapped both hands around the coffee cup.
“He was good at his job.”
The past tense was deliberate.
Alexander waited.
Claire watched steam curl from the cup.
“After my husband died, Daniel started helping more.”
Alexander’s eyes shifted to the girls.
Lily was carefully dividing his biscuit into five unequal pieces.
“How long ago?”
“Three years.”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire nodded without looking at him.
May you like
“Car accident.”
No explanation followed.
