Chương 5
None was needed.
Grace took one of Lily’s biscuit pieces.
Lily slapped her hand.
Claire corrected them automatically, her voice soft but tired.
Alexander waited until the girls settled.
“What changed with Mercer?”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the cup.
“At first, nothing.”
“That usually means something changed slowly.”
She looked at him then.
“Calls after dinner.”
“Work calls?”
“Always supposedly.”
“Showing up?”
“Eventually.”
“Gifts?”
“A bottle of wine.”
She paused.
“Then jewelry.”
“Did you return it?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He acted embarrassed.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Claire’s mouth tightened.
“He stopped being embarrassed.”
Alexander leaned back.
Outside, a city bus groaned to a stop and released a stream of commuters onto the sidewalk.
People hurried past the window carrying bags, umbrellas, breakfast sandwiches, private worries.
Inside, Lily arranged the remaining biscuit crumbs into a crooked smile.
Claire finally took a sip of her latte.
“Two months ago, my brother agreed to explore selling the company.”
“To whom?”
“A private equity group.”
“Mercer supports the sale?”
“He introduced them.”
There it was.
Alexander said nothing.
Claire watched him.
“You see something.”
“I see an incentive.”
Her face closed.
“For what?”
“For you to become easier to control.”
Claire’s phone buzzed on the table.
She looked at the screen and did not pick it up.
Alexander saw the name before it disappeared.
Michael.
Her brother.
The phone buzzed again.
Then a message appeared.
CALL ME NOW.
Claire turned the screen facedown.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Because I know what he’s going to say.”
“That Mercer called him?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And Michael will tell me to calm down.”
Sophie rolled her eyes with such familiarity that Alexander almost laughed.
Claire noticed.
“Do not do that.”
“Uncle Michael always says calm down.”
“That doesn’t mean you roll your eyes.”
“It makes me want to.”
Claire looked at Alexander as if asking whether all children were born skilled in insurrection.
He had no useful answer.
Her phone rang again.
This time she answered.
“Michael.”
Her brother’s voice was loud enough that Alexander heard its rhythm but not the words.
Claire’s spine straightened.
“No.”
A pause.
“No, that is not what happened.”
Another pause.
Her face changed.
“What did he tell you?”
Emma watched her mother.
Claire stood.
“Michael, stop talking for one second.”
She walked two steps away from the table, then remembered the girls and stopped.
“No, I did not bring Alexander Hayes into a board dispute.”
Alexander glanced at Lily.
Lily whispered, “Technically we did.”
He nodded.
Technically, she was right.
Claire turned slightly away.
“Because my daughters hid under his table.”
Her brother said something.
Claire flinched.
“That is not funny.”
Another pause.
“No.”
Her eyes moved toward Alexander.
“I don’t know why they chose him.”
Lily raised her hand.
Claire stared at her.
Lily whispered, “He looked safe.”
Claire’s expression nearly broke.
She turned away before her daughter could see.
“Michael, Daniel went to my apartment last night while I wasn’t there.”
The voice on the phone stopped.
Claire waited.
“Yes.”
Another silence.
“Grace saw him try the door.”
Her brother spoke again, slower now.
Claire’s face hardened.
“You think she imagined it?”
Grace heard.
The child’s chin dropped.
Alexander extended his hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Claire looked at him.
“What?”
“Your brother.”
“I am not giving you my phone.”
“Then put it on speaker.”
“Absolutely not.”
Michael’s voice rose again.
Claire closed her eyes.
Alexander held out his hand.
For three seconds neither moved.
Then Claire gave him the phone.
“Do not threaten my brother.”
Alexander put it to his ear.
“Michael Bennett.”
Silence.
Then a cautious male voice said, “Mr. Hayes.”
“Your niece says Daniel Mercer attempted to enter your sister’s apartment last night.”
“I heard.”
“Your first response was to question the child?”
“I didn’t say she was lying.”
“You asked whether she imagined it.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“To a seven-year-old, it probably is.”
Across the table, Grace looked up.
Michael exhaled.
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you on my sister’s phone?”
Alexander looked at Claire.
She folded her arms.
“Because your sister told me not to threaten you.”
Claire mouthed, Stop.
Michael was quiet for a beat.
“That does not answer my question.”
Alexander almost liked him.
“Check the building footage.”
“I’m twelve thousand miles away.”
“You have a phone.”
“So do building managers, apparently.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“I recognized it.”
Claire covered her eyes again.
Michael sighed.
“Mr. Hayes, with respect, my sister has been under enormous pressure.”
Alexander watched Claire lower her hand.
There was pain in her face now, but no surprise.
Michael continued.
“The sale is complicated, Dad’s death was complicated, and Daniel has been trying to keep the company functioning.”
“By proposing marriage?”
Silence.
Claire stared at Alexander.
He had not intended to reveal that.
Michael said, “He what?”
Alexander handed the phone back.
Claire did not take it.
“You didn’t tell him.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Because my private humiliation does not belong on a family conference call.”
The phone remained between them.
Michael’s voice came faintly through the speaker.
“Claire?”
She grabbed it.
“I’ll call you later.”
“Claire, wait.”
She ended the call.
For several seconds, anger held her upright.
Then it drained.
“You had no right.”
“No.”
The easy agreement unsettled her.
“No?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to justify it?”
“I made a mistake.”
She stared at him.
Alexander looked at the children.
Emma was watching both adults with the exhausted suspicion of someone who had spent too much time measuring grown-ups.
“I apologize,” he said.
Claire’s anger softened by a fraction.
“You’re very strange.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Her phone chimed.
A new message from Michael appeared.
I’M CALLING THE BUILDING MANAGER.
Then another.
DO NOT GO HOME YET.
Claire read both twice.
Alexander stood.
All four girls looked up immediately.
“So where do we go?” Emma asked.
Claire opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
May you like
Alexander buttoned his coat.
“For now, somewhere Mercer doesn’t expect you to be.”
