Chương 9
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“I know.”
“I’m still mad.”
“I know that too.”
Emma pulled away.
“Can I tell Lily she has to clean the syrup?”
“No.”
“She made the mess.”
“Also no.”
Emma walked into the living room muttering something about injustice.
Claire waited until she was gone.
Then she turned to Alexander.
“You are very good with eleven-year-olds for a man who looks terrified of eleven-year-olds.”
“I am terrified of all civilians under eighteen.”
“That seems sensible.”
Alexander nodded toward the phone in her hand.
“You should preserve that message.”
“I wasn’t planning to delete it.”
“I mean preserve it properly.”
Claire’s expression sharpened.
“How?”
“Do not forward it around unnecessarily.”
“Okay.”
“Take screenshots that show the sender, date, and full message.”
She nodded.
“Keep the original.”
“Obviously.”
“And tell Daniels and whoever is handling this on the legal side that you received it.”
Claire looked uneasy again.
Alexander noticed.
“What?”
“I haven’t told Daniels.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought he’d think I was trying to use it to save myself.”
Alexander stared at her.
Claire became defensive.
“You don’t know my company.”
“No.”
“You don’t know how they think.”
“No.”
“You’re doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
“The face.”
“I have only one.”
“You absolutely do not.”
Alexander folded his arms.
Claire looked down at the phone.
Then she sighed.
“Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Today.”
She looked up.
“Now you’re giving orders.”
“No.”
“That sounded exactly like an order.”
“It was a suggestion with posture.”
Claire laughed despite herself.
Then her expression sobered.
“You really think it matters?”
“Yes.”
“Legally?”
“I did not say that.”
She watched him carefully.
“Then how?”
“It matters because Mercer is asking you to change the factual record in exchange for something valuable to your employer.”
Claire’s face tightened.
Alexander continued.
“That does not automatically mean some specific legal conclusion.”
“I know.”
“But it matters.”
She stared at the screen.
“If I show Daniels, the deal is definitely dead.”
“Maybe.”
“If I don’t, there’s a chance Mercer reopens it.”
Alexander did not answer.
Claire looked at him.
“That is the part nobody wants to say out loud.”
“You just did.”
“He could still reopen it.”
“Yes.”
“If I told Daniels that Richard and I misunderstood each other.”
Alexander’s expression did not change.
Claire looked irritated.
“I’m not saying I’m going to.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You have the face again.”
Alexander leaned back against the counter.
“Then stop looking at it.”
She stared at him for another second.
Then her shoulders dropped.
“I hate this.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“I hate that I even understand why Daniels might want me to make it disappear.”
“That also sounds reasonable.”
“I hate that part of me wants to.”
Alexander said nothing.
Claire looked toward the living room.
Sophie had climbed onto the arm of the couch.
Grace was trying to pull her down.
Lily had somehow acquired the bakery bag.
Emma was taking it away from her.
Claire spoke so quietly Alexander almost missed it.
“If I lose my job, they pay for what he did.”
Alexander looked at the girls.
“Yes.”
Claire turned sharply.
She had expected contradiction.
He gave her none.
“Yes,” he repeated.
“That is one of the reasons this is hard.”
Her eyes filled, but she blinked the tears away.
“I thought you were going to tell me to be brave.”
“I have banned that word before noon.”
“Why?”
“People use it when they want somebody else to accept the cost.”
Claire studied him.
“That sounds personal.”
“It is.”
She waited.
Alexander did not elaborate.
After a moment she nodded.
“So what would you do?”
He looked at her.
“If it were me?”
“Yes.”
“That is not useful.”
“Why?”
“Because I do not have four daughters, your mortgage, your employer, or your history with Mercer.”
Claire looked frustrated.
“You must have an opinion.”
“I do.”
“What is it?”
“That you already know what you want to do.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Fantastic.”
“You asked.”
“I asked what you would do.”
“And I told you why that is the wrong question.”
“You’re irritating.”
“I have documentation.”
Claire glanced at the living room again.
Then she unlocked her phone.
Her thumb hovered over Daniels’s name.
She stopped.
Alexander waited.
She looked at him.
“Stay here.”
“I am standing in your kitchen.”
“You know what I mean.”
He did.
Claire walked into the dining room and pulled the sliding door partly closed.
Not all the way.
A deliberate choice.
Alexander stayed where he was.
He could hear only pieces of the conversation.
“Daniel, it’s Claire.”
A pause.
“No, nothing happened this morning.”
Another pause.
“I got an email from Richard Thursday night.”
Longer silence.
“No, I have not responded.”
Claire’s voice became tighter.
“I’m sending it to you now.”
Alexander turned away.
He rinsed a coffee mug that did not need rinsing.
The younger girls invaded the kitchen in a group.
Lily held the croissant bag.
“Can we have these?”
“You can have one.”
“There are six.”
“There are also six people.”
Lily counted.
“There are seven.”
Alexander looked around.
“You are correct.”
She frowned.
“You forgot yourself.”
“That happens.”
Grace reached into the bag.
Lily slapped her hand away.
“He said one.”
“You are not the croissant police.”
“I am holding the bag.”
“That does not make you police.”
Sophie looked toward the dining room.
“Mommy sounds mad.”
Alexander set the mug down.
“She is handling something.”
“Is it Mr. Mercer?”
Emma appeared behind them.
“Don’t.”
Sophie looked at her.
“Don’t what?”
“Ask.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“That is not a reason.”
Emma looked at Alexander with an expression that clearly said this was his fault somehow.
He shrugged.
“You started the doctrine.”
Emma rolled her eyes.
Claire’s voice rose briefly from the dining room.
“I am not asking you to choose me over the company.”
The kitchen became still.
Even Lily stopped touching the croissants.
Claire continued, quieter now.
May you like
“I am asking you not to ask me to lie for the company.”
Alexander felt Emma move beside him.
