Chương 13
“Good.”
“I’m saying everything is unstable.”
“He sounded unstable.”
That word frightened me.
“What does that mean?”
“He was angry.”
“At you?”
“At everyone.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten himself?”
“No.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Claire exhaled.
“He said you were turning people against him.”
I closed my eyes.
“What else?”
“He said he needed something in his life that you couldn’t take.”
My fingers went cold.
“Did he mean Evan?”
“I think so.”
“Claire.”
“I know.”
“No, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“Do not leave with Evan.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Lock the door.”
“It’s locked.”
“Don’t open it if Jason comes.”
“He’s my brother.”
“I know.”
Silence.
That was the problem.
Claire loved him.
Not blindly.
Not completely.
But enough that every instruction I gave sounded like an accusation against someone she still remembered carrying her bicycle home after the chain broke when she was twelve.
“He’s never hurt Evan,” she said.
“I know.”
“He’s a good father.”
“He can be.”
“He is.”
I let that stand.
I had no interest in stealing every good thing from Jason because he had done bad ones.
“I’m not asking you to choose between us.”
“It feels like you are.”
“I’m asking you not to make a custody decision for us.”
Claire breathed into the phone.
“That’s fair.”
“Can Anthony come get you and Evan?”
“I don’t need a driver.”
“It’s not about the driver.”
“You want a witness.”
I said nothing.
“God.”
Her whisper turned bitter.
“This is what we’re doing now?”
“For today.”
“I hate this.”
“So do I.”
She was silent again.
Then she said, “Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me like I work for you.”
“I’m not.”
“It sounded like it.”
“Sorry.”
“That sounded worse.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
She did too, briefly.
Then Evan made a small waking noise against her.
“I have to go.”
“Call me if Jason shows up.”
I contacted a family-law attorney Leah recommended.
Her name was Meredith Sloan.
She answered while apparently walking somewhere, because I heard traffic and heels striking pavement.
“Your general counsel says this is urgent.”
“My husband may be going to retrieve our son from his sister.”
“Do you have a court order?”
“No.”
“Written custody agreement?”
“No.”
“Has he threatened the child?”
“No.”
“Has he threatened you?”
“No direct threats.”
“Any history of child abuse?”
“No.”
“Substance abuse?”
“Not that I know of.”
She stopped walking.
“Then you need to hear something you may not like.”
“Go ahead.”
“You and your husband currently have equal parental rights absent an order saying otherwise.”
“I understand.”
“If his sister voluntarily releases the child to him, that is not kidnapping.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She started walking again.
“We can seek temporary orders, but judges care about facts, not marital disgust.”
“I’m not trying to keep Evan from him.”
“Then don’t act like you are.”
The bluntness irritated me.
That was probably why Leah recommended her.
“I want stability.”
“Then build a record of stability.”
“How?”
“Offer a reasonable temporary parenting arrangement in writing through counsel.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“And if he refuses?”
“Then we know something.”
“What should I offer?”
“We’ll discuss details privately, but start with continued contact, neutral exchanges, no removal from the state without consent, and no using the child as leverage.”
My jaw tightened.
“That last part should be obvious.”
“So should not calling your mother-in-law trash at a christening.”
I went quiet.
Meredith continued.
“People need obvious things written down when they’re behaving badly.”
“Fair.”
“Also, do not threaten him with custody because of the business investigation.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Good.”
“Do not connect financial support to access.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Do not post anything.”
“I haven’t.”
“Do not let friends post on your behalf.”
“I can’t control them.”
“You can tell them to stop.”
“I don’t have many friends who post about me.”
“That is the first useful thing you’ve said.”
I almost smiled.
By four, Anthony had collected Claire and Evan.
He took them to my mother’s apartment because Mom refused to come to Manhattan and announced that reporters were less frightening than hospital cafeteria coffee.
I wanted to go there immediately.
Leah stopped me.
“There’s one more meeting.”
“With whom?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
My stomach tightened.
“They want me?”
“They want company counsel.”
“Then why am I involved?”
“You’re not.”
I stared at her.
“That sentence keeps getting worse.”
“They have questions about Vance-affiliated lenders.”
“Which I’m recused from.”
“Yes.”
“So I’m leaving.”
“Good.”
She looked almost disappointed that I had made the sensible choice.
I picked up my bag.
At the door, I stopped.
“Leah.”
“Yes?”
“Is Jason under criminal investigation?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does the preservation request mean he is?”
“No.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means the government wants records preserved while it determines what happened.”
“So we know nothing.”
“We know enough not to destroy documents.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
I left through a service elevator because reporters had gathered in the lobby.
The absurdity of sneaking out of a building with my own last name on the directory was not lost on me.
Anthony had sent another driver.
A young man named Luis opened the door and said, “Ms. Vance, your mother told me to make sure you eat.”
“Did she threaten you?”
“She made me take cookies.”
“That is how it starts.”
He handed me a napkin-wrapped bundle.
Inside were three chocolate-chip cookies.
I ate two before we crossed the Queensboro Bridge.
By the time I reached Mom’s apartment, Claire was sitting on the living-room floor surrounded by plastic stacking rings.
Evan spotted me and immediately began bouncing.
Whatever dignity I had maintained all day disappeared.
I dropped my bag and sat beside him.
“Hi, bug.”
He grabbed my face with both hands.
One finger went into my mouth.
“Great.”
Claire laughed.
“He’s been licking the coffee table.”
“Why?”
“Because babies are disgusting.”
Mom called from the kitchen.
May you like
“I said that when you were little.”
“You also let me eat paste.”
