Chương 3
Evelyn’s face tightened.
Arthur lifted both hands.
“Everybody needs to lower their voice.”
“No one is shouting,” Genevieve said.
“You’re making this into something it isn’t.”
“What is it, then?”
Arthur glanced toward Evelyn.
That glance lasted less than a second.
It was enough.
Genevieve saw it too.
“So there is something.”
Arthur sighed.
“Your father’s company was going to acquire land we had an interest in.”
Daniel muttered beside me.
“What land?”
I shook my head.
I could barely hear him over the blood pounding in my ears.
Arthur continued.
“We needed to know how serious his plans were.”
“So you sent your daughter to sleep with him?”
Evelyn slapped Genevieve.
The sound cracked through the laptop speakers.
Behind me, Toby whimpered.
I turned immediately.
He had climbed onto the bed and pulled one of the pillows against his chest.
I closed the laptop halfway.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“That’s what he saw.”
Toby shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“No what, buddy?”
“Evie hit Mommy more.”
My stomach seemed to drop through the floor.
“More when?”
Toby pointed toward the laptop.
“After.”
Daniel crouched beside him.
“Did you see it yourself?”
Toby nodded.
“Where were you?”
“In Mommy car.”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
The garage video had been recorded two nights earlier.
Genevieve must have brought Toby with her.
“What were you doing in the car?”
“Mommy said cartoons.”
He rubbed one eye with his fist.
“She said don’t get out.”
Daniel stood.
“She knew she was going into a confrontation.”
“She thought she had proof.”
“That doesn’t make bringing a three-year-old smart.”
“I know.”
The words came sharper than I intended.
Toby looked at me.
I lowered my voice.
“I know.”
Someone’s shoes clicked away from the other side of the door.
Evelyn was gone.
Daniel picked up his phone.
“I’m calling Sarah.”
I didn’t stop him this time.
He put the call on speaker.
She answered on the second ring.
“Where are you?”
“Thomas’s suite.”
There was a pause.
Then Sarah said, “Is Toby with you?”
“Yes.”
“Thank God.”
My throat tightened.
“Sarah, where is Genevieve?”
Another pause.
Longer.
“She’s at St. Matthew’s.”
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“A hospital?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She collapsed at my house this morning.”
The room narrowed.
“What do you mean collapsed?”
“She got here around six.”
Sarah’s voice shook, though she was trying to control it.
“She looked awful, Tom.”
“What happened to her?”
“She wouldn’t tell me everything.”
“Is she awake?”
“She was when the ambulance came.”
“Was?”
“They sedated her for imaging because she was panicking and couldn’t hold still.”
My knees felt weak.
“Imaging for what?”
“She has a concussion.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“And bruising,” Sarah said.
“Her ribs.”
I looked at Toby.
He was watching the cartoon again, but the volume was low and his face was blank.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because Genevieve begged me not to.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
“Sarah.”
“She said if you knew she was at the hospital, you’d come, and if you came before you saw the drive, Evelyn would know something was wrong.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Sarah continued.
“She made me promise to wait until Toby gave it to you.”
“You let a three-year-old carry evidence into my wedding?”
“He wouldn’t give it to me.”
“What?”
“He had it in his pocket when she brought him over last night.”
“Last night?”
“Yes.”
The timeline twisted again.
“She brought him to you last night?”
“For about twenty minutes.”
“Then where did he sleep?”
“With Genevieve.”
I looked at Daniel.
He was already taking notes on a hotel pad.
“What time did they leave your house?”
“Just after nine.”
“And then she came back at six this morning?”
“Alone.”
I stared at the half-closed laptop.
Toby had said he saw Evelyn hit his mother after the garage video.
That meant whatever happened after the camera stopped had involved him too.
“Sarah, did Genevieve say where she’d been?”
“She said she had to finish something.”
“What?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did she drive herself to you this morning?”
“No.”
That stopped me.
“How did she get there?”
“She walked.”
Sarah’s voice cracked.
“Tom, she walked almost a mile.”
I sat down.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
The wedding music carried faintly through the walls.
Somewhere downstairs, people were still waiting for me to marry a woman who had apparently entered my life under instructions from her father.
“Stay with Genevieve,” I said.
“I am.”
“Don’t tell anyone we spoke.”
“I won’t.”
“Not even hospital staff about Evelyn unless they ask directly.”
Daniel raised a finger.
“Careful.”
I looked at him.
He mouthed, Don’t coach her.
I corrected myself.
“Just answer whatever they ask honestly.”
Sarah exhaled.
“Tom?”
“Yes?”
“She was scared.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice lowered.
“I mean scared of you finding out.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“Why?”
“She thought you’d choose Evelyn.”
I looked away from Daniel.
For months, Genevieve and I had been speaking through clenched teeth disguised as politeness.
She had told me the engagement was too fast.
I told her she was being unfair.
She asked why Evelyn needed access to company events.
I accused her of treating my fiancée like a gold digger.
At Christmas, Genevieve had left dinner early after Evelyn announced we were changing the beneficiary structure of my family trust.
I had blamed my daughter for ruining the evening.
Sarah said softly, “She thought you’d think she was trying to sabotage the wedding.”
“She wasn’t wrong.”
Daniel looked at me.
I hated him for hearing that.
“I have to go,” Sarah said.
“A nurse is coming.”
“Call me if anything changes.”
The line went dead.
I opened the laptop again.
Toby immediately climbed off the bed.
“Grandpa.”
I turned.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t watch bad part.”
His face had gone pale.
I closed the laptop.
“Okay.”
May you like
He came over and leaned against my leg.
I lifted him onto my lap.
