Chương 5
Jules lived in a second-floor apartment above a dental office. The building smelled of laundry soap and cumin from the restaurant next door. Her living room contained three unmatched lamps, two bicycles, and a sofa that unfolded only if someone kicked the left leg.
Theo fell asleep sideways on it with the red airplane tucked beneath his chin.
Jules sat on the floor in pajama pants while Mara called three attorneys. One did not answer. One said the matter sounded more appropriate for family mediation. The third listened until Mara mentioned the security recording, then asked whether she anticipated a custody dispute.
“There is no custody dispute,” Mara said. “His father is dead.”
A pause followed.
“I’m sorry.”
“It happened three years ago.”
The attorney’s voice changed. “Who owns the residence?”
“My father.”
“And the woman?”
“His fiancée.”
“Were you paying rent?”
“No.”
“Do you have reason to believe your father may attempt to keep the child from you?”
Mara looked at Theo.
“No.”
“Then what outcome are you seeking?”
The question unsettled her because she did not yet know.
Punishment sounded childish. An apology sounded useless. An arrest seemed disproportionate and unlikely. She wanted the act named accurately. She wanted Isabelle kept away from Theo. She wanted Arthur to choose his grandson without first consulting the consequences to himself.
“I want the recording preserved,” Mara said.
“That we can address.”
By midnight, the attorney had emailed a preservation notice for the estate’s surveillance system, household records, and communications relating to the incident. Her name was Dana Cho. She did not promise justice. Mara trusted her more for that.
Jules made tea neither woman drank.
“Do you think your father will delete it?” she asked.
“No.”
“You said that too fast.”
Mara rubbed her eyes. “He won’t personally delete it.”
“Ah.”
“He’ll tell himself the system overwrote it. Or Mercer misunderstood. Or someone in security made a routine error.”
“You make him sound like a man who has spent his life paying other people to be the bad part of his decisions.”
“That is almost unfair.”
“Almost?”
“He also pays them to be the boring part.”
Jules looked toward Theo. “What did he say?”
“Not much.”
“Kids are weird after something scares them. When my nephew locked himself in that museum bathroom, he spent two days telling everyone the hand dryer had tried to eat him.”
Mara gave a tired laugh. It arrived at the wrong moment and turned into a sob before she could stop it.
Jules moved closer but did not touch her.
“I saw his face,” Mara said. “He looked embarrassed.”
“He didn’t do anything.”
“I know. But he thought he had.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
“I brought him there.”
“You brought him to his grandfather’s house. That isn’t reckless.”
“I knew Isabelle disliked us.”
“Disliking someone and pouring juice over their kid are not the same category.”
“I kept translating her behavior into something manageable. She moved his toys, and I called her tidy. She told him not to speak during breakfast, and I called her formal. She asked the staff not to give him snacks without her approval, and I called it controlling because abusive felt too dramatic.”
Jules leaned her head against the sofa.
“Sometimes dramatic is just accurate.”
At six the next morning, Theo woke screaming.
He kicked free of the blanket and struck Mara in the mouth with his forehead when she reached for him. For several seconds he did not recognize the room. Then he saw Jules standing in the kitchen and began to cry from embarrassment.
Mara held him until his breathing slowed.
“What happened in your dream?”
He shook his head.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“She poured the purple.”
“I know.”
“Did I listen?”
The question made no sense until Mara remembered Isabelle’s sentence.
Maybe now you’ll listen.
“You did nothing wrong,” she said. “Grown-ups aren’t allowed to scare you because they’re annoyed.”
“Grandpa didn’t stop her.”
“He wasn’t there when it happened.”
“He came after.”
“Yes.”
Theo twisted the airplane’s front wheel.
“He didn’t make her sorry.”
Mara had no answer that would not turn her child into a witness against someone he loved.
“He should have taken better care of you,” she said.
Theo nodded once, as if confirming something for himself.
At nine, Arthur called.
Mara let it ring until Theo was eating cereal at the kitchen counter.
“There has been a preservation request,” Arthur said when she answered.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Your attorney’s language is unnecessarily adversarial.”
“She used words you couldn’t soften.”
“The recording is secure.”
“Send it.”
“I want to discuss it first.”
“You’ve had the night.”
“And you have had several hours to become more upset.”
Mara looked at the ceiling.
“What does that mean?”
“It means anger is affecting your judgment.”
“My judgment got Theo out of your house.”
“He was never in danger from me.”
“You protected the person who frightened him.”
“I did not protect her.”
“You gave her a hotel and an attorney.”
“She engaged the attorney herself.”
“From your west sitting room.”
Arthur went silent.
In the background on his end, a door closed.
“The footage is not as simple as you suggest,” he said.
“Then send it.”
“Leonard is still coming at eleven. I propose that you attend the meeting as planned. We can review everything with him.”
“The trust meeting?”
“It concerns your future and Theo’s.”
“Isabelle poured juice on him yesterday, and you still think today is about whether I take a board seat.”
“The foundation does not cease to exist because of a family dispute.”
“A family dispute.”
“That was not the phrasing I intended.”
“It was the phrasing you chose.”
“Mara, do not sacrifice your son’s financial security to prove you cannot be controlled.”
May you like
She gripped the phone.
There were sentences Arthur delivered so smoothly that their cruelty could be missed. This was one. He had made her refusal sound selfish, her anger theatrical, and his money a form of parental wisdom.
