Chương 4
After several minutes, Claire said, “She didn’t hit me.”
He stared at the IV pump.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were going to.”
“Yes.”
“She never hit me.”
“What did she do?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Adrian waited.
The baby’s heartbeat continued in the room, fast and indifferent to adult shame.
“She came into our room every morning,” Claire said. “At first she said she was checking on me. Then she started opening the curtains because she said sleeping late made depression worse.”
“You don’t have depression.”
“She said pregnancy made me unreliable about my own mental state.”
Adrian’s hands tightened.
Claire saw and stopped.
“Keep going,” he said.
“I don’t know where to start.”
“Start wherever you can.”
“She moved my car keys.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. She said driving wasn’t safe this late in pregnancy.”
“You drove two days before I left.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you use the spare?”
“She had that too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Claire turned her head toward him. “I did.”
The words landed without force. They did not need it.
“You said she was going through the mail.”
“I said she took my keys.”
“When?”
“The second night you were gone. I called during your dinner.”
He remembered the restaurant in Singapore. Twelve people at a long table. His phone buzzing near his plate. Claire saying something about keys while the lender’s regional director waited for him to return to a conversation.
He had stepped into the corridor.
“Can this wait?” he had asked.
“She took my car keys.”
“You shouldn’t be driving if you’re dizzy.”
“I said I was dizzy one time.”
“Then use the car service.”
“She canceled the account.”
He had pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Claire, I’m about to go back into dinner. Ask her for the keys.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“She said no.”
“Then tell her I said to give them back.”
There had been a silence.
“You tell her,” Claire said.
“I will. After dinner.”
He had forgotten.
Adrian stood abruptly and walked to the window.
The parking garage filled most of the view. Beyond it, bare trees stood against a washed-out sky.
“What else?” he asked.
Claire’s voice changed. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn into a wall and ask for evidence.”
He faced her.
“I need to understand.”
“You need a list because a list makes this something you can solve.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“Now.”
The word cut through him more cleanly than anger would have.
Claire looked back at the monitor. “She changed the alarm code. She told the grocery service not to accept orders from my profile because I was wasting money. She took the mail. She answered your calls twice and said I was sleeping.”
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
She gave him a stunned look.
“What was I supposed to say? My mother-in-law won’t let me order groceries from the expensive market? She moved my keys? She’s mean to me when no one else is in the room?”
“She locked you in a bedroom.”
“Today.”
“Once is enough.”
“Today I told her I was going to call you and tell you about the guarantee papers. She took my phone. I tried to leave. She locked the door.”
Adrian returned to the chair.
“What guarantee papers?”
Claire swallowed.
“They came by courier three days ago. A folder from Halsey Bank. Your name was on the cover, but there was a form for me. Spousal acknowledgment and consent to a lien.”
“A lien on what?”
“The house.”
He stared at her.
“She said the company needed short-term liquidity until the Singapore deal closed. She said it was technical and temporary. I read enough to understand that our house would secure part of the loan.”
Adrian shook his head. “I refused that structure.”
“She said you had reconsidered.”
“I didn’t.”
“I asked to speak to you.”
His phone had been on the table in front of him during twelve-hour negotiations. He had received no message about loan papers.
“She told me you were under pressure and I would make it worse. She said the documents had to be signed before New York opened today.”
“Where are they?”
“I hid them.”
“Where?”
Claire looked away.
“Claire.”
“I’m not telling you yet.”
The refusal stunned him.
She pressed her lips together. “I need you to stop sounding like her.”
He leaned back.
The IV pump clicked.
Adrian rubbed both palms over his jeans. “Okay.”
“You say okay like you’re waiting for me to become reasonable.”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“That makes two of us.”
They sat without speaking.
A food-service employee brought a tray with toast, eggs, oatmeal, and coffee. Claire stared at it as if it belonged to someone else. Adrian lifted the plastic lid from the oatmeal and found a packet of brown sugar beneath it.
“You hate hospital oatmeal,” he said.
“I’ve never had hospital oatmeal.”
“You hate all oatmeal.”
“I hate overnight oats. They’re cold paste people photograph.”
He almost laughed. The sound emerged as breath.
Claire picked up the toast and took one bite.
Adrian’s phone vibrated. Evelyn’s name appeared on the screen.
He silenced it.
Claire watched him.
“You should answer,” she said.
“No.”
“You have a company.”
“I have a wife in labor and delivery.”
“I am not in labor.”
“You might be.”
“You disappearing from your job won’t make me safer.”
He looked at the phone again.
“You want me to call her?”
“I want you to call whoever is not your mother and find out what’s happening. If she tried to put our house into a loan you rejected, this isn’t only about what she did to me.”
Adrian stood. “I’ll call Daniel.”
“Who is Daniel?”
“The CFO.”
“I’ve met Daniel six times.”
“I know.”
“You introduced us every time.”
He shut his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
May you like
“That one was almost funny.”
He stepped into the hallway and called Daniel Morse, who answered before the first ring finished.
