Chương 6
“After Ethan died, Natalie asked me not to tell you until after the funeral.”
Adrian’s gaze lifted.
“And after the funeral?”
“She asked for another week.”
“And then another.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked at Theo.
“Because you were barely functioning.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“You don’t get to decide what truth I can survive.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You know that because you got caught.”
Victoria flinched.
Claire looked away.
The house outside the nursery had begun to wake.
A vacuum cleaner started somewhere on the first floor.
Someone rolled a cart down the hall.
The ordinary sounds made the scene feel indecent.
At ten fifty-seven, Adrian arrived at Samuel Grant’s office carrying no baby.
Theo remained at the mansion with Mrs. Alvarez, who had returned at eight and responded to the entire crisis by saying, “Good. Everyone is terrible. Give me the child.”
Claire loved her for it.
Claire was not supposed to attend the meeting.
At ten forty-nine, Natalie texted her.
Please come.
Claire showed Samuel.
He frowned.
“Do you want to?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
“Do I have to?”
“No.”
Claire looked through the glass wall toward the conference room.
Adrian stood at one end.
Victoria stood near the windows.
There was one empty chair.
Claire thought about ten thousand dollars in an envelope inside the bottom drawer of her apartment dresser.
She thought about the baby sleeping upstairs while four adults decided what words they were going to use around his life.
“I’ll go in.”
Natalie arrived four minutes late.
She wore cream trousers, a long gray cardigan, and sunglasses despite being indoors.
Without makeup, she looked younger than thirty-two and far more tired.
Claire had seen her six hours after labor.
She had looked less exhausted then.
Natalie removed the sunglasses.
Her eyes went first to Claire.
Then Adrian.
She stopped.
Adrian did not move toward her.
Neither did Victoria.
Samuel pulled out the empty chair.
“Natalie.”
“I’m not staying long.”
“You came. That is enough for the moment.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Where is Theo?”
“With Mrs. Alvarez.”
Natalie’s shoulders lowered by a fraction.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did he eat?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Ten.”
“Two ounces?”
“Three.”
She blinked.
“Three?”
“He was hungry.”
Something moved across her face, grief or relief or both.
Adrian saw it.
For half a second they looked like two ordinary new parents discussing feeding.
Then Natalie noticed the laboratory report on the table.
Her face emptied.
“You opened it.”
Adrian gave a quiet breath.
“You paid an employee to hide it from me.”
Natalie sat.
Not because Samuel told her to.
Because her knees seemed to give up.
Claire remained near the wall.
Natalie looked at her.
“You said you would keep it.”
Claire swallowed.
“I did.”
“Then how does he have it?”
“He came home.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Adrian’s voice turned cold.
“The deal.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Don’t.”
“No, please. I’ve heard about ten thousand dollars. I’d like to know the rest.”
Natalie looked at Claire again.
“You weren’t supposed to be in that room with Theo.”
“I was taking him upstairs.”
“You were supposed to stay in the guest suite until I called.”
“You left.”
“I needed an hour.”
“You didn’t say that.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
Claire nodded.
“No.”
Natalie’s eyes sharpened.
“That sounded judgmental.”
“It was.”
Victoria murmured, “Claire.”
Claire looked at her.
“No.”
Victoria stopped.
Natalie stared at Claire for several seconds.
Then she gave a tiny, broken laugh.
“At least somebody stopped being afraid of us.”
Adrian’s gaze remained fixed on his wife.
“When did you sleep with Ethan?”
Samuel said, “Adrian—”
“No. We are not spending six weeks circling the date.”
Natalie looked at the table.
“February twelfth.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Claire understood nothing about the date.
Victoria did.
“Oh,” she whispered.
Adrian leaned back.
“That was the night of my father’s dinner.”
Natalie nodded.
The Cole family had celebrated their father’s seventieth birthday at a private dining room in Manhattan.
Claire had not worked the event.
Adrian stared past Natalie.
“I left early.”
“Yes.”
“Because Arizona called.”
“Yes.”
“I came home at two.”
Natalie’s hands folded in her lap.
“Yes.”
“Were you here?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Ethan’s apartment.”
The room became very still.
Samuel moved the water pitcher closer to Natalie.
She ignored it.
Adrian’s voice remained controlled.
“How long?”
“Two hours. Maybe.”
“And it happened once.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Natalie looked up.
“That answer will either sound like an excuse or like I’m trying to hurt you.”
“Try me.”
She rubbed her palms against her trousers.
“We had been trying to have a baby for almost a year.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“I remember.”
“I know you remember.”
“Then what?”
“You were gone all the time.”
“I was working.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Natalie inhaled.
“You were working. I was lonely. That does not make what I did okay.”
Adrian’s mouth tightened.
She went on.
“I drank too much at dinner. Ethan drove me because you had taken the car. I was angry at you. He was angry at his girlfriend. We talked. Then we did something stupid.”
“Stupid.”
“Yes.”
“Useful word.”
“I don’t have a better one.”
He looked away.
Natalie’s voice became smaller.
“I hated myself before I got home.”
“Yet you didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“You found out you were pregnant when?”
“March third.”
“And you told me that night.”
“Yes.”
Adrian laughed once.
“I opened champagne.”
Natalie lowered her eyes.
“I remember.”
“Did you know it could be his?”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
Claire watched Adrian’s hand curl against the edge of the table.
“What happened in April?”
Natalie answered more quickly now, as if the worst part was already in the room.
“Ethan started counting.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Natalie glanced at her.
“He came to me after Easter. He said the dates were possible. I told him to stay out of it. He said he couldn’t.”
Adrian asked, “So you told Victoria.”
May you like
“No. Ethan did.”
Victoria nodded.
