Chương 7
“He called me.”
Adrian looked at his sister.
Victoria said, “He was frightened.”
“Ethan was never frightened.”
“Yes, he was. He just made it irritating for everyone else.”
Despite himself, Adrian almost smiled.
The expression vanished quickly.
Victoria continued.
“He wanted a test before he said anything to you. Natalie agreed. They used a private lab that arranged separate collections.”
Samuel tapped the report.
“We’ll confirm that.”
Natalie nodded.
“The preliminary result came online the morning of May twentieth.”
Three days before Ethan died.
Adrian went still.
“You knew.”
Natalie’s face crumpled for the first time.
“Yes.”
Victoria looked at her sharply.
“I thought the final report came after.”
“The paper report did.”
“But you saw the portal result.”
“Yes.”
Victoria sat back.
“You told me you were waiting.”
“I lied.”
Adrian looked at his sister.
Victoria stared at Natalie.
Something cold entered her expression.
“You let me defend you.”
“I was panicking.”
“You let me stand in Adrian’s house and tell him you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t ask you to say that.”
“You didn’t correct me.”
Natalie looked down.
For a moment the alliance between the two women simply disappeared.
Claire saw what secrecy did when there was no longer anyone outside it to deceive.
It turned inward.
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Did Ethan know?”
Natalie nodded.
“I called him.”
“What did he say?”
“He said we had to tell you.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“When?”
“He wanted to come over that night.”
“May twentieth.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“I asked him to wait.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“Why?”
“I begged him.”
“For what?”
“Until after your Phoenix deal closed. Until after your father’s follow-up surgery. Until I had figured out what I was going to do.”
“What you were going to do.”
“With the baby.”
The word hung between them.
Adrian’s voice changed.
“What did you consider?”
Natalie looked frightened now.
“Not hurting him.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I didn’t consider ending the pregnancy, if that’s what you’re asking. I was seven months pregnant.”
“I’m asking whether you considered leaving.”
“Yes.”
“With Ethan?”
“No.”
“Did he want you?”
Natalie looked at him.
“That’s a cruel question.”
“Answer it.”
“I don’t know.”
He stared at her.
“I never asked.”
Samuel intervened.
“That’s enough.”
Adrian did not look at him.
Samuel’s voice hardened.
“Enough for now.”
This time Adrian stopped.
Natalie took the water.
Her hand shook against the glass.
Claire watched her drink.
It would have been easier to hate her if she looked satisfied.
She looked sick.
“What happened on May twenty-third?” Adrian asked.
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“He texted me that morning.”
Adrian’s head lifted.
Samuel immediately said, “Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Do not delete anything.”
“I haven’t.”
“What did he say?” Adrian asked.
Natalie took out her phone.
She scrolled for a long time.
Then she placed it on the table.
Adrian did not reach for it.
“Read it.”
Natalie’s mouth trembled.
“He said, ‘I’m done waiting. He deserves to know before the baby gets here.’”
Adrian stared at the phone.
“That’s it?”
“There’s more.”
“Read it.”
“He said, ‘I’m not asking you to choose me. I’m asking you to stop making him live in something that isn’t true.’”
Claire felt something tighten behind her ribs.
Natalie looked at Adrian.
“I didn’t answer.”
“And three hours later he died.”
“Yes.”
Adrian stood.
His chair rolled backward.
No one moved.
He walked to the window.
Outside, people crossed Greenwich Avenue carrying shopping bags, coffee, dry cleaning. A delivery truck blocked one lane. A woman in bright running clothes waited impatiently for a light.
The world had the nerve to continue.
Adrian put both hands into his pockets.
“I spent eleven weeks being angry at a dead man for not telling me.”
Natalie stared at him.
He turned.
“I knew something was wrong with him before he died. He canceled dinner twice. He stopped returning calls. I thought he was using again.”
Victoria said, “He wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Ethan’s history with alcohol had been public enough within the family that Claire had heard fragments. Three years sober. One relapse eighteen months ago. Meetings. Therapy. Jokes whenever anyone offered him sparkling water as though sobriety were an elaborate culinary preference.
Adrian’s face tightened.
“I told him if he was drinking again, I wouldn’t cover for him.”
Natalie whispered, “He wasn’t.”
“I know.”
He looked at the table.
“That was the last real conversation I had with him.”
Victoria’s eyes filled again.
Adrian laughed softly.
“He was trying to decide how to tell me he slept with my wife and fathered the baby I thought was mine, and I gave him a lecture about vodka.”
No one answered.
Samuel finally said, “We are done for today.”
Natalie looked toward Adrian.
“I want to see Theo.”
Adrian’s face closed.
“No.”
Claire stiffened.
Natalie stood.
“He is my baby.”
“I know.”
“You can’t keep him from me.”
“I’m not discussing this without advice.”
“Advice?”
“Yes.”
“From a custody lawyer?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened.
“Adrian.”
“You left him with an employee and disappeared.”
“I left him somewhere safe.”
“You told that employee not to give him to me.”
“I was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“That you would look at him and see Ethan.”
Adrian said nothing.
Natalie’s voice broke.
“And you do.”
That landed because it was true.
Claire had seen him do it all night.
Searching Theo’s face.
Looking for another man.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Natalie picked up her purse.
“I’m going home.”
“No,” Adrian said.
She stared at him.
He corrected himself.
“Samuel will arrange a place for you to see him today. At the house if we can agree on who’s present.”
Natalie blinked.
Claire saw relief arrive before pride could stop it.
“Fine.”
Adrian looked at Samuel.
“Make it happen.”
The first week after the truth came out was quieter than Claire expected.
There were no reporters at the gate.
No police.
No screaming matches across marble foyers.
May you like
There were lawyers.
Lawyers were quieter and more expensive.
