Chương 2
“She said not to tell.”
Ethan closed his eyes once.
“You can tell me anything.”
Noah lifted his face. His cheeks were red from crying and the cold brass compartment.
“Dad…”
“Yeah.”
“She said Mom didn’t die in the crash.”
The room seemed to lose all sound at once.
Ethan looked at Noah.
Then at Victoria.
His hand stopped moving on his son’s back.
“What did you just say?”
Noah’s lips trembled. “Mom.”
“No, buddy. I heard you.”
Ethan’s eyes found Victoria again.
She raised both hands.
Her composure cracked not in some dramatic collapse, but in one tiny betrayal. Her lower lip moved before she controlled it.
“He wasn’t supposed to hear that.”
Ethan stared at her.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Give him to me for a second.”
“No.”
“He’s terrified.”
“You locked him in a wall.”
“I was trying to keep him from running into the corridor.”
Noah tightened his arms around Ethan’s neck.
Victoria reached toward him anyway.
Ethan caught her forearm.
“Do not touch him.”
“Ethan.”
“Back up.”
She tried to pull free.
He pushed her away.
It was one hard movement, more reflex than decision. Victoria lost the support of her nude heel on the marble, stumbled backward, and struck the champagne cart with her hip.
The cart rolled.
For half a second it moved almost gracefully.
Then a wheel caught the edge of the rug.
Crystal glasses tipped.
The silver coffee pot struck the floor first, then plates, forks, pastry stands, and champagne flutes. Crystal shattered across the marble with startling violence. Chocolate éclairs slid under the sofa. One pear tart landed upside down near Victoria’s shoe.
Noah flinched behind Ethan’s shoulder.
Ethan turned immediately and shielded him with his body.
Victoria stood motionless among broken glass.
A small cut appeared above her ankle.
She looked down at it as if it belonged to somebody else.
Then she looked at Ethan.
He no longer looked stunned.
That would have been easier.
“What happened to Mara?”
Victoria said nothing.
Ethan held Noah closer.
“Where is my wife?”
“You have to lower your voice.”
“My wife.”
“Ethan—”
“Where is Mara?”
Victoria glanced toward the windows.
It was such a strange, useless movement that Ethan noticed it.
He followed her gaze, seeing only snow.
Then he looked back at her.
“Is she here?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Ethan took out his phone.
Victoria’s face changed.
“Who are you calling?”
“Security.”
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“You locked my six-year-old son in a service shaft.”
“It isn’t a shaft. It’s an old dumbwaiter lift. It doesn’t move.”
Ethan stared at her for two seconds.
“Do you hear yourself?”
“No, I hear exactly what this sounds like.”
“That’s because it happened.”
“You don’t understand what he overheard.”
“That sentence is not helping you.”
Noah had begun shaking again.
Ethan felt it and stopped looking at Victoria. Whatever was coming next could wait thirty seconds.
He crouched.
“Buddy, look at me.”
Noah would not.
“Hey.”
The boy’s grip on the stuffed dog tightened.
Ethan changed tactics.
“Is Captain Brown hurt?”
Noah finally looked down at the toy.
One cloth ear was bent.
“No.”
“Okay. Good.”
Noah rubbed the ear between his fingers.
“You’re cold.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m not cold.”
Ethan almost said something reassuring and discovered there was nothing available. Not that everything was fine. Not that nobody was going anywhere. Not that Victoria had made a mistake.
So he said, “I’m here.”
Noah nodded.
That was enough for the moment.
Ethan called the front desk.
Victoria turned away.
He watched her reflection in the tall black window while he spoke.
“This is Ethan Hale in the presidential suite. I need security upstairs now.”
The desk clerk asked a question.
“Yes. Now.”
He disconnected.
Victoria bent carefully and removed one nude heel.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s glass in my shoe.”
“Leave it.”
She looked at him over her shoulder.
For the first time in four years of knowing Victoria, Ethan saw hatred in her face.
Not rage.
Hatred.
It lasted perhaps a second.
Then it was gone.
“You think I wanted this?” she asked.
“I think you put Noah in a locked compartment.”
“I know what I did.”
“Great. Then we have one fact.”
“Because he was going to run.”
“From you.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer surprised both of them.
Victoria lowered herself to the edge of the green velvet chair and removed the shoe. A thin shard of crystal had cut the skin beside her heel. She pressed two fingers against the blood.
Noah watched her.
Ethan noticed and moved slightly so the boy no longer had a clear view.
Victoria laughed once.
It was not amusement.
“You’re protecting him from seeing blood now?”
“I’m protecting him from you.”
She looked down.
That landed.
There was a knock on the suite door.
Ethan opened it without putting Noah down.
The resort’s overnight security director stood in the hall with a radio clipped to her black blazer. Her name tag read ELENA RUIZ. Behind her were a younger security officer and the night manager, who wore an expression already suggesting he had been told just enough to be terrified of liability.
Ruiz looked past Ethan and saw the broken cart.
Then she saw the open wooden panel.
Then Victoria barefoot beside a field of shattered crystal.
Her face became professionally blank.
“Mr. Hale?”
“My wife locked my son in that lift.”
The night manager inhaled.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Ruiz looked at Noah.
“Is he injured?”
“I don’t know.”
“I am not injured,” Noah said quietly.
Ethan kissed the top of his head.
Ruiz crouched several feet away, keeping her hands where Noah could see them.
“Hi, Noah. I’m Elena. I work here. Is it okay if I ask you one question?”
Noah pressed his face against Ethan again.
Ruiz waited.
After several seconds, he nodded.
“Did anyone close you inside that little elevator?”
Noah pointed toward Victoria without looking.
May you like
Ruiz stood.
“Mrs. Hale, I need you to remain where you are.”
