Chương 5
That room mattered.
Most of the files I had copied were no longer there.
Anything relevant had been removed months ago, either by Julian or by me through channels Naomi had approved.
But I had not expected him to ask for access today.
"How long?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Who comes in?"
"Mr. Vance."
"No one else."
Price nodded.
"And I'd recommend someone remain present."
"My mother will."
He glanced through the narrow opening and saw Helen behind me.
"I meant someone neutral."
"You volunteering?"
For the first time, his professional expression cracked.
"That might be simplest."
Ten minutes later, Julian entered his own house like a guest who resented being invited.
Price followed him.
My mother stayed near the hallway.
I remained on the couch with both twins, which was partly strategy and partly because standing again sounded impossible.
Julian stopped when he saw them.
He had seen the boys at the hospital, but only briefly after the delivery and once the following day.
Now he stared.
Leo slept against my chest.
Oliver's tiny hand had escaped the swaddle and rested against my collarbone.
Julian's anger thinned into something else.
"Can I hold one?"
My first instinct was no.
The speed of it frightened me.
Not because I thought he would hurt them.
Because some mean, wounded part of me wanted him punished by distance.
That was not the same as protecting my children.
I looked at Price.
Then at my mother.
Neither said anything.
"Wash your hands," I said.
Julian blinked.
"What?"
"Wash your hands."
He went to the kitchen sink.
My mother watched him scrub like a prison guard supervising contraband disposal.
When he came back, I handed him Oliver.
His arms were too stiff at first.
"Support his head."
"I know."
"You aren't."
He adjusted his hand.
Oliver squirmed, made a wet clicking noise, and settled.
Julian stared down at him.
The house became painfully quiet.
"You named him Oliver James," he said.
"We agreed on Oliver."
"We agreed on James after my grandfather."
"I know."
His thumb moved once along the edge of the blanket.
"Does Leo still have the little mark behind his ear?"
"Yes."
He looked at me.
"I remember."
That hurt too.
I wished everything would stop hurting in different ways.
Price checked his watch.
"Mr. Vance."
Julian's mouth tightened.
He gave Oliver back carefully.
Then he walked toward the home office.
My mother followed.
I heard a drawer open.
Then another.
Julian muttered something.
My mother answered, "It's still a drawer."
A minute later, there was a crash.
I stood too quickly.
Pain tore across my abdomen.
I grabbed the arm of the couch.
Price moved first.
We reached the office doorway almost together.
Julian was standing beside the desk with a broken wooden file tray at his feet.
Papers had scattered across the rug.
My mother stood on the other side of the room, arms crossed.
"I didn't touch him."
Julian turned toward me.
His face had gone pale.
"Where is it?"
I leaned against the doorframe.
"Where is what?"
"The external drive."
Price immediately said, "Julian."
Julian ignored him.
"The black drive from the locked cabinet."
"I haven't seen it."
"Bullshit."
Price stepped between us.
"Do not accuse her of taking property without evidence."
Julian laughed once, sharply.
"You don't understand."
His eyes came back to me.
"There were company backups on that drive."
My pulse changed.
I kept my face still.
"I thought the company had servers."
"It does."
"Then what's the problem?"
He stared at me too long.
Richard appeared in the hallway behind us.
He must have entered through the still-unlocked front door.
"What happened?"
Julian looked at his father.
"The drive is gone."
Richard froze.
It lasted less than a second.
But I saw it.
So did Price.
Richard recovered first.
"Which drive?"
"The black one."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Julian's face shifted.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"You told me to keep it here."
Richard looked toward me.
That was his mistake.
If he had kept watching Julian, I might have wondered whether I had imagined the pause.
Instead his eyes found mine.
And in them I saw the first genuine fear anyone in that family had shown me.
Price closed his portfolio.
"I think we're done here."
Richard turned to him.
"Who are you?"
"Daniel Price."
"I know your name."
His voice sharpened.
"I asked why you're interfering."
"Because your son is my client, and he's making statements he may regret."
Julian kicked the broken tray aside.
"This is insane."
He pointed at me.
"She took it."
I felt my mother move closer behind me.
I did not answer.
Julian stepped forward.
Price blocked him again.
"Stop."
"I want my property."
"Then provide an inventory to counsel."
Julian looked as if he might shove him.
He did not.
Some surviving instinct stopped him.
Richard put a hand on Julian's shoulder.
"Come outside."
"Don't touch me."
"Julian."
"I said don't."
The word cracked through the room.
Oliver began crying in the living room.
Then Leo.
Julian flinched.
Richard removed his hand.
For a few seconds, nobody seemed certain which crisis deserved attention.
I chose mine.
I turned away and went back to the babies.
Behind me, Price said something too low to hear.
Julian answered with a curse.
Richard told him to shut up.
I lifted Oliver first.
My hands were shaking again.
He rooted against my shirt, furious and hungry and completely uninterested in family corruption.
"Okay," I whispered.
"I know."
My phone buzzed on the coffee table.
I expected Naomi.
It was an unknown number.
The message contained only seven words.
DO NOT TRUST THE AGREEMENT YOUR LAWYER SAW.
Below it was a photograph.
I stared at the screen.
It showed the signature page I had signed in the hospital.
Except the page number in the lower corner was different.
May you like
And beneath my signature, in a section that had not been there yesterday, was a paragraph authorizing immediate transfer of physical custody.
Someone had altered the document after I signed it.
