Chương 8
Richard's face stayed composed, but one hand had closed around the back of a dining chair.
"I know because you're being baited," he said.
"By who?"
"That is the question you should be asking."
"You told me not to answer."
"Because you don't know who's listening."
Julian glanced toward my phone.
Naomi was still on speaker.
Price had stopped pretending he was merely supervising a domestic dispute.
He pulled out his own phone and stepped toward the window.
"I'm calling my office."
Richard snapped, "You will do no such thing."
Price looked over his shoulder.
"That sentence is why I'm doing exactly that."
Evelyn sat down without being invited.
She pressed both palms to her knees.
"I don't understand any of this."
Richard looked at her.
"Then don't involve yourself."
The cruelty in his tone made her flinch.
I had seen Richard dismiss employees, contractors, waiters, even Julian that way, but never Evelyn.
Her mouth tightened.
For once, she did not retreat.
"I am already involved."
He ignored her.
Julian moved closer to him.
"What did Sienna have access to?"
"Nothing important."
"That's not an answer."
"She handled scheduling for you."
"She had a Bellmere login."
The words came out before Julian seemed to decide whether he wanted to say them.
Price stopped dialing.
My stomach tightened.
Richard's face did not change quickly enough.
Evelyn looked from one man to the other.
"A login to what?"
Julian rubbed his forehead.
"It wasn't supposed to be permanent."
Richard said, "Stop talking."
"No."
The refusal startled all of us.
Julian's voice had lost its volume.
That made it more serious.
"You told me she could help with reconciliation."
Richard's eyes hardened.
"Not here."
"What reconciliation?" I asked.
Julian looked at me.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he looked down at Oliver sleeping against my mother's shoulder.
"Vendor accounts."
Richard laughed once.
"Listen to yourself."
Julian turned on him.
"You made me put her on it."
"I suggested you delegate administrative work because you were missing deadlines."
"You gave her the credentials."
"You approved it."
"You said it was temporary."
Evelyn stood again.
"What is Bellmere?"
Nobody answered her.
She stepped between Richard and Julian.
"I asked a simple question."
Richard's expression softened with effort.
"An investment vehicle."
"Then why does Julian's girlfriend need access to it?"
"She didn't."
Julian said, "She did."
Richard's head snapped toward him.
Price ended his call before it connected.
"I want everyone to stop discussing this until I know whether my firm represents any of the entities involved."
Richard gave him a look of disbelief.
"You've represented Julian for six years."
"That does not automatically make me counsel for every company you control."
"I don't control Bellmere."
The silence after that was immediate.
Richard seemed to hear his own sentence a second too late.
I felt Naomi's voice come through my phone.
"Claire, don't say anything."
I hadn't planned to.
Richard looked at the phone again.
"You people are manufacturing implications from ordinary business arrangements."
Naomi did not respond.
Price did.
"Who controls Bellmere?"
Richard adjusted his cuff.
"Outside investors."
"Names?"
"Confidential."
"To your son's counsel?"
"You aren't company counsel."
"Apparently not."
Julian dragged both hands over his face.
"Jesus Christ."
He walked to the kitchen.
A cabinet opened.
A glass touched the counter.
My mother called after him, "If you're getting whiskey, don't."
"I'm getting water."
"Good."
He came back with a glass anyway, drank half of it, and stood by the hallway instead of rejoining the cluster around the dining table.
For the first time since I had known him, Julian looked less like Richard's heir than his employee.
That difference mattered.
It also made me angry with myself for not seeing it sooner.
Then again, marriage teaches you how much can hide inside familiar posture.
My phone vibrated.
Another anonymous message.
THIS ISN'T SAFE BY TEXT.
USE THE ADDRESS IF YOU WANT THE ORIGINALS.
Naomi said, "Do not respond."
"I wasn't going to."
Julian heard me.
"Another message?"
I looked at him.
"Yes."
"What does it say?"
"Nothing I'm acting on today."
Richard moved toward me.
Price intercepted him.
"Back up."
Richard's eyebrows lifted.
"This is my son's house."
"Not relevant."
The broad-shouldered man from outside appeared in the open doorway.
He looked at Julian.
"Everything okay?"
"No," my mother said.
"But you can stay outside."
The man looked mildly confused.
Julian waved him away.
"Go."
He disappeared.
My mother muttered, "At least somebody listens."
Oliver stirred.
His face puckered, and he let out one indignant cry.
The sound changed the room again.
It was ridiculous how completely two nine-pound human beings could interrupt adult disaster.
I held out my arms.
My mother passed him over.
Julian watched.
He took one step forward, then stopped himself.
That small restraint did more to convince me he understood the boundary than any apology could have.
"He's hungry," I said.
Nobody needed to know why I said it.
Maybe I wanted the men to remember that life was still happening around their secrets.
Maybe I needed to remind myself.
My mother took Leo and carried him toward the kitchen.
I adjusted the nursing cover over my shoulder.
Evelyn looked away.
Richard did not.
"Can you do that somewhere else?" he asked.
My mother turned around so fast I thought she might throw Leo at him.
I answered first.
"No."
Richard looked offended.
"It's inappropriate."
"This is my living room."
"There's a room full of people."
"A room full of people who invited themselves."
Evelyn sat beside me.
The movement surprised me enough that I nearly pulled away.
She did not look at Oliver.
She looked at her husband.
"Leave."
Richard stared at her.
"What?"
"Leave the room."
"Evelyn."
"She just had two babies."
Her voice trembled, which seemed to anger her.
"She can feed one of them in her own house without you policing it."
Richard's face went blank.
May you like
It was not the blankness of calm.
It was the blankness of someone storing an offense for later.
