Chương 10
“Did she decline?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does she mention the recording?”
“No.”
“Does she mention the hospital?”
“No.”
Catherine looked at Eleanor.
“What does she want?”
“Negotiation.”
“Money.”
“Among other things.”
“Can I read it?”
“I’ll send it securely.”
The letter arrived an hour later.
Amber’s attorney used clean, bloodless language. The relationship had begun during a period of intense collaboration. Michael had represented that his marriage was functionally over. Amber had relied on those representations in making personal and professional decisions. When Michael later demanded silence, she resisted. He responded by excluding her from meetings and threatening termination.
There was no mention of Catherine’s pregnancy beyond the phrase changing family circumstances.
No mention of the 3:07 a.m. voice message.
No mention of Eleanor.
Amber had transformed cruelty into employment leverage with impressive speed.
Catherine read the letter twice.
Then she called the unknown Chicago number that had left a message on the morning of the birth.
Amber answered.
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.
“I wondered when you’d call,” Amber said.
Her voice sounded different without the polished brightness of the recording. Lower. Tired.
“You called me first.”
“I wanted to apologize.”
“You sent a legal threat to a board I’m part of.”
“That isn’t about you.”
Catherine looked at the sleeping baby in the bassinet.
“You used my labor to prove you could reach him when I couldn’t.”
Amber inhaled.
“I was angry.”
“So was I.”
“He had told me you weren’t really in labor.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“What did he say?”
“That you’d been having false alarms for weeks. That you were panicking. That the hospital said it could take days.”
“They induced me because the baby’s heart rate was unstable.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“No.”
The honesty was sharper than denial.
Catherine moved to the kitchen window. A delivery truck blocked the alley. Its driver stood outside arguing with someone through an intercom.
“Why did you come to the hospital?” Catherine asked.
“Michael was driving. He was barely speaking. I had his phone because Martin kept calling. Your message thread was open.”
“And the recording played.”
“My thumb hit it.”
“You could have stayed in the car.”
“I should have.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Amber was quiet.
“I wanted to see whether he looked at you the way he said he didn’t anymore.”
Catherine leaned one shoulder against the wall.
“And?”
“He did.”
The answer hurt unexpectedly.
Amber continued. “He looked at you like I had never existed.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It felt true.”
“Do you want me to feel sorry for you?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“I want him to stop saying I invented everything.”
“Did you record him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he kept changing what he had promised.”
“What did he promise?”
“That after the merger announcement he would separate from you.”
Catherine’s grip tightened around the phone.
“When?”
“December.”
Before January. Before the affair Michael claimed happened once. Before the night he came home smelling of Amber’s shampoo, a scent Catherine had noticed because Amber once gave her the same brand in a holiday basket.
“Do you have proof?”
“Yes.”
“Send it to your lawyer.”
“I have.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because his attorneys say I manipulated him. Because the board thinks I’m trying to extort the company. Because he told Martin I developed an obsession after a single mistake.”
“Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Develop an obsession?”
Amber laughed once, without humor.
“I fell in love with a married man who told me his wife barely noticed whether he came home. Call it whatever makes you comfortable.”
“Nothing about you makes me comfortable.”
“I know.”
Catherine heard movement upstairs. Leah had gone to change Eleanor and would return soon.
“Did Michael know you sent the message at three oh seven?”
“He told me to deal with you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No. He was on the hotel phone.”
“Did you tell him afterward?”
“Not until the hospital.”
“Why did you keep his phone?”
“He asked me to. He couldn’t handle the calls.”
Catherine almost said, He could handle them. He chose not to. The sentence felt unnecessary.
“Send me the recordings,” she said.
Amber did not answer immediately.
“My attorney won’t like that.”
“Then don’t.”
“I want you to know the truth.”
“You want me to help you pressure him.”
“That too.”
At least Amber did not disguise it.
Catherine said, “Send only recordings of conversations in which you participated. No files taken from company systems. No edited clips.”
“You sound like a lawyer.”
“I hired one.”
“I heard.”
“How?”
“Michael.”
The thought of them still speaking made Catherine’s stomach turn.
“What does he want from you now?”
“For me to sign a statement saying the relationship was personal, brief, and unrelated to work.”
“Will you?”
“No.”
“Because it isn’t true?”
“Because he wants to make me disappear.”
Catherine looked at the oatmeal cooling on the table.
“He tried that with my labor,” she said.
Amber sent four audio files that evening.
Catherine did not listen alone.
She went to Ruth’s office with Leah and left Eleanor with Ben for the first time. The separation lasted ninety minutes. Catherine spent the first twenty thinking she had made a mistake and the next seventy checking her phone every three minutes.
Ruth played the recordings through a laptop speaker.
The first was dated December 18.
Michael’s voice sounded relaxed, perhaps after dinner.
You know what home is like.
Amber said something too soft to catch.
No, she doesn’t hate me. She needs everything to be stable. That’s different.
Another pause.
After the announcement. I can’t blow up the company before financing is secure.
Amber asked, And the baby?
Michael exhaled.
The baby makes timing harder. It doesn’t change what’s already true.
Catherine stared at the conference table.
Leah reached for her hand, but Catherine moved it beneath the table before contact.
May you like
The second recording came from January 11, two nights before the winter launch.
Amber: You said you were leaving.
