“I don’t know.”
“Natalie.”
“I swear.”
She pulled off the ivory coat and held it in both hands.
“He said there was a good chance one or both wouldn’t make it. And if that happened, the divorce would be simpler.”
The nurse beside me whispered something under her breath.
Dominic struggled against security.
“She’s lying!”
Natalie flinched.
“You told me that!”
“She’s trying to save herself!”
Natalie looked at him with something like horror.
Then she looked at me.
“I thought he was being cruel. I didn’t think…”
She stopped.
My mind was already moving backward.
The emergency delivery.
The sudden spike in my blood pressure.
The bleeding.
The night before, Dominic had brought me tea.
No.
I closed my eyes.
Don’t invent monsters where facts will do.
“Grandfather.”
“I’m here.”
“I need the complete medical file from before my delivery.”
The hospital administrator spoke immediately.
“I can arrange access.”
“And a list of everyone who viewed it.”
His expression changed.
“That can be audited.”
Dominic stopped struggling.
That frightened me more than when he was shouting.
I looked at him.
He stared back.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
Slowly.
“You’re paranoid.”
Maybe.
But Grandfather had taught me something else.
Never watch what a frightened man says.
Watch what he is desperate to stop you from checking.
Security escorted Dominic toward the doors.
He twisted once to look at Natalie.
“Come with me.”
She didn’t move.
“Natalie.”
Her hand dropped protectively to her belly.
“No.”
He stared at her.
“You think they’re going to protect you?”
She said nothing.
His expression darkened.
Then he looked at me.
“This isn’t over, Audrey.”
The doors closed behind him.
Silence returned.
Natalie stood there holding my coat.
Then, slowly, she walked toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
Not because I forgave her.
Not because I suddenly liked her.
But because something about her face had changed entirely.
Fear was an excellent remover of masks.
She placed the coat over the back of an empty chair.
“I didn’t know about the hospital,” she whispered.
“Which part?”
She looked confused.
“That you almost died?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
I believed her.
That surprised me.
“I thought you were recovering somewhere else,” she continued. “Dominic said visiting the babies would upset you.”
Grandfather’s gaze sharpened again.
“He told you Audrey was not visiting her own children?”
Natalie nodded.
“He said she was unstable after delivery.”
The hospital administrator glanced toward me.
I saw him mentally recording every word.
Natalie hugged herself.
“There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
There was always something else.
She reached into her handbag.
Dominic’s mistress.
Pregnant.
Wearing my clothes an hour earlier.
Now trembling in front of my grandfather’s lawyers as though she had walked into a room and realized too late that the floor beneath her was gone.
She pulled out a second phone.
Not hers.
Dominic’s.
“He left this at my apartment last night.”
She handed it to me.
“I was going to give it back after we left.”
The screen was locked.
I turned it over.
A plain black case.
Nothing special.
“Why does he have two phones?”
“I thought it was for business.”
Mr. Han extended a hand.
“May I?”
Natalie gave it to him.
He examined the screen.
“Mrs. Hale, do you know the passcode?”
Natalie hesitated.
Then typed six numbers.
The phone unlocked.
She looked ashamed.
“I’ve checked his messages before.”
Mr. Han did not judge her.
He opened the messaging application.
His brows drew together.
“There are almost no messages.”
“Deleted?” Grandfather asked.
“Possibly.”
Mr. Han checked another application.
Then email.
Then call history.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward Grandfather.
I couldn’t see the screen.
But my grandfather’s face became unreadable.
That frightened me.
“What is it?”
