Chapter 18 – Cora
CORA
This is the first time Adrian has let me leave his sight in days.
I don’t like the feeling of being under observation—it’s giving me Bellamy Cross flashbacks—but I don’t hate spending so much time with him.
He’s been giving me strange, consternated looks, but he’s also being really attentive in a way he’s never been before.
He’s always been solicitous. No woman could fault his manners. This is different, though. Like yesterday, he brought me a hot chocolate, which isn’t out of character, but then he watched me drink, and when I got marshmallow on my lip, he wiped it away with his thumb. It gave me shivers.
I didn’t think I’d get those kinds of shivers from him again.
Last night, he went down on me until I came. Usually, he gets too turned on and switches it up halfway through, but this time, he was single-minded. Afterward, he held me, fiddling with the ends of my hair. I woke up twice in the night, and he was still awake, still fiddling.
I know something bad is coming. I can smell it like a change in the weather. I crashed his car on purpose. He’s not going to just let it go. He’s probably making arrangements to send me away to a facility that looks like a spa and sounds like a brand of douche. Serene Meadows. Natural Pathways.
That’s tomorrow’s problem, though. For now, I’m focusing on the girls and holiday spirit.
Pearl and I are cozied up on the rubber stairs leading up to the puppet theater play area in the kid’s section of the library.
We’re reading The Polar Express. Winnie is wide awake, showing off her neck control by staring up at me and then down at Pearl and back again.
Martinez, half of today’s security detail, is sitting across the section in a very low sofa, flipping through How the Grinch Stole Christmas with the leather diaper satchel at his feet. Johnson is around somewhere, probably keeping an eye on Golf Digest over at the magazine racks.
Pearl has pretty much taken over the “reading,” as well as the page turning, so I’m relegated to making interested noises. My brain is wandering when suddenly, a woman sits on the stairs next to me. Too close.
She smells like watermelon vape.
I immediately wrap my arms around Winnie in her carrier.
“Relax,” Delaney murmurs under her breath. “If you tip off your goon over there, you’re not going to see what I’ve got to show you. And believe me, you’re gonna want to see this.”
“Mommy?” Pearl peers across me at Delaney.
“Hi, Pearl.” Delaney smiles at my little girl, flashing that shadowed tooth. “It’s good to see you again. Do you remember me?”
My skin crawls. “Sweetie, how about you go pick your five books now? Let Mommy talk to the lady.”
Pearl eyes Delaney, brows stitching together, accentuating her little girl unibrow. She doesn’t answer her, instead saying to me, “You come with me, Mommy. Help me pick.”
“I’ll be there in a minute. Let me talk to this lady real quick.”
I hold my breath, my gaze flickering to where Martinez sits, his nose stuck in his book. In his defense, Delaney is dressed like all the other moms in yoga pants and a baggy sweatshirt with a travel tumbler and car keys in her hands. Her bright red hair is hidden in a baseball cap.
“Okay, Mommy,” Pearl finally agrees. She wanders over to a shelf, glancing back a few times over her shoulder, frowning, before she gets distracted.
Delaney smiles at me. “Such a pretty little girl. She looks just like you.”
Why is she always sitting so close to me? Not only can I see the shadow on her tooth, I can make out the line of her foundation despite the decent blending job. My adrenaline is surging. If I headbutt her, I could break her nose. Her jaw, even.
I lower my voice. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to show you something.” She slips a phone out of her sweatshirt’s kangaroo pocket.
“Did you know there’s CCTV all over Maddox Tower?
Of course, you did. You probably thought Adrian would handle it.
That’s your deal, right? You squeeze out the blonde-haired, blue-eyed crotch rats, and he takes care of everything.
I’m not judging. A girl’s got to get her bag. ”
She holds the phone between us and opens a black and white video. I immediately recognize the parking garage. The Scorpion. She taps play. I watch myself soundlessly accelerate until I crash the car into the column. She taps again. The video replays.
All my blood sinks to my feet.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as batshit crazy as this.
” She plays it again. It’s only a few seconds.
The Scorpion was fast. “I’m sure the last thing you’d want is for this video to get out.
I bet if I put a trending sound on it, I could make it go viral.
I mean, it’s a Scorpion. What are they? Three, four hundred thousand dollars? ”
She smirks at me and frowns in fake concern.
“What would Adrian’s clients think? Or the other moms at story hour?
” She pauses for effect, skewering me with her bright, triumphant gaze.
“What would Child Protective Services do? I don’t think a person this unbalanced should be alone with kids. Do you?”
The phone is so close. Inches from my hand. I could snatch it. Smash it.
She chuckles and slips it back in her pocket.
“Uh, uh,” she tuts. “You know I’ve got copies of this saved all over the place.
Now, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to have a talk with your loving, devoted husband.
Convince him that he can’t be fucking his employees and then firing them.
I don’t care how you do it, but get him to hire me back.
I’m not losing my reputation over this bullshit.
” She takes a steadying breath before she continues.
“Don’t worry. As soon as I get another gig lined up, I’ll be out of there.
I always thought Adrian wanted the best, like me, but that man wants a doll, not a real woman. You can keep him.”
My neck prickles. Martinez has noticed us, his eyes narrowing as he tries to place Delaney. She might have her hair hidden, but she’s a striking woman. He’ll figure it out.
He snaps a picture of her with his phone. We’re running out of time. If he pegs her as a threat, he’ll confront her, and with two clicks, that video is all over the internet.
“Okay. Fine,” I mutter. “But you have to go now.”
She arches a finely plucked eyebrow. “That easy? You don’t want to insult me or threaten me or something first?”
“That easy. You have to leave now. He’s going to come over here.” I nod at Martinez. Whatever came up on his phone has him frowning. “I’ll take care of Adrian. You’ll have your job back. Just go.”
She snorts. “Honestly, after that stunt with the car, I thought you’d be a harder nut to crack.”
“Just go.”
My head is filling with air. She needs to go before I rip that phone out of her pocket and smash her face in with it. That is not happening in front of my babies. We’ve got to get out of here.
Delaney stands and sips from her tumbler straw. “All right, Barbie. You have two days. If I don’t have a rehire offer by then, I’m sending this to TMZ. The Maddox name doesn’t have quite the clout as, say, Musk, but on a slow news day, I bet you could be the feature story.”
“Mrs. Maddox?” Martinez arrives, stepping between Delaney and me. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything is fine. I want to leave now.”
“Of course.” He talks into his wrist as Delaney struts away, wiggling her fingers goodbye over her shoulder.
Johnson appears carrying Pearl in one arm and a stack of picture books under the other. Pearl’s eyes are clouded with worry, but she’s made like me—she doesn’t question or cry. When she’s freaked out, she gets quiet and watchful.
What’s the gene in your DNA that teaches you it’s best to make yourself invisible?
This is all my fault. I’m supposed to keep my babies safe, protect them from the world, and I’ve brought that woman down on them.
I’m not letting CPS take them. Even if Adrian gets them back right away, they’ll know they can lose everything in an instant.
That they’re never really, actually safe.
I’ll die before I let them find that out.
I follow Martinez numbly to the circulation desk and then the car.
I strap Winnie in her seat and help Pearl when she can’t quite get the buckle.
She’s tracking my every move closely, and it’s like looking into a mirror twenty years in the past. She knows something’s not right, and she’s learning in real time that she’s powerless.
I’ve got to get away from them.
I’m not safe.
“Johnson, take us to Gideon and Kendra’s place outside the city,” I order. Kendra called the other day to tell me she’s left the penthouse to stay at their house. I was too fuzzy brained to pry politely, and she wasn’t acting like she wanted to talk. I just told her that the kids and I love her.
Whatever is going on, Kendra will watch the girls. She’s a good aunt. If I ask her to keep a secret, she will. At least for a while. I won’t need her to keep her mouth shut for long.
In the seat across from me, Martinez picks up his phone. He’s going to check with Adrian.
“Hang up,” I say to him, more sharply than I’ve ever spoken to staff.
“I’m just letting the boss know where we’re going.”
“I’m the boss. You report to me, and I’m telling you to hang up.” Martinez shoots a glance at Johnson through the divider. Johnson lifts a shoulder.
“All right, ma’am.” Martinez eases his phone into his pocket like I have a gun on him.
What has Adrian told him? That I’m unstable? A danger to the kids? I’d never hurt them, never. Never let them be hurt, either. Not by anyone, not even me and the consequences of my actions.
I give Pearl a reassuring smile. She gives me a wavery question of a smile back. A sharp pain stabs me in the chest like a knife.