Chapter Seven #2
Inside the suite, the television was off. Thank God. Someone had refreshed the flowers. I hated them. White roses again. Like the ballroom.
“Can those go?” I asked.
Caleb looked at them, then at me. “Of course.”
He picked up the vase and carried it toward the service hall without another word.
Theo watched him leave. “He listens fast.”
I took off my coat. “That is not a reason to trust someone.”
“I know.”
“But yes,” I said. “He listens fast.”
Theo sat on the sofa and pulled his knees up. “What happens now?”
Audrey placed her bag on the table. “Now I send a formal notice regarding Serena’s interview. Your mother does not respond emotionally. Bennett’s team may also respond since Serena mentioned him.”
“I want Mom to say something,” Theo said.
“No,” Audrey and I said at the same time.
He glared at us.
“Why not?”
“Because I will not wrestle Serena in public,” I said.
“She’s making you look bad.”
“No,” Audrey said. “She is making herself look unstable to anyone smart enough to listen.”
Theo crossed his arms. “People are stupid.”
Audrey nodded. “Often. That is why lawyers exist.”
Caleb returned without the flowers.
He looked at me. “Do you want coffee?”
“No.”
“Tea?”
“No.”
“Something stronger?”
Audrey looked at him.
He added, “That was a joke.”
“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”
His mouth curved slightly. “No. It wasn’t.”
A laugh almost escaped me again, then died when my phone buzzed.
This time it was a text from an unknown number.
A link.
No words.
I should have ignored it.
I did not.
I opened it.
A photo filled the screen.
Serena stood in front of a mirror, wearing a black silk slip and my anniversary bracelet.
My bracelet.
Yellow diamond. Thin gold chain. One tiny emerald hidden near the clasp because Bennett said only I should know where the green was.
He had given it to me on our fifteenth anniversary in Lake Como.
I had cried when he put it on my wrist. Not because it was expensive, though it was.
Because inside the lid of the box he had written, I saw you before the world saw me.
I had not seen that bracelet in three weeks.
I thought it was in my jewelry safe.
Serena had it.
Serena had worn it.
Maybe in the room.
Maybe with him.
The phone slid from my hand and hit the carpet.
“Mom?” Theo said.
I could not speak.
Caleb reached the phone first. He picked it up, looked at the photo, and his whole face changed.
“What is it?” Audrey asked.
He handed her the phone.
Audrey looked.
Her eyes went hard.
“Madeleine,” she said carefully. “Is this yours?”
I nodded.
Theo stood. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” I said.
He moved toward Audrey.
I stepped in front of him.
“Theo, go to your room.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No, I’m tired of rooms. I’m tired of people whispering. What is it?”
I could not answer.
Audrey locked the phone and set it screen-down on the table.
“It is a private matter,” she said.
Theo looked at me.
His voice became small again.
“Did she take something from you?”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes.”
He looked toward the table.
“Something Dad gave you?”
I opened my eyes.
He already knew.
Children always knew more than we prayed they did.
“Yes,” I said.
Theo’s face went red.
“I hate her,” he said.
Then he turned and walked into his room, slamming the door so hard the wall shook.
I flinched.
Caleb started to move.
I lifted my hand.
“No. Let me.”
I went to Theo’s door and knocked softly.
“Go away,” he said.
“It’s Mom.”
“I know.”
I rested my forehead against the door. “I’m coming in.”
“No.”
“I’m still coming in.”
I opened the door.
He stood by the window, breathing hard.
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Then don’t.”
“She took your bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“Did Dad give it to her?”
The question almost took my legs out.
“I don’t know.”
He turned around. “But maybe?”
I hated Bennett in that moment more than I had all morning.
Not because I knew he had done it.
Because he had made it possible for our son to ask.
“I don’t know,” I said again.
Theo rubbed both hands over his face. “I want to go somewhere.”
“We can.”
“Not here. Not school. Not the penthouse. Not anywhere people know us.”
I sat on the edge of the bed. “Where?”
“I don’t care.”
He looked so tired.
Fourteen-year-old boys were not supposed to look tired from scandal.
I thought of Caleb’s offer from the night before. Vancouver Island. Quiet. Private. Water and trees and distance.
“I may know a place,” I said.
“Does Dad know it?”
“No.”
“Does Serena?”
“No.”
“Then can we go?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes.”
He sat beside me.
“Will Caleb come?”
The question surprised me.
“Do you want him to?”
Theo shrugged. “He doesn’t ask dumb questions.”
“That is a rare quality.”
“He also doesn’t talk to me like I’m five.”
“No. He doesn’t.”
Theo looked at me carefully. “Do you like him?”
My breath stopped.
“Theo.”
“You can tell me.”
“No,” I said. “That is not something you need to hold right now.”
“But do you?”
I stood because sitting made me feel trapped.
“Caleb is my friend. He helped us.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the only answer I have today.”
He nodded, but I could see he did not believe me.
Maybe I did not believe myself.
When I returned to the living room, Caleb and Audrey were speaking in low voices.
They stopped at once.
“I want to leave the city,” I said.
Caleb’s eyes met mine. “Vancouver Island?”
“Yes.”
Audrey frowned. “That may look like you are hiding.”
“I am hiding,” I said. “My son asked to go somewhere no one knows us. I am not making him stay in this city so people can admire my strength.”
Audrey studied me.
Then she nodded. “Fine. But we control the optics.”
“I hate that word.”
“Everyone hates the useful words.”
Caleb took out his phone. “I can arrange the plane. The house is ready.”
Audrey looked at him. “No plane manifest leaks.”
“It will not leak.”
“You sound sure.”
“I own the plane.”
Audrey stared at him.
Caleb looked back calmly.
For some reason, that made me want to laugh again.
This was my life now.
My husband was a billionaire who broke me in public.
My old friend had a private plane ready to hide me.
My lawyer was planning optics around my pain.
And my best friend was wearing my bracelet in a photo like a trophy.
My phone rang.
Bennett.
Again.
I stared at the screen.
Audrey said, “You do not have to answer.”
Caleb said nothing.
Theo’s closed door stayed silent behind me.
I answered.
Not because Bennett deserved my voice.
Because I wanted one answer.
“What?” I said.
His breath caught. “Madeleine.”
“Did you give her my bracelet?”
Silence.
Then, very low, “What?”
“My anniversary bracelet, Bennett. The yellow diamond one. Did you give it to Serena?”
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
The speed of his answer hit me.
No pause.
No confusion after the first shock.
No.
“Are you sure?”
His voice changed. “Madeleine, I swear on Theo’s life, I did not give Serena your bracelet.”
“Do not swear on our son.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. But I did not give it to her.”
“She has it.”
“What?”
“She sent a photo.”
His breathing changed. “Send it to me.”
“No.”
“Madeleine.”
“No. Audrey will send it to your lawyer.”
A rough sound came through the phone. “Was she wearing it?”
I did not answer.
He understood.
“God,” he whispered.
“You don’t get to sound wounded.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to be shocked that the woman you brought into our marriage touched things that were mine.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Good,” I said. “Then say nothing.”
He went quiet.
For a second, all I heard was his breathing.
Then he said, “I did not give it to her. I don’t know how she got it, but I’ll find out.”
“I am not asking you to be my hero.”
“I know.”
“Bennett.”
“Yes?”
“I am leaving the city with Theo.”
Silence.
Then, “Where?”
“No.”
He swallowed. I heard it.
“Is Caleb taking you?”
The room changed.
Audrey’s eyes sharpened.
Caleb looked away.
My hand tightened on the phone.
“Do not do that,” I said.
His voice cracked. “I’m trying not to.”
“Try harder.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Caleb answered when I called.”
The words landed. I knew they did.
Bennett was silent.
“He helped our son through a lobby full of cameras,” I said. “He did not make this mess. You did.”
“I know.”
“So if you say his name like an accusation again, I will hang up and every future word can go through Audrey.”
“I understand.”
I wanted to hate how quickly he backed down.
I wanted to hate the tired pain in his voice.
I wanted him cruel so leaving would feel clean.
Instead, he sounded like the man from the statement.
Broken.
Careful.
Late.
“Respect Theo’s space,” I said.
“I will.”
“No calls.”
“I won’t.”
“No surprise visits.”
“I won’t.”
“No gifts.”
He paused.
I caught it.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I sent flowers before I saw Serena’s interview.”
My throat tightened. “Where?”
“To the hotel.”
I looked toward the empty spot where the white roses had been.
Those had been his.
Of course they had.
“White roses?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Caleb threw them out.”
Another silence.
This one hurt him.
I knew because I still knew too much about the way Bennett breathed.
“Good,” he said at last.
That surprised me.
“What?”
“I said good. You hate white roses now. I should have known that before I sent them.”
My eyes burned.
“Goodbye, Bennett.”
“Madeleine?”
I waited.
“I know this means nothing right now. But thank you for not voting me out.”
I closed my eyes.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
“I did it because the company has thousands of employees who did not cheat on me.”
His breath shook.
“There she is,” he whispered.
My chest tightened painfully.
“Who?”
“The woman who still thinks about everyone else while bleeding.”
I hated him for saying something true.
“Do not make me soft in my own mind,” I said.
“I’m not trying to.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No,” he said. “I am trying to remember you correctly for once.”
I hung up.
Not because I had nothing left to say.
Because I had too much.
Caleb was still facing the window.
Audrey watched me with unreadable eyes.
I placed the phone on the table.
“We leave today,” I said.
Caleb nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”
Audrey picked up her bag. “I’ll file the next motions before you take off.”
“And Serena?”
Audrey’s face went cold. “Serena wants to play victim.”
I looked at the phone where the bracelet photo waited like poison.
“Let her,” I said. “Victims don’t wear stolen diamonds.”
For the first time all day, Audrey smiled.
A few hours later, as the private car took us toward the airfield, Theo fell asleep beside me with his head against my shoulder. Caleb sat across from us, giving me silence instead of questions. Audrey had stayed behind to sharpen knives made of paper.
Rain slid over the windows.
My phone buzzed one last time before I turned it off.
Unknown number.
Another photo.
This one was closer.
My bracelet on Serena’s wrist.
And beneath it, a message.
Ask your husband why I had the code to your safe.