He accepted the remark without defending himself.
That unsettled me more than an argument would have.
Daniel raised one hand.
“Ms. Walker, I need to make a phone call.”
I nodded.
He moved several feet down the hall.
I lowered my voice.
“Ethan, I need one straight answer.”
“I’ll give you one.”
“Do you believe Adrian arranged for me to sit beside him?”
“No.”
The certainty surprised me.
“Why not?”
“Because if Prescott wanted something from you, he wouldn’t need to engineer a commercial airline seat.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Adrian.
Caroline.
Sam.
Ethan.
Four people connected before I ever boarded that plane.
“You sound very confident for someone who says he barely knows him.”
“I know how men like Adrian Prescott operate.”
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“It means they don’t leave important things to chance.”
A chill moved through me.
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“It wasn’t supposed to.”
At the end of the hallway, Daniel turned back toward me.
“Mr. Prescott is coming up.”
My stomach tightened.
Ethan heard him.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“Do not accuse him.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
“Because I don’t need instructions from you anymore.”
A pause.
“No,” Ethan said quietly. “You don’t.”
That answer took some of the fight out of me.
I glanced inside the room.
Lily shifted.
I lowered my voice.
“I’m hanging up.”
“Call Celeste in the morning.”
“My attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever happens next, I want everything documented.”
I frowned.
“Why would you want that?”
“Because I handled this badly.”
“That may be the first thing we’ve agreed on in months.”
“I deserve that.”
His voice softened.
“But if I’m right about Northbridge, this stopped being only about our marriage a long time ago.”
The elevator chimed.
I looked toward it.
Adrian stepped out alone.
No jacket now.
No polished public smile.
Just a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms and the exhausted expression of a man who had been dragged back into something he had spent years trying to leave behind.
“I have to go,” I told Ethan.
“Elena.”
I almost disconnected.
Then he said, “Whatever you think of me, keep Lily close.”
I looked at my daughter through the open doorway.
“I always do.”
Then I ended the call.
Adrian saw the photograph in my hand.
He stopped walking.
