No response.
“I’m so sorry.”
Clara pressed shaking fingertips to her cheek.
“Do you know what hurt most?”
Adrian couldn’t answer.
“It wasn’t the slap.”
Her eyes met his.
“It was how quickly you believed I could hurt her.”
He lowered his head.
There was no defense.
So he offered none.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I failed you.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer hurt more than anger would have.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
Vanessa laughed suddenly.
It was a brittle, frightened sound.
“You two really think this is about a stroller?”
Adrian turned.
Vanessa’s mascara had streaked down both cheeks.
“Then tell me what it’s about.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
Toward Olivia’s room.
And for the first time since Adrian had known her, Vanessa seemed genuinely afraid.
“Ask your daughter why she stopped taking the pills.”
The police arrived eight minutes later.
Vanessa was arrested after Olivia provided the original video.
Clara received six stitches above her eyebrow.
Emma had escaped with nothing more than a small bruise on one leg.
A miracle, the emergency doctor called it.
Adrian didn’t.
Clara had made that miracle happen.
By midnight, the house felt like a crime scene.
Officers had left.
The stroller remained where detectives had photographed it.
A small evidence marker sat beside one wheel.
Clara packed.
Adrian found her upstairs in the guest room placing clothes into a worn suitcase.
“Please don’t.”
She kept folding.
“I’m not asking you to stay for work.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s the problem.”
He stood in the doorway.
“I deserved what you said downstairs.”
Clara zipped the suitcase.
“You almost lost your daughter today. I know you were scared.”
“That doesn’t excuse hitting you.”
“No.”
“I have never hit a woman before.”
Clara looked at him.
“Do not make me responsible for making you feel better about that.”
The words landed cleanly.
Adrian nodded.
“You’re right.”
She lifted her bag.
He moved aside.
Before leaving, Clara paused.
“There’s something else.”
“The pills?”
She nodded.
“I found three over the last month.”
“What were they?”
“I don’t know. White, no markings except a tiny score line. I photographed the last one.”
She handed him her phone.
The photograph showed a small white tablet resting on a tissue.
“Olivia said Vanessa had been giving her vitamins after breakfast whenever she stayed here.”
Adrian felt cold.
“She never told me.”
“She thought they were supplements at first. Then she started feeling sleepy in class.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I tried.”
“What?”
“Three times.”
Adrian frowned.
Clara opened her message history.
There they were.
Messages sent to Adrian.
Can we talk privately about Olivia?
I found something concerning in her room.
Please call when you’re free. It may be important.
Adrian had never seen them.
“They weren’t on my phone.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara picked up her suitcase.
“But Vanessa always seemed to know whenever I contacted you.”
Adrian thought of Vanessa borrowing his phone.
Answering messages while he drove.
Managing appointments after Evelyn’s death because Adrian had been overwhelmed.
“I’m leaving tonight,” Clara said.
“I understand.”
“I love those girls.”
His eyes burned.
“I know.”
“And I hope someday you learn the difference between protecting them and being so terrified of losing them that you stop seeing what’s directly in front of you.”
