Chapter 3 - THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE LAUNDROMAT
Adrian followed us to the curb.
Snow was beginning to fall.
I had ordered a rideshare, but the driver was twelve minutes away.
The boys huddled beneath the hotel's entrance canopy.
Leo shivered.
Adrian noticed.
He removed his expensive wool coat.
“May I?”
Leo looked at me.
I nodded.
Adrian draped the coat around him.
It nearly swallowed my son.
Leo grinned.
“I look like a penguin.”
“You look like a very wealthy penguin,” Ethan corrected.
Adrian smiled.
Then his eyes returned to me.
“Claire, where have you been?”
I looked toward the street.
“Indiana. Then Wisconsin. Then back here.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
There it was.
The question I had dreaded.
I could have told him I was frightened.
That I had been twenty-three, pregnant with triplets, and terrified of bringing children into the Moretti family.
That Eleanor had made me feel disposable.
That Adrian had allowed it.
But the truth was more complicated.
“I thought leaving was the only way to protect them.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“From me?”
“From the world around you.”
He looked away.
I continued.
“I had just watched your mother throw me onto the street. You knew how she treated me, and you kept asking me to wait.”
“I know.”
“You didn't choose me, Adrian.”
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
“So when I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't imagine putting three babies in the middle of that.”
He looked at the boys.
Then whispered:
“I wish you'd told me.”
“I know.”
“And I wish I'd given you a reason to trust me.”
That silenced me.
The rideshare arrived.
I opened the rear door.
Noah climbed in first, followed by Ethan.
Leo turned toward Adrian.
“Will we see you again?”
Adrian looked at me.
He didn't answer for me.
I took a breath.
“We'll talk about it tomorrow.”
Leo nodded solemnly.
Then removed Adrian's coat.
“Thank you.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Keep it until you're warm.”
Leo smiled.
“Okay.”
The boys settled into the car.
Before I climbed in, Adrian spoke.
“Claire.”
I turned.
“Can I have your number?”
I hesitated.
Then gave it to him.
He entered it into his phone.
“I'm not going to disappear.”
I looked at him.
“Don't promise them anything until you know you can keep it.”
His expression tightened.
“I understand.”
The car pulled away.
Through the rear window, I saw him standing beneath the hotel's lights.
Alone.
May you like
A powerful man surrounded by everything money could buy.
Watching the only things he had never known he possessed drive away.
