Chapter 18 - No More Running
Clare hung up and called the police.
Old Clare would have wondered if Richard meant it.
Old Clare would have worried about making him angry.
Old Clare would have protected him from the consequences of threatening her.
That woman had finally reached the end of the road.
Police traced the call to a prepaid phone near Richard’s office.
He was not there when they arrived.
His attorney claimed not to know his location.
The judge issued an order requiring Richard to appear the next morning and expanded the protection order.
Gabriel wanted Clare moved to a different hotel.
This time he phrased it carefully.
“I think the risk has increased. You decide.”
“Yes,” Clare said. “We move.”
No argument.
No pride.
Safety was not surrender.
At the new location, Clare sat beside Maya’s bed while her daughter colored a picture of four people and a baby.
“Who’s this?” Clare asked.
“Me.”
“And this?”
“You.”
“And the tall one?”
“Mr. Gabriel.”
Clare smiled. “And the baby is Leo.”
Maya nodded.
There was one small figure near the edge of the page, drawn in gray.
“Who’s that?”
Maya stopped coloring.
“Daddy.”
Clare waited.
Maya drew a line between the gray figure and everyone else.
“A fence,” she said.
Clare’s eyes burned.
“That’s okay.”
“Daddy can be mad over there.”
“Yes.”
The next morning Richard appeared in court with two detectives waiting near the rear wall.
He looked smaller.
Not physically.
The room had simply stopped bending around him.
His attorney proposed a settlement.
Supervised visitation later.
No admission of wrongdoing.
Mutual nondisparagement.
Clare would agree not to assist the law firm’s internal investigation beyond legal requirements.
Elena read it once.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Clare looked through the glass panel of the waiting room door.
Maya was stacking blocks with Isabella.
Gabriel sat on the floor holding Leo.
Leo grabbed his father’s nose.
Gabriel pretended to be offended.
Clare turned back.
“No deal.”
Elena nodded once.
Clare continued, “I’m done trading silence for temporary peace.”
They returned to the courtroom.
The judge looked down at the case file.
“Then we will finish the hearing.”
May you like
Richard slowly turned toward Clare.
For the first time in their marriage, she held his gaze and felt no need to look away.
