1 helped him to the bedroom and unbuttoned his shirt, one button at a time. His eyes were bloodshot, weary, and full of guilt.
“Do you want to?” he asked, his voice still hoarse. He placed his hand over mine, stopping me. “I can’t right now… I’m not hard.”
I clenched and unclenched my fists, taking a deep breath, Tm giving you a sponge bath! If you want to lie here covered in alcoholic sweat, be my guest.”
“Oh.” He sounded disappointed, but he obediently retracted his hand and lay back, letting me clean him.
“Clara.”
“What
“The things you were worried about… I can explain.”
“I remembered later, a few days before we broke up, I went shopping with the daughter of a family friend. You must have seen us. My family was trying to set us up, but we were too familiar with each other, neither of us was interested. We went home and told our families it was a no–go. And the break–in… you were angry that I didn’t care about your safety. I thought about getting you a new place, but I couldn’t find anything suitable. If I got you a place that was too nice, you would have gotten suspicious. I didn’t want you to know about my family, so I arranged for two of my men to move into the apartments above and below you… It wasn’t that I didn‘ t care. As for the tie… I’m sorry, I didn’t understand back then how hard you worked for your money,”
I didn’t answer. I took his right arm and pressed on a large bruise. “How did you get this?”
He closed his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was avoiding the question or had fallen asleep.
I sat there for a long time. Then I smoothed my hair, straightened my dress, and went downstairs.
- 7.
The secretarial office was quiet and busy. A colleague saw me and waved. “Clara, Mr. Blackwood was looking for you. He said to go
to his office when you got back.”
“Did he say what it was about?”
“No idea”
“Okay, thanks.”
I grabbed my makeup bag and slipped into the restroom. After making sure my face showed no signs of what had just happened, I
headed to Chris’s office
I could hear the sound of someone trying to soothe a child before I even got there. I knocked on the half–open door. Chris looked up. his face a mask of exasperation, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“You’re finally here. Quick, this kid is a handful.”
Chloe ran over and hugged my leg. I tensed up, a chill running through me.
Chris straightened his clothes. “See? You have the magic touch.”
“Mr. Blackwood,” I said stiffly. “I have no experience with children.”
“Don’t worry. Her homework will be here any minute.”
“She’s four… and she has homework?”
Chris stared at me, bewildered. “…” he said. “Just read her a story for now.”
A story. Seriously? Do kids not listen to fairy tales anymore? Why was this picture book full of geographical jargon?
I read for fifteen minutes, sweat dripping down my back. Chloe fidgeted on my lap. Finally, the nanny arrived and lured her away
with the promise of homework.
I was exhausted, “Well, Mr. Blackwood, I’ll be going then.”
“Wait,” Chris said, watching the nanny and Chloe disappear down the hall, He closed the door, looking like he wanted to say someth-
ing but didn’t know how.
“Don’t call me Mr. Blackwood anymore,” he said finally. “You’re Chloe’s mother, aren’t you?”
I just looked at him.
“Even if you don’t say anything, I’ve figured it out, he said, rubbing his temples frantically. “God, I’m an idiot. How did I not see it?
The mole on her neck is in the exact same spot as yours!”
“It would be a problem if you were paying that much attention to your female employees‘ necks, Mr. Blackwood.”
Chris pulled out a cigar and patted his pockets. I instinctively took out my lighter and lit it for him.
He jumped up from the sofa. “No, no, no, I’ve got it.” He went to the window and opened it halfway.
“My brother’s made his move. What are you going to do?”
“I’ll just see how things go.”
“Tsk. After you left that day, he made me sit in the garden with him all night getting eaten alive by mosquitoes while he reminisced about how good you were to him. He said he didn’t want you to know he was rich because he was afraid it would change you. I told him, ‘Are you kidding me? If Clara was after money, she would have left you ages ago. All you’ve got is a pretty face.” I told him that these days, it costs millions to keep an influencer on the side, and I’ve never seen anyone be so cheap with a good person. I told him he deserved to be dumped. He punched me for that. But I can guarantee you, he never had anyone on the side. Ever since the kit showed up, the family stopped trying to set him up.
