Chapter 3 - The Woman Before Me
I woke in a hospital room shortly after midnight.
My head felt as if someone had driven a metal spike through my temple.
The doctor had placed six stitches above my ear.
The scans showed no skull fracture.
I had a concussion.
I also had bruising along my shoulder where I had fallen sideways after the plate struck me.
A nurse stood beside the bed when I opened my eyes.
“You have someone asking to see you.”
My first thought was Adrian.
My body tensed before I could control it.
The nurse noticed.
“It’s a woman.”
“Maya?”
She nodded.
“Only if you feel up to it.”
“Yes.”
Maya entered wearing hospital scrubs someone had found for her because police had taken her dress as possible evidence.
She looked twenty years older than she had at dinner.
She sat beside my bed.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For waiting.”
I studied her.
“Waiting for what?”
“To tell anyone.”
She looked at her hands.
“About Adrian.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
Maya had married Daniel nine years earlier.
I had known her for seven.
She was quiet at family gatherings.
Careful.
Always polite.
I had mistaken her silence for shyness.
Now I understood that silence could be trained.
“Tell me.”
Maya took a slow breath.
“Natalie was engaged to Adrian eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
“You know their version.”
I said nothing.
Maya continued.
“Natalie and I became friends.”
“She used to call me when Adrian scared her.”
The words were simple.
Their meaning was not.
“What did he do?”
“At first, he controlled things.”
“Her phone.”
“Her clothes.”
“Who she saw.”
“How much money she spent.”
“Then he started breaking things.”
“Doors.”
“Glasses.”
“Once he punched a hole through the wall beside her head.”
Maya’s voice grew quieter.
“She began recording him.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
The cracked phone in the basement.
“Natalie’s phone.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She told me she was leaving.”
“She had rented an apartment in Sacramento under a friend’s name.”
“She planned to disappear while Adrian was at work.”
“But Eleanor found out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya looked toward the hospital door before continuing.
“The family called an emergency dinner.”
“The same kind of dinner they called tonight.”
My chest tightened.
“How many people?”
“Almost everyone.”
“And they pressured her?”
“For hours.”
“They told her she was humiliating Adrian.”
“They told her marriage required sacrifice.”
“They told her the family had invested money in the wedding.”
“They said she owed them loyalty.”
“And Adrian?”
Maya looked at me.
“He waited until everyone had softened her up.”
“Then he took her downstairs.”
“To the hidden office?”
“No.”
“To the garage.”
I felt sick.
“What happened?”
“Natalie came back with a bruise across her face.”
“She refused to tell me exactly what happened.”
“She only said she had signed everything they wanted.”
“What did they make her sign?”
“An agreement saying she owed Adrian money.”
“A confidentiality agreement.”
“A statement saying she suffered from emotional instability.”
“A release giving up claims against the family company.”
Maya wiped her eyes.
“Then she disappeared.”
“You said she ran.”
“She did.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“The last time I spoke to her, she called from a motel.”
“She told me she was going somewhere Adrian couldn’t find her.”
“She said she had evidence.”
“But two days later, Charles came to my house.”
Maya’s breathing changed.
“He had Natalie’s phone.”
I stared at her.
“He showed it to you?”
“He showed me enough.”
“He played one recording.”
“Natalie was crying.”
“Adrian was threatening her.”
“Charles asked whether I understood how damaging something like that could be to the entire family.”
“Then he told me Daniel’s future depended on my discretion.”
I began to understand.
“You stayed silent to protect your husband.”
“At first.”
Maya’s eyes filled with shame.
“Then I stayed silent because I was afraid.”
“Three years ago, my grandmother died.”
“She left me money and a rental property.”
“Charles offered to help manage it.”
“I trusted him.”
“When I changed my mind, he brought me to the basement.”
“He showed me papers.”
“He told me Daniel had already agreed.”
“I said I wanted to call Daniel.”
“He took my phone.”
“What happened?”
“Adrian came downstairs.”
The room suddenly seemed smaller.
“Adrian?”
Maya nodded.
“His father told him I was being difficult.”
“What did he do?”
“He grabbed my arm.”
“He pushed me against the filing cabinet.”
“He said women who married into the family needed to understand something.”
“What?”
Maya looked directly at me.
“That nothing we brought into the marriage remained ours.”
I could hear the monitor beside my bed.
Steady.
Mechanical.
Unforgiving.
“And Daniel never knew?”
“They told him I fell down the basement stairs after drinking wine.”
I remembered the accident.
Three years earlier, Maya had shown up at Christmas with her wrist in a brace.
Eleanor had laughed about how Maya could not handle Cabernet.
Everyone had laughed.
Including me.
I felt ashamed even though I had not known.
“What about tonight?”
Maya asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Did Adrian ever hit you before?”
I hesitated.
“No.”
Then I corrected myself.
“Not like that.”
Maya understood immediately.
“He grabbed you.”
“Yes.”
“Blocked doors?”
“Yes.”
“Broke things?”
“Two phones.”
“Did he ever punch walls?”
I looked away.
Once.
During an argument about my promotion.
He had punched the pantry door so hard that the hinges cracked.
He apologized later.
He sent flowers to my office.
He told me stress had gotten to him.
I had believed him.
Or perhaps I had decided believing him was easier.
Maya reached for my hand.
“Claire.”
I looked at her.
“They are going to say tonight came from nowhere.”
“It didn’t.”
I swallowed.
“No.”
“They are going to say you destroyed the family.”
“I know.”
“They are going to say you are after their money.”
“I know.”
“They are going to make Adrian the victim.”
I looked toward the dark hospital window.
“Then we make sure they cannot.”
Maya’s grip tightened.
“How?”
I turned back to her.
“I work in forensic finance.”
Maya blinked.
“I know.”
“No.”
I spoke slowly.
“You know I work for a consulting company.”
“You don’t know what my division does.”
For the first time that night, something almost like hope appeared in her eyes.
May you like
“What do you do?”
“I trace assets people try to hide.”
