THE LIE FAILED
Margaret changed in an instant.
Her shoulders dropped. Her mouth softened. Her eyes filled with a practiced panic that had fooled rooms full of powerful men.
“Nathan,” she said. “Thank God you’re here. She slipped.”
Abigail’s breath caught.
Nathan did not look away from his mother.
“She slipped?”
Margaret nodded quickly.
“She became emotional. I tried to calm her, and she stepped back too fast.”
Claire made a small sound behind Nathan.
Margaret’s eyes snapped toward her.
A warning.
Claire looked down.
For one second, Abigail thought the old pattern would win again.
Margaret would explain.
Claire would stay silent.
Nathan would be torn between the woman who raised him and the woman on the floor.
But Nathan did not move toward Margaret.
He moved toward Abigail.
He knelt beside her, his suit pants touching the marble.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
Abigail shook her head, crying.
“The baby?”
“I don’t know. I think we’re okay.”
His hand trembled when he touched her shoulder.
Margaret stepped forward.
“Don’t frighten her more than she already is.”
Nathan turned his head.
“Stop talking.”
The room went silent.
Margaret froze.
Nathan had never spoken to her that way.
Abigail looked up at him through tears.
“She said no one would believe me,” she whispered.
Margaret’s face flickered.
Only for a second.
But Nathan saw it.
Claire saw it too.
And this time, Claire did not look away.
“She said it,” Claire whispered.
Margaret slowly turned.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Claire’s voice shook.
“I heard you through the door.”
