Chapter 12 - THE CONVERSATION ADRIAN COULDN'T CONTROL
Our first direct conversation after separating happened in mediation.
Attorneys present.
Neutral office.
No Conrad.
Adrian looked older.
I hated noticing that.
I hated that some part of me still recognized the man I had once slept beside.
He apologized first.
“For the ring.”
I waited.
“I should never have thrown it in the fireplace.”
“No.”
“I was angry.”
“At a nine-year-old?”
“At Daniel.”
That surprised me.
“Daniel’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you still fighting with him?”
Adrian looked away.
There it was.
Five years of resentment aimed at a man who could no longer answer.
“He always thought he was better than me.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Or did he stop trusting you?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You’ve talked to Melissa.”
“Yes.”
“She poisoned you against me.”
I almost laughed.
“See?”
“What?”
“You still need the problem to be whoever tells me something you don’t like.”
He leaned back.
I put Daniel’s ring on the table.
Not theatrically.
I simply wanted it visible.
“Tell me what happened beside the truck.”
“I already did.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Tell me why you left.”
Adrian stared at the ring.
Then his shoulders changed.
Not collapsing.
Releasing.
“I was furious.”
I stayed silent.
“He had called me a thief.”
“Were you?”
“I took discounts I shouldn’t have.”
That was the first time he said it plainly.
“I knew if Daniel lived, he would dissolve the company.”
I felt my heart pound.
“He was bleeding.”
Adrian’s voice became quieter.
“I knew he needed help.”
“Did you think he was dying?”
“Yes.”
The room went still.
“Did you want him to die?”
Adrian looked at me.
“No.”
I believed that answer more than I wanted to.
“Then why didn’t you call?”
He closed his eyes.
“Because for maybe one minute—I don’t know—I thought about what happened if he didn’t make it.”
My stomach turned.
He kept speaking.
“The company stayed together.”
“Your supplier problem stayed hidden.”
“Yes.”
“You kept the Mercer name.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Adrian’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t think about marrying you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He looked away.
“I knew you’d need help.”
I almost laughed at the horror of it.
Even beside Daniel’s wrecked truck, Adrian had already seen me as someone whose need would create his place.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before you left him?”
“Laura—”
“How long did you stand there deciding?”
His face crumpled.
“Maybe two minutes.”
Two minutes.
Maybe less.
Maybe more.
Then he climbed back to the road.
He drove away.
Henry Baker arrived.
Called 911.
Adrian went home.
He did not contact me.
He waited until police notified me.
Then he came to the hospital.
Held my shoulders while I screamed.
The memory nearly made me leave the room.
Instead I asked the last question.
“When did you take Daniel’s ring?”
Adrian whispered:
“Before I walked away.”
I closed my eyes.
Not after.
Not found later.
Before.
He took the symbol Daniel meant for his wife and child.
Then left Daniel alone.
I picked up the ring.
Adrian said, “I brought it back to you.”
“Three months later.”
“I couldn’t—”
“You kept it for three months?”
He looked down.
“Why?”
His answer was almost inaudible.
“Because every time I looked at it, I remembered what I did.”
May you like
For once, Adrian had no version left.
Only the truth.
