Chapter 10
Natalie did not come home immediately.
I did not ask her to.
That surprised her.
Good.
She had spent years making every choice under pressure.
I would not make reunion another one.
Audrey came to the greenhouse with Keller.
When she saw Natalie, she stopped.
Three years is forever to a small child.
Natalie crouched.
Did not reach.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Audrey stared at the bracelet.
Then at Natalie’s wrist.
The matching faded blue band was there.
Her face changed.
“Blue.”
Natalie smiled through tears.
“Blue.”
Audrey walked forward.
Slowly.
Then faster.
The hug nearly knocked Natalie backward.
I turned away.
Not because I could not watch.
Because they deserved one moment untouched by me.
Later, Audrey asked:
“Why you gone?”
Natalie looked at me.
I did not rescue her.
She answered simply.
“Some people kept me away. Then Mommy got scared to come back.”
Audrey frowned.
“Daddy here.”
“I know.”
That sentence broke something between us.
I know.
Now.
Not then.
Natalie looked at me afterward.
“I believed you ordered the room.”
“I know.”
“You sound angry.”
“At myself.”
“That doesn’t fix it.”
“No.”
Good.
No quick forgiveness.
No romance built from trauma.
I asked one question.
“Why didn’t you contact me after you escaped the second time?”
She looked toward Audrey.
“Because I watched the estate.”
My chest tightened.
“What did you see?”
Vivienne living there.
Beside me.
Eventually wearing my ring.
Damian still controlling security.
Matteo still entering meetings.
From Natalie’s perspective, every person involved remained welcome.
She concluded the obvious.
I chose them.
May you like
Not her.
I had unknowingly built the perfect evidence against my own innocence.
