His hand slid off the counter and settled on my hip.

Then lower.

His palm closed over my backside and squeezed.

I spun so fast the knife clattered into the sink. Both my hands hit his chest, and I shoved with everything I had.

"Don't you *touch* me!"

He stumbled back one step. Only one. Then he laughed, low and easy, and straightened his cuffs.

"Relax, Mrs. Doyle. You'll pull something."

"Get out of my kitchen."

"Your kitchen?" He glanced around at the cabinets, amused. "Your husband's kitchen. And your husband's job. And your husband's mortgage." He picked a slice of onion off the cutting board and ate it. "Here's how this works. You play nice through lunch, smile, pour my wine, and Caleb has his promotion by Friday. You make a scene, and he's unemployed by dinner. Your choice."

My whole body shook. "You're disgusting."

"I'm generous. There's a difference."

The back door banged open.

"What's going on?" Caleb's eyes jumped from me to Marcus. "Nora, I heard you yelling."

Marcus spoke first. He didn't even raise his voice.

"Caleb, I think your wife's had a hard couple of days." He sighed and shook his head. "She pressed up against me at the counter. Made some suggestions. I told her I wasn't interested, and she got upset."

My mouth fell open. "That's a lie. He grabbed me. He put his hand on my—Caleb, he *grabbed* me."

Caleb looked at me.

Then he looked at Marcus.

Marcus's face had gone flat and cold, the way a boss looks right before he says *close the door behind you*.

I watched my husband make his choice. It took about two seconds.

"Nora, what is *wrong* with you?"

"Caleb—"

"Is this about yesterday? About the school?" His voice climbed. "You're so angry about Leo that you'll make up something like this? To his *father*?"

"I didn't make anything up!"

"You've been unstable since last night. Throwing things, crying, not talking to me—"

"*You* threw the glass!"

"Marcus, I'm so sorry." Caleb turned toward him, his hands open. "She's not herself."

I pointed at the door. My finger trembled, so I pointed harder.

"I want him out of this house. Now."

Marcus smiled at Caleb, not at me. Like he was waiting to see what his dog would do.

Caleb's fingers locked around my upper arm.

"Upstairs."

"No. Let me *go*—"

He hauled me across the kitchen. My hip slammed the island. My bare feet skidded on the stairs, and he yanked me up by the arm the rest of the way, step after step, while I clawed at his wrist. He shoved me into our bedroom so hard I fell against the dresser.

"You stay here until our guests leave. Cool off."

"Caleb, he touched me. Do you hear me? He *touched* your wife."

The door shut. A key turned in the lock.

I threw myself at it and pounded with both fists.

"Caleb! Open this door! Please! Jamie's down there with them! Caleb, *please*!"

His footsteps paused outside.

I held my breath. I pressed my ear to the wood.

Then the steps went down the stairs. A cork popped. Marcus said something, and Caleb laughed.

---

I ran to the back window and shoved it up as far as it would go. It stuck at six inches.

Jamie was standing near the patio with something in his hands. His old robot. The tin one with the wind-up key that my father had given him when he was a baby, before everything. He'd kept it in his sock drawer for years.

Leo walked up and snatched it.

"Give it back," Jamie said. "That's from my grandpa."

"You don't have a grandpa. You're poor."

"Give it *back*."

Jamie reached for it. Leo planted a hand on his chest and pushed. Jamie went down hard on the stone path, knees first. I heard the sound through the glass.

Then Leo dropped the robot and stomped on it. Once. Twice. The tin crumpled like a soda can.

Jamie sat on the stones holding his knee. Blood ran down his shin in a thin red line.

Caleb and Marcus came out onto the patio with their glasses.

"What happened?" Caleb asked.

"He tried to hit me," Leo said.

Caleb's face darkened. He marched over and stood above our son.

"Get up. What did I tell you? We have guests, and you're out here starting fights?"

"I didn't start—"

"Apologize to Leo."

I slammed my palm against the window. "Caleb! He's bleeding! Look at his knee! *Look at your son!*"

Nobody turned toward the house except Jamie.

He tipped his head back and found me in the window. His face was wet. His knee was red to the ankle.

And he smiled at me. A small, wobbly smile.

"I'm okay, Mommy," he called up. "It doesn't hurt that much. Don't cry, okay?"

I slid down the wall with my hand still on the glass. He was eight. He was bleeding on the ground. And he was taking care of *me*.

Marcus leaned against the patio post and swirled his wine.

"You know, Caleb," he said lightly, "a man who can't manage his wife and his kid usually can't manage a department either."

Caleb went stiff.

Then he grabbed Jamie by the arm and jerked him to his feet. Jamie cried out.

"Stand up straight. Look Leo in the eye. Say you're sorry."

That was it.

I backed up to the far wall and ran at the bedroom door shoulder first. Pain shot down my arm. The frame groaned. I backed up and hit it again. A crack split along the wood near the lock.

"Jamie! Mommy's coming! Don't say it! Don't you *dare* say it!"

Third time. The latch shifted. My shoulder screamed.

That was when I heard the engines.

Not one car. A lot of them. A deep, rolling sound that rattled the windowpanes.

I staggered to the front window.

Black cars filled our street. Sedans and SUVs, bumper to bumper, all the way past the Hendersons' mailbox. Doors opened in a wave. Men in dark suits stepped out, more than a dozen, earpieces curled behind their ears. Without a word, they formed two straight lines from the curb to our front door.

Down the middle walked my father.

Sebastian. Gray at the temples now, but the same shoulders, the same walk. My mother, Celia, held his arm, her coat flaring in the wind, her eyes already searching the windows. Behind them came Dr. Patel, our old family doctor, with his black medical bag. And behind him, three people in charcoal suits carrying leather folders stamped with a silver logo I hadn't let myself look at in eight years.

*Whitmore Group.*

The side gate creaked. Caleb and Marcus came around the house to see what the noise was, Marcus still holding his wine.

My father stopped on the front walk and lifted his face toward them.

Marcus froze.

The glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the concrete. Red wine spread across the path toward his shoes.

He didn't even look down.

He knew that face. Everyone in his business did. It was the face of the one man who could pull every major contract out from under Vale Development before morning.