“I said I was sorry.”
“An apology does not restore trust.”
Her fingers trembled as she removed the key from her purse.
She placed it in his palm.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“You cooperate with the investigation. You give Daniel every document Jonathan sent you. You do not contact Maya directly.”
“And you?”
“I need time.”
Eleanor nodded once.
Then she turned toward the door.
Before leaving, she looked back.
“David.”
He waited.
“Your father did not die the way you were told.”
The words settled between them.
“What was I told?”
“That he lost control of the car in the rain.”
“That’s what happened.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
David stepped toward her.
“What happened?”
But she opened the lobby door.
“I need to find the proof before Jonathan does.”
Then she disappeared onto the snowy sidewalk.
David returned upstairs with the key clenched in his hand.
Maya was sitting beside Liam’s bassinet.
She looked up when he entered.
“What did she say?”
David sat across from her and told her everything.
He did not soften the truth.
He did not defend his mother.
He did not hide the final sentence.
When he finished, Maya reached across the table.
“Are you all right?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s allowed.”
David turned his mother’s key over in his palm.
“She admitted she paid Jonathan. She says he was helping her investigate Marisol.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe she believed him.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked toward the window.
“Maybe all of us were paying for the same thing.”
“What?”
“Hope.”
David frowned.
“I paid because I hoped my mother wanted me. Your mother paid because she hoped she could control the past. You paid because you hoped supporting everyone would keep the family peaceful.”
“And Jonathan?”
