Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN PEARLS
Vivienne arrived at seven the next morning carrying white flowers.
She wore a cream coat, pearl earrings, and the expression she used at funerals for people she hadn’t liked.
“Gabriel.”
He stepped between her and Claire’s door.
“Who told you where we were?”
“Darling, you’re hardly difficult to locate.”
“Answer me.”
She glanced toward the nurses’ station.
“Lower your voice.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
For the first time, something shifted in her face.
Then she sighed.
“Is that what she’s telling you?”
He held out the document.
Vivienne didn’t take it.
“Claire was unstable. You were preparing to assume real responsibilities. Your father had just died.”
“So you decided for me.”
“I protected you.”
“From my child?”
“We don’t know that she is your child.”
He stared at her.
Léa appeared in the doorway behind him, holding a paper cup with both hands.
“Is that your mommy?”
Gabriel turned immediately.
“Yes.”
Léa looked at Vivienne.
“Did you bring Mommy flowers?”
Vivienne’s eyes traveled over the red dress, now wrinkled from a night in a waiting room.
For one second, Gabriel thought she might soften.
Instead, she said, “Children shouldn’t be involved in adult misunderstandings.”
Léa moved closer to him.
He placed a hand against her back.
“Go inside with your mom, sweetheart.”
When the door closed, he faced Vivienne.
“You will not speak to her again without Claire’s permission.”
“You’re making an emotional decision.”
“I’m making one you should have let me make five years ago.”
Her voice dropped.
“You have no idea what this woman has done.”
“Then give me evidence.”
“I have attorneys.”
“So do I.”
He called hospital security and asked that Vivienne be removed from Claire’s visitor list.
His mother watched him make the call.
“You would humiliate me here?”
He slipped the forged statement back into his folder.
“You’ll survive.”
She set the flowers on an empty chair.
As she walked away, she said, “Ask Claire about the fifty thousand dollars.”
Gabriel didn’t follow.
Inside the room, Claire had gone very still.
“You heard.”
She nodded.
“Was there money?”
“Yes.”
He waited.
“She offered it if I signed an agreement and left the city.”
“Did you?”
Claire looked down at her hands.
“I took the money.”
His chest tightened.
Then she raised her eyes.
“And three days later, I sent it back.”
“Can you prove that?”
Before she answered, someone knocked.
A man in a dark suit stood in the doorway.
“I’m looking for Ms. Moreau.”
May you like
He held a thick envelope.
“Your former employer has filed a complaint.”
