Chapter 2

I arrive at the Hawthorne family dinner ten minutes before it starts.

Not because I want to save the marriage.

I want my mother's notebook back.

The living room is full of Adrian's relatives.

Two gift boxes sit in the center of the table, originally prepared by Mrs. Hawthorne as wedding gifts for us.

The moment I walk in, Adrian's aunt laughs.

"There she is. I thought she'd really throw away the marriage over a twenty-five-thousand-dollar hospital bill."

"People who grow up without money always care too much about it."

Sienna sits beside Mrs. Hawthorne, chatting with her like she belongs there.

"Don't say that. Claire's mother is sick. Of course she's anxious."

She pauses.

"But Adrian already agreed to cover her follow-up treatment. Forcing him to release the money that very night was a little inappropriate."

Mrs. Hawthorne frowns at me.

"How is your mother?"

Adrian looks up.

He's waiting for my answer.

But Sienna immediately takes Mrs. Hawthorne's hand.

"Maybe we shouldn't ask."

"Adrian has only just established a healthy boundary. If everyone starts showing concern now, Claire will think this tactic worked."

Mrs. Hawthorne immediately falls silent.

Adrian pushes a document toward the empty seat.

"Sit down. Sign it."

I don't move.

"Where's the notebook?"

"At the office."

"I want it back."

"Sienna needs it for her livestream tonight. You can have it afterward."

"She doesn't have permission to publish anything in it."

Sienna smiles.

"Claire, your mother handled family and community disputes at a community mediation center. It's not confidential corporate information."

"I'm helping her work reach more people."

"She didn't agree to that."

"But Adrian did."

She turns toward him.

Adrian taps the document with one finger.

"This is HeartSync's new content license."

"Sign it, and I'll restore your access to the accounts. Sienna will delete last night's livestream too."

I open it.

The license doesn't just cover the relationship assessment model I helped develop.

It includes more than twenty years of my mother's mediation cases.

The term is permanent.

The licensing fee is one dollar.

"This is theft."

"The company has paid you a salary for three years."

"My salary paid for my work. It didn't buy my mother's life."

His aunt scoffs.

"Adrian marrying you is already the greatest security he can give you."

I look at him.

"You agree with that?"

He doesn't deny it.

"Once we're married, you'll become a beneficiary of part of the Hawthorne family trust."

"I'll take care of you."

"So first you turn what's mine into yours, then decide how much of it to give back to me?"

Adrian sets down his cup.

"Stop acting like I'm stealing from you."

"You don't have a stable income right now, and your mother will need long-term rehabilitation. Who else is going to take on that burden?"

Mom died without ever knowing that the person she'd been most afraid of burdening was now calling her exactly that.

As dinner is being served, Sienna stands.

That's when I see the blue silk scarf across her lap.

I recognize it immediately.

Mom hand-dyed it last year.

Before meeting Mrs. Hawthorne for the first time, she worried an expensive gift would make her look like she was trying too hard to impress them.

So she spent three nights making a simple blue scarf instead.

Mrs. Hawthorne accepted it.

Then apparently gave it to Sienna.

I walk toward her.

"Take it off."

Sienna touches the scarf.

"Mrs. Hawthorne gave it to me."

"My mother made that."

"Once you give something away, you don't get to demand it back."

She smiles helplessly.

"Claire, why do you keep trying to take other people's things tonight?"

I reach for the scarf.

Adrian catches my wrist first.

"Enough."

"It's one scarf. Are you really going to make a scene in front of my entire family?"

"Give it back."

"Sienna needs it for her livestream."

"Give it back."

Adrian looks at me for two seconds.

Then he takes the scarf from Sienna.

For a moment, I think he's finally going to return it.

Instead, he puts it back in her hands.

"Put it on."

Sienna ties it around her neck.

"Claire, sit down."

"Sign the license, and I'll forget everything that happened tonight."

"What if I don't?"

"You're suspended. You lose access to the house. Your access to the accounts stays blocked."

"And the marriage?"

His expression softens slightly, as if he's finally heard me surrender.

"That depends on how you behave."

Even now, he still thinks the thing I fear most is losing the chance to marry him.

I pick up the agreement.

Adrian offers me a pen.

"That's better."

I don't take it.

Instead, I pull a red marker from my bag.

I draw a huge X across every page.

Sienna's smile disappears.

Adrian stares at the red marks.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yes."

I put the ruined agreement in front of him.

"And you should know that my mother's notebook doesn't belong to you."

I turn to leave.

Adrian doesn't follow.

He waits until I reach the door.

"If you haven't apologized by nine tomorrow morning, I'll have our lawyers claim the notebook belongs to the company."

I stop.

Adrian leans back in his chair, completely certain of himself.

"Then you won't even have the right to take it back."