Chapter 14: Show Me Your Wrist

Susannah's POV

The officer's phone buzzed at 8:58.

He read the screen, and the corner of his mouth went flat.

"Signed," he said. "Come on, Mrs. Ardrey."

I had been standing outside the ballroom doors for forty minutes in a black dress that no longer fit right.

My stitches pulled when I breathed.

Two uniformed officers fell in behind us.

The doors opened, and I walked into a room of two hundred people in evening clothes.

I saw the chandeliers and the long white tables.

I saw a stage with a podium, and at the head table I saw Nate, sitting very straight.

Beside him, Kendra had her hand on his chest.

Her father was on his feet with a glass in his hand.

"...and so tonight," he was saying, "I'm proud to welcome a son into this company."

The officer's shoes rang on the parquet.

Heads began to turn, table by table.

Her father saw me last, and he stopped talking.

"I don't know who let you in," he said into the microphone. "This is a private event."

"I'm his wife," I said.

My voice carried farther than I meant it to.

"You are a woman who has put his badge on hold, and I won't have you making a scene at my daughter's table."

"It isn't your daughter's table I came for."

I kept walking.

Nate stood up so fast his chair fell over.

Kendra looked at him, and then at me, and her smile arrived on her face a half second late.

"Susannah," she said. "Honey. Oh, you shouldn't be out of bed."

"I wanted to see you," I said. "Show me your wrist."

Nobody moved.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your left wrist. The one you cut on Christmas Eve. I'd like to see it."

"This isn't the place."

"You wore it into my daughter's hospital. Everyone here has heard about it. Show them."

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