Chapter 15: Come Home

Benton opened the door of my house with a glass of my mother's wine in his hand.

The wire was taped under my left breast, and the recorder was a flat black square the size of a matchbook.

Cosimo had taped it there himself that morning, with his jaw set, and he hadn't spoken the whole time.

"Lyddie," Benton said, and his eyes filled.

He could do that in the time it took to say a name.

"You came."

"You said you'd give everything back."

"I will. Come in, come in. It's your house."

He had kept the locks changed on it for four days.

I walked into the front hall where my coats had hung, and he shut the door behind me and slid the chain across.

I heard Cosimo in my ear, very low. "Chain."

I breathed out and let my shoulders drop, the way I used to when I came home.

Benton touched my face.

I made myself lean into his palm.

My stomach turned over, and I kept smiling.

"I've been sick about this," he said. "I haven't slept. Brianna was a stupid, stupid thing, Lyddie, and you know it never meant anything."

"She's pregnant."

"She'll be handled." His thumb stroked my cheekbone. "Your father is handling it. We can have all of this behind us by the spring."

"And the money?"

"I moved it to protect us. It's all in the property fund. Every dollar. I'll sign it back the day you drop the board business."

"Show me."

He smiled.

"There she is. That's my wife." He kissed my forehead, and I did not flinch, and in my ear Cosimo breathed out hard through his teeth.

"The second ledger's in the study safe. Come on. I'll let you see it, so you'll stop being scared."

The study smelled like his aftershave.

He opened the safe with his back to me, and I stood close enough to count the numbers he turned.

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