Chapter 4 - The Rules of Staying
Lucy found out about the apartment because Natalie refused to let her discover it through whispers.
They sat together on the hotel bed.
Natalie kept her voice steady.
“Someone went into our home without permission.”
Lucy stared.
“Did they take my telescope?”
“We’re checking.”
“My drawings?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Were they looking for us?”
Natalie wanted to say no.
The lie rose automatically.
A soft, comforting thing that would make the next five minutes easier and the next betrayal worse.
“They may have been looking for something that belonged to Dad.”
Lucy’s face changed.
“My dad?”
“Yes.”
“But he’s dead.”
Natalie nodded.
“The things he worked on are part of an investigation now.”
Lucy looked toward the door.
“Can they come here?”
“There are officers involved, and we’re making a plan with people whose job is keeping us safe.”
“That isn’t no.”
Natalie’s heart broke a little.
“No,” she said. “It isn’t. But it means you don’t have to solve it.”
For several seconds, Lucy was silent.
Then she climbed into her mother’s lap.
At nine, she rarely did that anymore.
Natalie held her until her breathing slowed.
That afternoon, Lydia recommended moving to a private rental whose arrangements could be controlled more easily than a busy hotel.
It belonged to an independent security service.
The cost would be covered through a documented agreement that gave Adrian no rights over Natalie’s movements or decisions.
Natalie read every page.
Then she asked for changes.
Adrian approved them without complaint.
When they arrived, Lucy inspected the kitchen first.
“There’s a dishwasher.”
“Yes.”
“Does it work?”
“I assume so.”
“We should test it immediately.”
Mason carried in groceries while she developed an ambitious testing plan involving every cup in the cupboard.
For the first time that day, Natalie smiled.
Adrian remained near the entrance.
“I’ll leave you to settle in.”
Lucy looked up.
“You’re not staying for dinner?”
Natalie answered before he could.
“Mr. Vale has work.”
Lucy considered that.
“Is it worse than lemonade?”
“Usually,” Adrian said.
“That’s because your pouring was bad.”
Mason made a strangled sound.
Adrian glanced at him.
“Your performance review is approaching.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucy watched them suspiciously.
“Adults are weird.”
After she went upstairs, Natalie stepped outside with Adrian.
Evening had turned the pavement silver.
“I need rules,” she said.
“Okay.”
“No information kept from me because somebody thinks I’ll panic.”
“Agreed.”
“No speaking to Lucy about Daniel without me.”
“Agreed.”
“No threats made on our behalf.”
His expression shifted.
She saw it.
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“If your idea of protection is making us dependent on how frightening you can be, this ends.”
Adrian looked toward the house.
Through the window, Lucy was explaining the dishwasher to Mason.
“I’ve used fear to solve problems,” he said.
“I assumed.”
“Sometimes it worked.”
“For whom?”
He looked back at her.
The question seemed to land somewhere he had not protected.
“For me,” he said finally.
Natalie folded her arms.
“Then you understand why I’m asking.”
“Yes.”
A car passed slowly.
Both of them watched it.
It continued around the corner.
Natalie hated that an ordinary sound had become something to assess.
Adrian noticed.
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
He took a breath.
“For believing Victor before I listened to Daniel. For allowing my family’s name to become something people could use to frighten witnesses. For not finding you.”
She looked away.
“I wasn’t waiting to be found.”
“I know that now.”
“I had a baby. Rent. A job. I couldn’t build a shrine to the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“No.”
“So don’t look at our life like it was a hiding place.”
He stood very still.
Then nodded.
“You built a home.”
“Yes.”
“And someone violated it.”
“Yes.”
“Then we start there.”
The door opened.
Lucy appeared holding the yellow apron.
Natalie blinked.
“You brought that?”
“It’s company property.”
Adrian looked at the apron.
“I thought I’d been terminated.”
“Temporary leave.”
She held it out.
“Dinner is spaghetti. You can do dishes.”
Natalie expected him to invent an excuse.
Instead, he took off his coat.
“All right.”
Lucy nodded, satisfied.
Inside, Mason stared.
Adrian pointed toward the kitchen.
“You can dry.”
For one evening, their precautions included locked doors, scheduled check-ins, and a man feared across Chicago arguing with a nine-year-old about whether washing a colander counted as one dish or forty-seven.
Natalie laughed.
Then cried quietly in the bathroom afterward.
May you like
Not because anything had been solved.
Because she had almost forgotten fear could share a room with something else.
