Chapter 10 - UNDER OATH
Emma did not want to testify.
Her attorney told her she might not have a choice.
Nathan offered to settle.
Olivia refused.
“She wants acknowledgment,” Emma said.
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
“She does not only want money.”
Emma had understood that the moment Olivia entered the bookstore.
“She wants someone to admit she was not imagining everything.”
Nathan leaned back.
“She wasn’t.”
Emma’s eyes lifted.
Nathan continued.
“I may not have promised her a relationship.”
“But I gave her enough to hope for one.”
“That is on me.”
The deposition occurred remotely because Sophie was still too young for Emma to travel.
Olivia appeared on a screen from Manhattan.
Nathan sat beside his attorney.
Emma sat in another room.
Question after question followed.
Did Nathan touch Olivia romantically?
“No.”
Kiss her?
“No.”
Share a hotel room?
“No.”
Tell her he loved her?
“No.”
Then the attorney asked the question that mattered.
“Did Mr. Whitmore ever imply his marriage was ending?”
Olivia hesitated.
“Not directly.”
“Indirectly?”
Olivia looked toward Nathan.
“He said he didn’t know how much longer he could live like that.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Nathan’s attorney asked for context.
Olivia answered.
“He was talking about work.”
Nathan looked at Emma’s camera.
She saw shame on his face.
Olivia continued.
“I made it about Emma because that was what I wanted to believe.”
The room went still.
Her lawyer whispered something.
Olivia shook her head.
“No.”
“I’m done pretending.”
She looked directly at the screen.
“Nathan used me emotionally.”
“But I used his unhappiness too.”
Emma stared.
Olivia’s voice trembled.
“I knew he was married.”
“I knew Emma existed.”
“I convinced myself that if he came to me with things he should have taken home, then maybe I was becoming home.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
The lawsuit did not disappear.
But its shape changed.
By evening, both sides began discussing settlement.
Emma closed her laptop.
Nathan remained silent.
Finally she said, “Thank you.”
He looked surprised.
“For what?”
“For not letting your lawyers destroy her.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“I already hurt enough people.”
Sophie cried from the bedroom.
Both of them stood automatically.
Then stopped.
Emma looked at Nathan.
“You can get her.”
Nathan froze.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He walked into the bedroom.
Emma watched from the doorway while he lifted their daughter.
Sophie quieted against his chest.
Nathan smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Daniel Mercer.
Nathan almost ignored it.
Emma shook her head.
“Answer.”
Nathan did.
Daniel spoke for less than a minute.
Nathan’s expression changed completely.
After hanging up, he stared at Emma.
“What happened?”
“The board wants me back.”
Emma blinked.
Nathan continued.
“There’s a condition.”
“What?”
“I have forty-eight hours to return to Manhattan.”
May you like
“And if you don’t?”
“They make my removal permanent.”
