Marisol looked directly at Grant.

“She’s the strongest person I know.”

PART 10

The judge granted the protective order from the bench.

She also denied bail revision, referred the evidence to the district attorney for expedited prosecution, and ordered the psychiatric records sealed pending an investigation into their origin.

Grant did not look at me as the deputies led him out.

Lorraine did. She stood in the aisle with her chin high and her eyes bright, and for a moment I thought she might say something.

Then she saw the way the people around her were moving away, and she understood, finally, that there was no one left in that room to charm.

She sat down.

It took eight months for everything to resolve.

Grant pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and fraud. The Singapore account was traced, frozen, and returned to the company. Lorraine accepted a plea of her own, for conspiracy and tampering. Her cream cashmere robe turned out to be a poor fit for county processing.

I sold the house.

I did not take the staircase with me.

I bought a smaller place near the water, with big windows and a kitchen that smelled like coffee in the mornings. Marisol and her daughter came for dinner the first Sunday. The little girl, healthy now, ran down the hallway laughing, and I realized I had not heard that sound in a house of mine for six years.

On the day the divorce was finalized, Dana took me to lunch.

“What now?” she asked, lifting her glass.

I thought about it.

“I’m going to run my father’s company. Properly. Under my own name.”

“And after that?”

I smiled.

“After that, I’m going to learn what it feels like to take a staircase without holding my breath.”

Dana laughed and touched her glass to mine.

That night, standing at my own window, I looked at the dark water and the soft scatter of lights along the shore. My ribs had healed. The scar on my wrist where the watch strap had pressed hard against the bone had faded to nothing.

For eight years, I had kept my marriage looking respectable.

For eight years, I had been so good at it.

Now I understood that being good at something does not make it worth keeping.

I did not slip, I thought.

I stood up.

THE END

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