Chapter 5: What Was Already in Motion
Daniel didn't raise his voice.
That was the thing Nora had never learned to read correctly about him.
When Daniel was at his most dangerous, he got quieter.
"I want you to go upstairs," he said.
"Pack what you need for tonight.
You're not staying here."
"This is my house too."
"It's my house.
My name.
My mortgage.
My deed." He said it without heat.
"You can contest that in court.
Tonight, you're leaving."
"And Lily?"
"Lily stays with me."
Nora stepped forward.
"You can't do that.
You don't have a custody order.
Neither do we.
I have just as much right to—"
"You put something in my drink in front of our daughter." Daniel's voice dropped to almost nothing.
"You can explain your rights to a judge."
Nora stopped.
For the first time since the cup had shattered, she looked genuinely uncertain.
Not afraid of Daniel — she had moved past that.
Uncertain about something else.
Something outside this room.
"I need to make a call," she said.
"Make it upstairs."
"Daniel—"
"Nora." He looked at her steadily.
"Go upstairs."
She went.
Daniel walked to the living room and sat beside Lily on the sofa.
Lily immediately pressed herself against his side.
He put his arm around her and they sat without speaking for a moment, listening to Nora's footsteps move across the ceiling above them.
"Is she going away?" Lily asked.
"For tonight, yes."
"Is she coming back?"
Daniel looked down at his daughter.
Her dress was still torn at the shoulder.
Her eyes were dry now but red at the edges.
"I don't know yet," he said.
"But I promise you — whatever happens — you're going to be okay."
Lily was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Daddy.
There's something else."
He looked at her.
"The bottle.
It wasn't the first one."
Daniel went still.
"What do you mean, sweetheart?"
"There was another one.
Smaller.
She put it in your coffee last week.
The morning you felt sick and stayed home." Lily looked up at him.
"I didn't know then.
I didn't understand.
But when I saw her smiling last night I remembered."
The morning he had stayed home.
Nausea, dizziness, a headache that lasted two days.
He had assumed a virus.
He had slept for most of the afternoon while Lily watched cartoons in the next room.
He stood up carefully.
He walked to the kitchen, opened the cabinet beneath the sink, and moved aside the cleaning supplies.
In the back corner, behind a box of garbage bags, was a second bottle.
Smaller than the first.
Nearly empty.
He stood there holding it for a long time.
Upstairs, Nora was still on the phone.
Her voice was too low to make out words.
But it was fast.
Urgent.
Daniel took out his own phone and dialed a number he had not used in three years.
His brother answered on the second ring.
May you like
"I need a favor," Daniel said.
"Tonight."
