Chapter 3: What Victoria Said on the Roof
Daniel did not go home.
He sat in a plastic chair outside Elena's room for forty minutes, his jacket still on, his phone face-down on his knee.
Through the narrow window in the door he could see the shape of her under a white blanket, an IV line taped to the back of her hand, a monitor blinking green beside the bed.
Pregnant.
He turned the word over the way you turn over something you've stepped on in the dark, not sure yet whether it's sharp.
A nurse came out and paused when she saw him.
"Are you family?"
"No." He stood anyway.
"I'm her employer.
Is she awake?"
"She's been asking for you, actually." The nurse held the door open.
"Five minutes."
Elena looked smaller in the hospital bed than she ever had in three years of working beside him.
Her left wrist was bandaged.
There was a bruise along her jaw from the impact with the net.
But her eyes were open, and when she saw him they didn't look away.
"You didn't have to stay," she said.
"I know."
He pulled the chair to the side of the bed and sat down.
"The doctor told me," he said.
She closed her eyes.
"I was going to tell you.
I just needed to find the right—"
"Elena." He kept his voice level.
"Who is the father?"
She opened her eyes.
"Marcus," she said.
"Marcus Webb.
He was a contractor on the Tower renovation last spring.
We were together for four months.
It ended in August." A pause.
"He doesn't know."
Daniel absorbed that.
"Does Victoria know?"
"She found out two weeks ago." Elena's jaw tightened.
"I don't know how.
I hadn't told anyone.
But she came to my room one evening and she knew.
She said—" Her voice caught.
"She said if I didn't resign before the wedding, she would tell you I'd been trying to seduce you.
That she had proof.
That photograph Noah took."
"She threatened you."
"She said you'd believe her.
That you'd fire me without a reference.
That no one would hire a pregnant woman with a ruined reputation." Elena looked at the ceiling.
"I told her I needed time to think.
Tonight she stopped waiting."
The monitor beeped steadily between them.
"On the roof," Daniel said, "what did she say to you before she pushed you?"
Elena was quiet for a moment.
"She said, 'He already knows about the baby and he doesn't care about you.
He told me himself.
You're nothing to him but staff.'" Her voice was flat now, the emotion pressed out of it.
"I didn't believe her.
But she said it so calmly.
And then her hands were on my chest and I was falling."
Daniel stood up.
"Rest," he said.
"You're not losing your job.
You're not losing anything.
I'll handle the rest."
"Daniel—"
"Rest."
He walked out into the hallway.
His phone had eleven missed calls.
Seven from Victoria.
Two from his lawyer, Richard Crane.
One from Noah Grant.
One from a number he didn't recognize.
He called Richard first.
"I need you at the hospital," Daniel said when Richard picked up.
"Bring whoever handles criminal matters."
A short silence.
"How serious?"
Daniel looked back through the window at Elena.
"Attempted murd3r," he said.
"Witnessed by two hundred people."
He heard Richard set something down on a hard surface.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Richard said.
Daniel ended the call.
His phone lit up again.
Victoria.
This time he answered.
"Daniel, thank God." Her voice was controlled but tight.
"Where are you?
I've been—"
"I'm at the hospital."
"Is she all right?
I've been so worried, it was an accident, she was standing too close to the edge and I reached for her and—"
"Victoria."
She stopped.
"I watched you," he said.
"Both hands.
Full force.
You didn't reach for her.
You pushed her."
The line went silent for four full seconds.
"Come home," she said.
Her voice had changed.
The softness was gone.
"We need to talk privately before this gets out of hand.
I know things about that woman that will change how you see all of this."
"I'm sure you do," Daniel said.
"My lawyers will be in touch."
He hung up.
Down the corridor, the elevator opened and Richard Crane walked out carrying a briefcase, his coat still on from wherever he'd been.
May you like
He took one look at Daniel's face and didn't bother with a greeting.
"Tell me everything," Richard said.
