My hand tightened around the doorframe. "Pick up his shoe."
Chloe glanced at the green sneaker by the baseboard. "Excuse me?"
"Pick it up, put it beside the other one, and leave."
She laughed. "You are in no position to give me orders."
"You forced your way into my home, insulted my child, and threatened him. The only reason I have not called the police is that I do not want Theo's name in another report."
"A threat?" Chloe lifted both hands in false innocence. "I said I would teach him his place. As Ryan's wife, that may soon be my responsibility."
"You were my friend once. You know I never cared about the Carter fortune."
The reminder struck harder than I expected. Chloe had stood beside me at my wedding, then married Ryan before the ink on our divorce decree was dry. Six years later, she still treated every room as a contest she could win by wearing the most expensive ring.
"You stopped being my friend when you tried to hold Ryan back," she said.
"Then go home and ask why your fiancé spent the night thinking about my son."
Chloe's smile vanished.
I picked up the glass of ice water from the console table and held it between us. "Last chance."
She stepped closer. "Do you truly believe a sick child will make Ryan love you again? He pities you. Look at this place. Cheap furniture, peeling walls, no security. You are a charity case with good timing."
"I do not want him."
"Liar."
She reached as if to push past me toward the custody papers. I threw the water.
It struck her across the chest, soaking the lapels of her trench coat and the silk blouse beneath. Ice scattered over the tile.
Chloe shrieked and stumbled backward into the corridor. "Are you insane?"
"Come through my door again, and the next call will be to the police."
She dragged a phone from her handbag. Her wet fingers slipped twice before she found Ryan's number.
"Ryan," she cried when he answered, her voice instantly fragile. "Emma attacked me. I came here to talk peacefully, and she assaulted me."
I took the phone from her hand before she could retreat.
"Give that back!"
I switched on the speaker. "Your wife forced her way into my apartment."
Silence.
"Emma?" Ryan's impatience sharpened into alarm. "Why is Chloe there?"
"Ask her. She kicked Theo's shoes across the hall, called him a bastard, and said she would teach him his place when you brought him home."
"That is not what I said," Chloe snapped.
"Is Theo there?" Ryan asked.
"No. He is safe at the hospital with Daniel."
The relief in his exhale angered me. He had no right to feel relieved about a child he had just threatened to drag through court.
"Chloe, go home," he ordered.
Her mouth fell open. "Ryan, she threw water on me."
"Then leave before this gets worse."
"You are taking her side?"
"I am telling you to stop creating evidence for a custody dispute."
Chloe's face turned white. Even now, he was thinking like a strategist.
I brought the phone closer. "Keep her away from my home, my school, and my son. If she comes back, I will request a protective order."
"Do not use Theo to threaten me."
"Then stop using lawyers to threaten me."
I ended the call and placed the phone on the floor at Chloe's feet.
"Pick up the shoe."
For one second, I thought she might lunge at me. Then she retrieved the sneaker with two fingers, set it crookedly beside its mate, and snatched up her phone.
"You have no idea what you have started," she whispered.
"Neither do you."
She marched away. I closed the door, threw the deadbolt, and rested my forehead against the wood until her footsteps faded.
"You handled that well."
I spun around.
Daniel stood at the far end of the hallway in the same wrinkled scrubs he had worn overnight. I had not heard him enter.
"How long have you been there?"
"Long enough." He crossed the living room and wrapped his arms around me.
The embrace was too tight. His muscles felt rigid beneath the thin cotton, and my ribs pressed painfully against his chest.
"Daniel, loosen your arms."
He did, but only slightly. One hand slid up my back and settled at the nape of my neck.
"She had no right to speak to you that way," he murmured.
"No, she did not." I pulled back enough to study him. "Why aren't you with Theo?"
"The attending discharged him. My sister is bringing him home after she picks up his prescriptions. I wanted to warn you before he saw the court papers."
"You could have called."
"I needed to see that you were safe."
His thumb moved over the pulse beneath my jaw. The gesture might once have felt tender. After the memory of the burning files, it made my skin prickle.
"Lena will meet us at two," he continued. "She thinks Ryan's emergency request is weak. We can challenge the declaration and demand a gradual introduction supervised by a child therapist."
"That is what I want."
"And if the court refuses?"
"Then we follow the order and protect Theo as best we can."
Daniel's expression tightened. "You sound resigned."
"I sound realistic. Ryan is Theo's biological father. I hate what he is doing, but I cannot pretend the test does not exist."
His hand stopped moving.
"Biology did not sit beside an incubator," he said. "Biology did not teach him to ride a bike."
"I know."
"Do you?" His fingers pressed into my neck before he caught himself and let go. "Because Carter appears, makes one threat, and suddenly you are preparing to give him access."
"A judge may give him access. That is different."
Daniel walked to the window. Below us, a black sedan idled across the street, its windows too dark to see through. When he noticed it, his face became utterly still.
"Is that one of Ryan's cars?" I asked.
"Probably."
"I should take a picture."
Daniel closed the blinds before I could reach for my phone.
"Let the lawyer handle it," he said. "You have carried enough."
He turned back to me, but the man in front of me felt strangely separate from the friend who packed Theo's lunches and sang off-key in the shower.
"Emma," he said softly, "if Ryan disappeared from our lives tomorrow, would any part of you miss him?"
