Chapter 13
Lucia agreed to see Adrian once before his criminal pleas were finalized.
Not alone.
Her attorney attended.
A therapist experienced in domestic-violence cases facilitated.
No Salvatore.
Adrian looked thinner.
For the first time since the hospital, he did not wear a suit.
He began:
“I’m sorry.”
Lucia waited.
“I pushed you.”
“Yes.”
“I panicked.”
“Yes.”
“I never wanted you to fall that far.”
Lucia’s expression changed.
“That far?”
Adrian looked down.
“You understand how that sounds?”
“Yes.”
“You wanted to push me. You just didn’t choose the number of stairs.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
That answer, awful as it was, was better than another euphemism.
Lucia asked:
“Why did you stop the blood?”
Adrian was silent for a long time.
Then:
“Because Dad said if an outside result tied you to M7 before we understood the exposure source, the bank and regulators would treat the worst interpretation as fact.”
Lucia stared.
“And you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“You needed him to be right because the alternative meant you had been giving your pregnant wife something your own doctor told you to stop.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Did you know my bottle was contaminated?”
“Not that specific bottle.”
“Did you know it came from the failed lot?”
“Yes.”
Lucia’s face went still.
There it was.
The sentence she had needed.
Not for court.
For herself.
Adrian continued.
“I thought the blended lot was probably safe.”
“Probably.”
“Yes.”
“You let me take it every day.”
“I was afraid if I suddenly pulled it from the house you would ask why.”
Lucia almost laughed.
“You were more afraid of my question than my blood.”
He cried then.
She did not comfort him.
After several minutes Adrian asked:
“Will you ever let me see Emilia?”
Lucia answered carefully.
“That is not a promise I can make in this room.”
“I’m her father.”
“Yes.”
“You know I would never hurt her.”
Lucia’s voice hardened.
“You shoved her mother down stairs while she was inside me.”
Adrian had no answer.
Then Lucia said:
“Whatever relationship you ever have with her will come through the court, professionals, and what is safe for her. Not through me being pressured because you’re sorry.”
He nodded.
Their marriage ended there emotionally.
May you like
The legal divorce followed months later.
No reconciliation thread remained.
