Chapter 7: Everything He Thought Was Safe
Ruth stayed with me that night.
She slept in the spare room and made tea in the morning without being asked, and when I came out of the bedroom she handed me a cup and did not say anything about Luke or the lawyer or the document, which was exactly right.
I had three things to do before noon.
The first was a call with Dana.
She answered immediately.
"I've been waiting.
How did it go with Patricia?"
"Good.
I need a favor."
"Name it."
"The submission records for the Scott Global proposal — the version history, the email threads, the call logs.
Everything that shows the work was mine.
Can you pull it and hold it somewhere safe?"
"Already done," Dana said.
"I pulled it last night after you texted.
It's on a personal drive, not the company server."
I exhaled.
"Thank you."
"Clover.
He came into the office this morning and told HR he'd be taking point on the Scott Global implementation."
The cup went still in my hand.
"He did what?"
"He sent an email at seven forty-five.
Copied the department head.
Said you were dealing with a personal situation and he'd be managing the transition."
"I'm not dealing with a personal situation.
I closed that deal yesterday."
"I know that.
Richard Holt knows that.
But the email is in the system."
I set the cup down.
"Forward me everything.
The email, the timestamp, all of it."
"Already in your inbox."
The second thing was a call to Richard Holt's assistant, asking for a brief follow-up call with Richard at his earliest convenience.
The assistant called back within twenty minutes.
Richard was available at two.
The third thing was harder.
I sat at the kitchen table with my phone and opened the message thread with Luke.
Forty-one messages since the train platform.
I had read some, ignored others.
I scrolled to the most recent.
*We need to talk about the apartment.
And about what's fair for both of us going forward.*
What's fair.
I read that twice.
I did not reply.
Instead I forwarded the message to Patricia with a single line: *He's starting to move on assets.*
She replied in four minutes: *Expected.
Don't respond.
I'll contact his lawyer today.*
At two o'clock, I called Richard.
"Clover," he said.
"I was going to reach out to you anyway.
I received an email this morning from Luke suggesting he'd be managing our implementation contact."
"I saw it," I said.
"Richard, I want to be straightforward with you.
Luke and I are no longer together personally, and there are some internal matters being resolved.
But my involvement in this account has not changed.
The work was mine, the relationship is mine, and I intend to see the implementation through."
A pause.
"I appreciate you telling me directly."
"I thought you deserved that."
"Can I ask — is this going to create disruption on your end?"
"There will be some short-term noise," I said.
"It won't reach you."
"All right," Richard said.
"Then as far as I'm concerned, you're our contact.
I'll have my team route everything through you."
"Thank you, Richard."
"Thank you for the call," he said.
"And Clover — I'm sorry you're dealing with this.
It's clear you've handled it with a great deal of professionalism."
I thanked him and ended the call.
Ruth was leaning in the kitchen doorway.
She had heard most of it.
"He tried to take the account too," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"He thought I wouldn't move fast enough to stop it."
"He doesn't know you very well."
"He knows me well enough to know I'd be hurt," I said.
"He just miscalculated what I'd do with it."
That evening, Patricia called.
"I reached out to his attorney," she said.
"Luke has retained someone.
The response was formal and fast, which tells me he's been in contact with this lawyer for a while."
"How long?"
"His attorney wouldn't say.
But the speed of the response suggests the groundwork was already laid." She paused.
"Clover, I want to prepare you for something.
He's going to try to negotiate before this goes anywhere formal.
He'll want a private arrangement — something that looks reasonable on the surface but limits your position."
"What kind of arrangement?"
"He'll offer you something.
Shared custody on paper, but structured so that your travel makes compliance difficult.
He may offer to let you keep the account in exchange for concessions on the parenting agreement."
I was quiet for a moment.
"He's going to try to trade my career for my child."
"He's going to try to make it look like a compromise," Patricia said.
"It won't be."
I looked out the window.
The street below was quiet.
"What do I do when he calls?"
May you like
"You let him talk," she said.
"And you record it."
