CHAPTER FORTY ONE What He Told Her

Emma's POVJulian calls me at seven forty-two.I am at the kitchen counter with a glass of wine I have not touched, and the children are in the living room with Adèle doing the wind-down that happens before bath, and I am staring at my phone the way you stare at something you have been trying not to stare at for two hours.It rings.I answer on the first ring."He came?" "Yes.""How long was he there?" "Less than twenty minutes.""That is shorter than I expected.""There was not very much to say. Are you home?""Yes.""Are the children up?""For another hour.""Can I come by after they are asleep?" I look at the wine.I look at the doorway to the living room where I can hear Ace explaining something to Adèle in his loud carrying voice and Grey saying no in the particular way Grey says no, which is not a refusal but a correction."You can.""Nine thirty?""Nine thirty is fine." "Emma.""Yes?" "He did not do what you thought he would do."I close my eyes."What did he do?" "I will

CHAPTER FORTY TWO The File

Liam's POVMarcus arrives at the George V at four in the afternoon.He does not call ahead. He does not need to. Marcus has been my assistant for eleven years and there is a specific rhythm to the way he moves when he is bringing me something he does not want to send electronically, and I have known since that evening I gave him certain instructions that whenever the rhythm arrived, it would arrive without warning.I open the door.He is carrying a leather folder under his arm.Not a large folder. That is the first thing I notice. Whatever is inside it is not thick. Not the volume of paper you would expect from an eight month investigation carried out through three private contractors in two countries, and my first thought, walking back into the suite in front of him, is that the folder is small because there was less to find than we feared.My second thought, arriving a beat later, is that the folder is small because Marcus is very good at his job.He closes the door behind him.He do

CHAPTER FORTY THREE: The Door

Emma's POV Julian arrives at eleven on Saturday morning.He has been over before, but never during the day, and never when all three children are awake, and never on a Saturday, which is the day I have historically declined all invitations from all people who are not my mother because Saturday belongs to us and I have said this out loud enough times that it has calcified into a rule not even Adèle challenges.Julian is not challenging it.He is participating in it.That is a distinction I did not know existed until he made it, and he made it by asking me on Wednesday whether he could come with us to the Jardin des Plantes because he had been meaning to take his nephew there for a year and thought it might be nice to do a trial run with people who had already vetted the terrain.The way he phrased it made me laugh.The way he waited for my answer without pressuring me made me say yes.Ace answers the door.I did not know Ace was going to answer the door. I was in the kitchen wrestling

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR: The Garden

Emma's POV We are at the Jardin des Plantes by twelve fifteen.Ace immediately becomes the tour guide.He has been to this garden precisely three times in his life and he has no accurate information about any of it, but accuracy has never mattered to Ace, and he takes Julian's hand without asking and leads him from tree to tree, explaining each one with the confident inaccuracy of a small person who has decided that inventing facts is more efficient than acquiring them.Julian listens to every one.He nods at the appropriate moments.He asks follow-up questions.He does not correct a single fact.When Ace informs him, with total conviction, that the tree they are standing under is called le arbre du grandpère and produces apples that only grow on Sundays, Julian nods gravely and asks whether Sunday apples taste different from other apples.Ace considers this for a long moment."They taste like Sunday," he says finally."Ah," Julian replies. "That makes sense."Grey is walking three p

All Chapters of I Left Broken and Fat, I Came Back His Boss With Triplets: Chapter 41 - Chapter 44

CHAPTER FORTY ONE What He Told Her

CHAPTER FORTY TWO The File

CHAPTER FORTY THREE: The Door

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR: The Garden