Chapter 8 - The Woman Between ThemMadison refused to meet Adrian.
Elena understood.
What surprised everyone was that Madison agreed to meet her.
They chose a hotel lounge in downtown Chicago at noon.
Adrian drove Elena to the city but did not enter the hotel.
“You don't have to wait,” Elena said.
“I know.”
“You have work.”
“I moved it.”
She gave him a look.
He corrected himself.
“I chose to move it.”
“Better.”
He parked.
Elena unfastened her seat belt.
“Are you nervous?” Adrian asked.
“Yes.”
“About Madison?”
“About myself.”
He frowned.
Elena looked through the windshield.
“I spent seven months imagining her.”
Adrian said nothing.
“I made her taller than me. Prettier. Funnier. More interesting.”
His chest hurt.
“Elena—”
“I'm not asking for reassurance.”
He stopped.
“I’m explaining.”
“Okay.”
“I turned her into the answer to everything I thought was wrong with me.”
She looked at him.
“Today I have to meet the actual woman.”
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“The actual woman isn't why I cheated.”
“I know.”
“That was me.”
“I know.”
A pause.
Then Elena opened the door.
“I’ll call when I’m finished.”
He nodded.
“Take as long as you need.”
Madison sat near the window.
Elena recognized her immediately.
Blonde.
Beautiful.
But not impossibly beautiful.
That surprised Elena.
For months she had imagined Madison as a woman constructed from everything Elena lacked.
Instead Madison looked human.
Nervous.
Tired.
She stood.
“Elena.”
“Madison.”
Neither knew whether to shake hands.
They didn't.
They sat.
Madison ordered sparkling water.
Elena ordered coffee.
“I’m sorry,” Madison said immediately.
Elena looked at her.
Madison's face reddened.
“I know that probably isn't why we're here.”
“It isn't.”
“I still needed to say it.”
Elena folded her hands.
“Okay.”
Madison swallowed.
“I believed him.”
“About the marriage?”
“Yes.”
“He told you I knew?”
“Yes.”
“That we were separated?”
“Emotionally.”
Elena almost laughed.
Of course.
The convenient phrase.
Emotionally separated.
A marriage could apparently be declared dead without informing one of the participants.
Madison continued.
“That doesn't excuse me.”
“No.”
“I knew he was married.”
“Yes.”
Madison accepted the answer.
No defense.
Elena appreciated that.
“I hated you,” Madison said.
“I know.”
Her eyes widened.
“Adrian told me.”
Madison looked down.
“He told you everything?”
“I doubt anyone tells anyone everything.”
A faint, sad smile.
“No.”
Elena leaned forward.
“Richard's key.”
Madison reached into her handbag.
She placed an old silver key on the table.
Elena stared.
“How long have you had it?”
“Since I was twenty.”
“What?”
“My father gave it to me.”
“Did he tell you what it was?”
“No.”
Madison touched the key.
“He said if anyone ever asked about Northline Holdings, I should take this to Grant Holloway.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Madison laughed bitterly.
“Because the first person who ever mentioned Northline to me was Caleb.”
Elena went still.
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
During the affair.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether my father ever left me documents.”
“And?”
“I said no.”
“Did he know about the key?”
“I don't think so.”
“Why didn't you tell Adrian?”
Madison looked directly at her.
“Because Caleb told me Adrian had killed my father.”
Elena stopped breathing for a second.
“What?”
“He said Richard discovered something about Vale Meridian. Adrian found out and had him eliminated.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I didn't know.”
Madison's eyes filled.
“My father died in a boating accident. There were questions. Nothing was ever proven.”
Elena understood.
“And then Caleb put you near Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you sleep with him?”
The question came out more directly than Elena intended.
Madison flinched.
But answered.
“At first?”
She looked ashamed.
“I wanted access.”
Elena felt cold.
“You used him.”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
Madison looked away.
“Later it became real for me.”
Elena hated how much that hurt.
She had thought she was past this.
Apparently healing did not mean becoming immune to old wounds.
Madison continued.
“He was lonely.”
Elena's jaw tightened.
“I know how that sounds.”
“No,” Elena said. “Tell me.”
Madison looked surprised.
“He was angry all the time. But underneath it…”
She struggled.
“He seemed empty.”
Elena looked at the table.
She knew that emptiness.
She had lived beside it.
Madison continued.
“He talked about you.”
Elena looked up.
“Not kindly.”
“I assumed.”
“He said you had become cold.”
Elena almost smiled.
“That was one of his favorites.”
“But sometimes…”
Madison hesitated.
“Sometimes he'd say something about you and it didn't match the rest.”
“Like what?”
“He told me you always remembered his mother's medical appointments.”
Elena blinked.
“He said you knew every employee's spouse's name at company dinners.”
Madison's voice softened.
“He said you made the best coffee he'd ever tasted.”
A painful laugh escaped Elena.
“He hated my coffee.”
“No.”
Madison shook her head.
“He said he pretended to hate it because you made it too strong.”
Elena stared.
“That idiot.”
Madison smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
For one strange second, the two women almost laughed together.
Then reality returned.
Madison pushed the key across the table.
“My father left a letter too.”
Elena stiffened.
“Another one?”
“This one was for me.”
She removed an envelope.
“I read it last night.”
“What does it say?”
“That he discovered Carlo Vale’s medication had been altered.”
Elena leaned forward.
“By whom?”
“He doesn't name the person.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn't know.”
Elena frowned.
Madison continued.
“But he knew who arranged the prescription change.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
That fit.
But something still felt wrong.
“Why would Victor kill his brother?”
“My father didn't think Victor ordered it.”
Elena's pulse changed.
“Then who?”
“He thought Victor was paid.”
“By whom?”
Madison looked at her.
“Someone Carlo trusted completely.”
Elena felt frustration rise.
Everyone kept circling the same invisible person.
“Did your father leave anything else?”
Madison nodded toward the key.
“He wrote that the answer was in the archive.”
Elena sat back.
“So Caleb needs the compartments opened.”
“Yes.”
“And he's using us to do it.”
“Probably.”
Elena looked at Madison.
“Why help?”
Madison’s face changed.
“Because Caleb used me too.”
“That doesn't make us allies.”
“No.”
“Or friends.”
“I know.”
Elena watched her.
Madison took a breath.
“And because I owe you something.”
“You can't give me back what happened.”
“I know.”
“You can't make it hurt less.”
“I know.”
Elena recognized the phrase.
I know.
She almost smiled at the irony.
“What do you think you owe me?”
“The truth.”
Elena looked at her for a long time.
Then nodded.
“That, I'll take.”
They left together.
Outside, Adrian was across the street.
Not beside the hotel entrance.
Not watching through the window.
He was sitting in a café reading something on his phone.
Waiting without hovering.
Madison saw him.
Her expression changed.
Elena noticed.
“You still love him.”
Madison looked embarrassed.
“I don't know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Madison's eyes filled.
Elena expected jealousy.
Instead she felt something unexpectedly sad.
Love did not become harmless simply because it was inconvenient.
Madison whispered, “Does that make you hate me?”
“No.”
The answer surprised both of them.
“I don't want your life,” Madison said.
“You never had my life.”
Elena looked across the street at Adrian.
“And I don't have the life I had either.”
Madison followed her gaze.
“Are you getting back together?”
Elena thought about it.
“No.”
Madison looked surprised.
Then Elena added, “We're getting to know each other.”
“Isn't that the same thing?”
“No.”
She looked at Madison.
“That's the mistake we made the first time.”
Adrian saw them.
He stood.
But remained across the street.
Waiting for Elena to signal.
She noticed.
And something inside her moved.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But perhaps forgiveness was not one door.
Perhaps it was a hallway.
And perhaps Adrian had finally stopped trying to force his way to the end.
Elena lifted one hand.
He crossed.
Madison handed him the silver key.
Adrian stared.
“Your father's?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“Madison.”
She stiffened.
“I owe you an apology.”
Elena watched.
Madison looked shocked.
“For what?”
“For lying to you.”
Adrian did not move closer.
“I told you my marriage was over because I wanted you and didn't want to think of myself as a man who cheated on his wife.”
Madison swallowed.
“I know.”
“I used you.”
Her eyes filled.
“I used you too.”
Adrian nodded.
“That doesn't erase what I did.”
“No.”
They stood there.
Three adults connected by choices none of them could undo.
Finally Madison said, “Goodbye, Adrian.”
“Goodbye.”
She walked away.
Adrian did not watch her go.
Elena did.
When Madison disappeared around the corner, Elena turned.
“Are you okay?”
Adrian thought.
“No.”
She appreciated the answer.
“But I will be.”
Elena held up her brass key.
Adrian looked at the silver one in his hand.
“Two compartments.”
“Yes.”
“And Caleb has Victor's.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked toward the city.
“When do you want to open them?”
May you like
Elena answered immediately.
“Tonight.”
