Adrian slid the paper toward her.
Thomas Hale.
Claire read it twice.
“Who is he?”
“We’re checking.”
“Alive?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Claire felt suddenly angry.
“You know what I hate?”
“What?”
“People keep saying that.”
Adrian almost smiled.
She did not.
“My entire life has become ‘we don’t know yet.’”
Adrian’s expression softened.
“That is still better than somebody giving you a lie because uncertainty is uncomfortable.”
Claire looked at him.
Unexpectedly wise.
Annoyingly so.
“Did you learn that from being terrifying?”
“No.”
“From losing people.”
The attack investigation moved quickly in one direction and stalled in another.
Police believed the shooters were hired professionals.
The initial assumption had been that Adrian Bellini or Sofia was the target.
That was logical.
Adrian had enemies.
Some legitimate business rivals.
Others less legitimate.
But the recovered photograph changed the theory.
Claire had been surveilled before the attack.
Then another photograph surfaced.
Claire buying groceries.
Another entering her apartment building.
Another boarding a bus.
Somebody had been tracking her for at least three weeks.
The question was why.
Rachel’s daughter confirmed.
The answer seemed obvious.
Someone knew who Claire was.
Someone who had known Rachel.
Claire was discharged under police protection.
She hated every second of it.
“You’re not putting armed men outside my apartment.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Someone shot you.”
“Technically someone shot at your restaurant.”
“You were photographed.”
“I understand.”
“You could be killed.”
Claire crossed her arms carefully.
“I still live there.”
“Not tonight.”
“You don’t decide that.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Claire saw the famous Bellini temper begin to appear.
Then he stopped.
He took a breath.
“Fine.”
She blinked.
“Fine?”
“I am asking.”
Claire stared suspiciously.
Adrian continued.
“Please stay somewhere secure until the police understand who targeted you.”
“That almost sounded normal.”
“Don’t become accustomed to it.”
Claire smiled.
They compromised.
Not Adrian’s mansion.
A secure apartment owned by the Bellini hotel group, with police awareness and one security team downstairs.
Claire chose who could enter.
That condition mattered.
Adrian agreed.
Sofia visited often.
At first, Claire worried the attachment was unhealthy.
She spoke with Sofia’s therapist.
The therapist explained that Sofia had associated Claire with safety during an acute trauma.
The “Mummy” confusion had been intensified by physical resemblance and the pendant.
They should not encourage replacement fantasies.
But they also should not abruptly separate the child from the person who had protected her.
Claire became something simpler.
Claire.
Not mother.
Not savior.
Just Claire.
Sofia seemed satisfied.
She brought drawings.
Most featured three stick figures.
Daddy.
Sofia.
Claire.
Sometimes Claire had a giant red cape.
“I don’t own a cape.”
“You should.”
“Fair.”
Adrian watched them from across rooms.
Something in him changed when Claire was with Sofia.
Not romance.