Chapter 9 - Three Hundred Seconds
Victor read the sentence until the words lost meaning.
Clare sat opposite him.
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
But he suspected.
The next morning, Samuel provided the answer.
Elias Mercer’s mother had once had a relationship with Samuel’s older brother.
Elias was not Victor’s biological brother.
Not exactly.
He was a cousin by blood through a branch of the Hale family neither man had known about when they became friends.
Elias had discovered it while investigating Victor’s birth.
The revelation was almost absurd.
They had spent years calling each other brothers as a joke.
Somewhere beneath the joke, blood had quietly agreed.
Victor laughed when Samuel told him.
Then, unexpectedly, he cried.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
He simply sat at the kitchen table while tears ran down his face.
Maisie entered carrying Bunny.
She stopped.
“You’re sad.”
Victor wiped his face.
“I’m okay.”
“That’s what Mommy says when she’s not okay.”
Clare, standing behind her, looked embarrassed.
“Apparently I’m being quoted.”
Maisie climbed onto the chair beside Victor.
“Five minutes?”
Victor looked at Clare.
She nodded.
Maisie wrapped her arms around his neck.
Victor held her.
“One Mississippi,” she said.
He closed his eyes.
“Two Mississippi.”
Clare sat beside them.
At thirty-seven, Maisie lost count.
At forty-two, she started again.
At sixty, she complained Victor was doing it wrong.
At ninety-three, Clare laughed.
At one hundred and twelve, Victor did too.
They reached three hundred.
Maisie leaned back.
“Better?”
Victor looked at her.
“Yes.”
It was true.
The weeks that followed brought consequences.
Graham faced charges connected to financial fraud and obstruction.
Martin Reese faced prosecution related to Elias’s crash and attempts to destroy evidence.
Vincent remained Victor’s security chief, although trust returned slowly.
Samuel began visiting.
Victor did not call him Dad.
Samuel never asked him to.
Mrs. Conti returned to Calder House after giving investigators everything she knew.
Victor forgave her eventually.
Not because she had made the right decisions.
Because he finally understood that people could love you and still fail you.
Clare considered leaving.
Victor found her packing boxes.
“What are you doing?”
She looked up.
“Moving.”
“Why?”
“My daughter accidentally uncovered twenty years of family secrets.”
“That seems like a reason for a raise.”
Clare laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“I need to give Maisie something normal.”
Victor looked around the small staff apartment.
“What does normal mean?”
“I don’t know. Preschool. Friends. A house where security guards don’t know her favorite cereal.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
Clare looked surprised.
“You’re not going to argue?”
“I’m trying something new.”
“What?”
“Respecting other people’s decisions.”
“How painful.”
“Excruciating.”
She smiled.
Victor looked toward Maisie’s room.
“Where will you go?”
“I found a place outside the city.”
“When?”
“Friday.”
Victor nodded.
Something inside him tightened.
But he did not ask them to stay.
Friday arrived.
Maisie cried.
Victor almost did.
She hugged Vincent.
Mrs. Conti.
The cook.
Two guards.
Finally Victor.
“Five minutes,” she demanded.
“Obviously.”
They counted.
When they reached three hundred, Maisie refused to let go.
“You can visit,” Clare said.
Maisie looked at Victor.
“Promise?”
Victor hesitated.
Promises had become complicated things.
Then he nodded.
“Promise.”
Their car disappeared through the gates.
Calder House became quiet again.
Victor had spent decades believing quiet meant control.
Now it felt empty.
Three months passed.
Victor visited every Sunday.
Sometimes Saturday too.
Maisie started preschool.
Clare found work managing a boutique hotel.
Victor helped only when asked.
That part required practice.
Then one Sunday, Maisie handed him a drawing.
Three people stood beneath a giant yellow sun.
A blonde child.
A brown-haired woman.
A tall tattooed man.
Victor pointed.
“Who’s this frightening gentleman?”
“You.”
“I look terrible.”
“You have giant arms.”
“I noticed.”
“And that’s Mommy.”
“And you.”
“Yes.”
“What’s this?”
A fourth figure stood above them in a cloud.
“Daddy.”
Victor stopped smiling.
Maisie touched the drawing.
“He can see us.”
Victor swallowed.
“I hope so.”
“He says you need Mommy.”
Clare nearly dropped her coffee.
“Maisie!”
“What?”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
“Your father says that?”
“In my dreams.”
Clare covered her face.
Victor tried not to smile.
Maisie continued.
“He says Mommy needs you too.”
“Okay,” Clare said. “That’s enough supernatural matchmaking.”
Victor laughed.
Later, while Maisie played outside, Victor and Clare sat on the porch.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“The drawing.”
“You didn’t draw it.”
“No. But I enjoyed your suffering.”
“That I believe.”
Silence settled.
Comfortable this time.
Victor looked at her.
“Clare.”
She turned.
He was about to say something when her phone rang.
She checked it.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“It’s Daniel’s old number.”
Victor stared.
“That number was disconnected.”
“I know.”
The phone continued ringing.
Clare answered.
Neither spoke.
Then a recorded voice played.
Elias.
“If this message reached you, Maisie completed the five-minute hug.”
Victor went completely still.
May you like
The recording continued.
“And now there’s one last thing both of you need to know…”
