Part 5 — The Price of Leaving

Adrian arrived at the studio shortly after sunset.

He did not knock.

I was reviewing Claire’s contract with Rachel Monroe when he entered the office. Rachel looked up from her laptop but remained seated.

Adrian’s gaze went directly to me.

“What did you say to Claire?”

Rachel closed the document.

“I’m Maya’s attorney. Any discussion regarding the divorce should come through me.”

“This isn’t about the divorce.”

“It is now,” I said.

Adrian looked as though he had not slept.

“She was crying when I arrived. Her heart rate was dangerously high.”

“I asked her why she deliberately hired your wife.”

His eyes changed.

“What?”

“She knew who I was.”

“That isn’t possible.”

“She admitted it on her own recorder.”

He stared at me.

“Let me hear it.”

“No.”

“If she mentioned me—”

“She is still my client. Her files remain confidential unless she authorizes release or a court orders it.”

Anger flashed across his face.

“You’re using professional rules to punish me.”

“I’m using them because they still matter when my marriage doesn’t.”

Rachel rose.

“I’ll give you two a moment, but the office door stays open.”

After she stepped into the hall, Adrian lowered his voice.

“I told you I would discuss the divorce when Claire was stable.”

“You don’t control the schedule.”

“I am not signing.”

“You’ve said that.”

“You’re ending a three-year marriage over one week.”

“I’m ending it because the week made the other three years impossible to deny.”

His eyes hardened.

“What exactly do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only answer I have left.”

I placed the acknowledgment form on the desk.

“Sign it, or Rachel will proceed without your cooperation.”

He did not look at the paper.

“Your mother’s next treatment review is in eleven days.”

The room went completely still.

Adrian seemed to hear his own words a second too late.

“Maya, I’m not threatening her care.”

“What are you doing, then?”

“The Vale Family Care Grant has covered services your mother could never have obtained through insurance alone. If you insist on dismantling every agreement between us overnight, the financial consequences will be significant.”

“You know exactly how that sounds.”

“I’m asking you to slow down.”

“You’re telling me freedom has a price.”

His jaw tightened.

“I’m telling you to think before you destroy the support keeping your mother alive.”

I stood so quickly the chair struck the wall.

For years, I had excused his distance as emotional incompetence.

But this was not distance.

This was leverage.

He knew where the blade belonged, and he had placed it there deliberately.

“Maya.”

He reached for my arm.

I stepped back.

“Don’t touch me.”

His hand fell.

“I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

“There was no acceptable way to say it.”

Rachel reentered the office.

I turned to her.

“Start the sale.”

Her expression sharpened.

“Of the Bennett Soundworks shares?”

“Yes.”

Adrian stared at me.

“Maya, those shares are the last part of your father’s company you still own.”

“And they’re mine to sell.”

Rachel spoke carefully.

“A rushed sale could cost you thirty or forty percent of their projected value.”

“I understand.”

“You would lose your board seat.”

“I understand.”

Adrian moved toward the desk.

“I’ll cover Evelyn’s care personally.”

“No.”

“Don’t be irrational.”

“I would rather lose every share than let you put a price on my ability to leave.”

His face went pale.

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“It is what you did.”

Rachel gathered her files.

“I’ll contact the two buyers who expressed interest last quarter. We can establish an independent medical account once the first transfer clears.”

“Do it.”

Adrian looked from Rachel to me.

“You planned this.”

“I planned to survive you.”

His phone rang.

Claire.

He rejected the call.

A second later, my own phone vibrated.

Cascadia Medical Center.

I answered.

“Ms. Bennett?” a nurse said. “This is the emergency department. Your mother was brought in from Rosewood Care Center with severe respiratory distress.”

My grip tightened around the phone.

“Is she conscious?”

“Not consistently. Her oxygen level is critically low. We need you here immediately.”

I was already reaching for my coat.

Adrian stepped in front of me.

“What happened?”

“My mother can’t breathe.”

“I’ll drive.”

“No.”

“Maya, this isn’t the time.”

The words struck with cruel familiarity.

I looked at him.

“It never is when the person suffering belongs to me.”

Rachel took my keys.

“I’ll drive you.”

We had reached the elevator when Adrian’s phone rang again.

This time it was Cascadia’s oncology floor.

He answered.

I watched his expression change.

“What happened?” he demanded.

A pause.

“I’m coming.”

I laughed, though no humor reached me.

“My mother is in the emergency department.”

“Claire collapsed. They’re moving her to intensive care.”

“And you have made your choice.”

“That isn’t fair.”

“No. It isn’t.”

The elevator doors opened.

I stepped inside with Rachel.

Adrian held the door.

“Maya, let Daniel handle the financial authorization. I’ll meet you as soon as Claire is stable.”

I looked at the man I had loved for three years.

He still believed sending an employee counted as showing up.

The doors closed between us.

At Cascadia, the emergency department was overflowing.

A doctor met me outside the trauma bay.

“Your mother’s condition is deteriorating. We may need to intubate.”

“Do it.”

“We need written authorization. There are significant risks given her cardiac history.”

He placed the form on a clipboard and handed me a pen.

Beyond the doors, alarms began to sound.

“If you want us to intubate,” he said, “sign now.”