Chapter 5 - An Uninvited Shadow
The Garfield Park Conservatory was an emerald palace under a grey sky. The glass dome rose above the palm trees like a frozen bubble, the air inside hot, heavy, and thick with the scent of damp earth and orchids.
Mia held my right hand, her small fingers sticky from a piece of hard candy Enzo had given her in the car, while Nico clung to my left coat pocket. Leo walked three paces ahead, his eyes fixed on the upper branches of the ferns, his little chest puffed out as he looked for my fictional monkeys.
Enzo walked twenty paces behind us, his hands folded over his umbrella, while two large men in dark suits stayed near the main entrance, their eyes moving over the small crowd of school children and tourists.
For two hours, I forgot about Sebastian Crane. I forgot about the prenuptial agreement that had left me with less money than a restaurant tip. I forgot about the way my mother-in-law used to look at my plate during Sunday dinners.
Then, near the lily pond in the fern room, the air changed.
"Evelyn?"
The voice was sharp, high-pitched, and filled with the specific, nasal cadence of North Shore old money.
I turned around. Sophie Crane was standing near the stone border of the pond, wearing a beige cashmere cape and holding a tiny leather handbag that cost more than my grandfather's entire workshop. Beside her stood her mother, Eleanor Crane, her silver hair perfectly coiffed beneath a velvet hat.
"My God, it is you," Sophie said, her eyes moving over my clearance coat and my green ribbon with a slow, systematic contempt that made me feel cold despite the conservatory's heat. "Sebastian said you had vanished into some charity shelter. We didn't expect to find you hiding in the weeds."
"I am working, Sophie," I said, my hands tightening instinctively around Mia’s and Nico’s fingers.
"Working?" Eleanor Crane stepped forward, her diamond rings clicking against her leather glove as she adjusted her glasses. She looked at the triplets as if they were stray dogs that had wandered into a garden party. "As what? A laborer? Sebastian told us about the incident at the West Loop garage this morning, Evelyn. He was furious. Some... some street thugs tore the security gate down to steal your boxes of trash. He thinks you're associating with criminals to spite him."
"The patterns belonged to my grandmother," I said, my voice rising slightly before I forced it down. "And I don't know anything about a gate."
"Don't lie to us, Evelyn," Sophie hissed, stepping closer. She smelled of expensive jasmine and dry-cleaning fluid. "You’ve always been clumsy, but this is pathetic. Look at you. You’ve gained weight since the divorce, haven't you? That coat looks like it's about to split down the seam. You always did take up too much room at the table."
Mia stopped looking for monkeys. She looked up at Sophie, her little brows pulling together into a carbon copy of Dante's dangerous expression. "You're a mean lady," she said clearly.
Sophie blinked, her face reddening. "Excuse me? Whose child is this? Evelyn, are you nannying for the public now? This is embarrassing. If Sebastian sees this—"
"Sebastian won't see anything," a new voice said.
Enzo had stepped between us. He didn't lift his umbrella, but he stood so close to Sophie that she had to step back onto the damp moss beside the pond. His wooden face was completely devoid of expression, but his gray eyes were fixed on Eleanor Crane’s throat.
"Mrs. Crane," Enzo said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that sounded like stone grinding on stone. "Your son’s development company currently owes six hundred thousand dollars in uncertified concrete permits to the Bellandi logistics firm. If your daughter does not clear the path within three seconds, Don Bellandi will call the safety inspector before the noon bell."
Eleanor Crane went entirely white. She reached out and grabbed Sophie’s arm with a strength that looked painful. "Sophie. Come away."
"Mother, she’s just a—"
"Be quiet," Eleanor whispered, her eyes fixed on the two large men who had appeared at the end of the fern room corridor, their hands tucked inside their jackets. "We are leaving."
They turned and walked away so fast Sophie nearly slipped on the wet stone.
I stood by the lily pond, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps, the old shame burning in my stomach like lead. Too big. Too clumsy. Trash.
A small, heavy hand pressed against my leg.
Leo was standing there. He had stopped looking at the trees. He looked at the corridor where the Cranes had disappeared, then up at me. "Miss Ward," he said, his voice very quiet. "Those women were not elegant."
"No," I whispered. "They weren't."
May you like
"Father says elegance is the ability to remain silent when you hold the knife," Leo said, his little fingers hooking into my coat pocket next to Nico’s. "They were screaming like blue jays. We don't like them."
"We hate them," Mia corrected, her rabbit scarf trailing in the dirt. "Let's find the monkeys now, Evelyn. The big ones."
