Chapter 4

The tests ruled out a major stroke, but the brief loss of blood flow had left my father's right side weak. He would need to stay under observation, then start rehab.

Keith didn't get there until late that night, and when he came he brought specialists, caregivers, and a fee statement already marked paid.

My mother saw him and let out a breath first.

"Thank God Keith's here."

He went to the bedside, held the cup to my father's lips himself, then tucked the blanket in around him.

"I'm sorry, sir. I got here too late."

My father kept his eyes closed and said nothing.

Keith didn't take offense.

He went out and bought the congee I hadn't managed to eat all day, sat down in the hallway, and blew on it one spoonful at a time to cool it.

"Eat first."

I turned my face away.

"Don't punish your own body to spite me."

He waited, patient, for me to open my mouth, then brushed a grain of rice from the corner of my lip with his thumb.

"The stuff online, I'll deal with it first thing in the morning. I promise."

Looking at the tiredness under his eyes, I almost let myself believe it again.

"Post it now."

"The team's still writing it."

"I don't need a team. I just need you to tell the truth."

He set the congee down and took my hand.

"Violet, not everything can be handled on emotion. This blew up too big. One wrong sentence and my staff, my suppliers, they all take the hit."

"My father already took the hit."

"Which is why I arranged all of it. The room, the doctors, the caregivers."

"I'm asking about a clarification."

"I said I'd post one."

When he finished, he took me down to the business lounge on the ground floor of the hospital.

The room already had fill lights set up and a phone stand.

Cora and the operations people sat off to the side.

A printed script lay on the table.

The first line:

【The reunion was just a joke between husband and wife. Please don't read too much into it.】

The second line:

【On the day of the surgery, Mr. Henson could not be present, but he covered all the costs and has been attentive to my recovery throughout.】

The last line:

【I hope everyone will stop attacking Ms. Cora Pruitt. She and my husband are simply normal colleagues.】

I looked up at Keith.

"This is your clarification?"

He sent everyone else out, then reached over and smoothed my hair.

"We stabilize the narrative first."

"You record this one, then tomorrow night you go live with me. The buzz is this high right now. We can't just waste it."

My father had collapsed because of this buzz.

And he had already worked out how much exposure this hospital room could buy for the new restaurant.

"I'm not recording it."

His hand stopped in my hair.

"Don't be difficult."

"All you have to do is smile at the camera. Leave the rest to me."

"And if I tell the truth?"

"What truth?"

"That you weren't there during my surgery."

"That you knew the video was hurting me, and you let them keep selling the package anyway."

"That when my father was taken to the hospital, you were still livestreaming."

His eyes cooled, degree by degree.

"Violet, are you set on destroying me?"

I laughed.

"So it turns out the one being destroyed is you."

My father stayed under observation at the hospital for three days.

Once his condition was confirmed stable, the doctor agreed to transfer him to the rehab hospital in my uncle's city to continue treatment.

At dawn on the fourth day, the medical transport pulled up outside the inpatient building.

Keith planted himself in front of the car door.

"The best doctors are right here."

"The receiving hospital has them too."

"I can stop the livestreams. We'll talk it over again."

"It's already too late."

He seized my wrist.

"I don't agree to this."

I took off my wedding ring and set it on the phone stand he'd brought.

New messages kept popping up in the operations group chat.

【Mr. Henson, when is your wife going on camera?】

【The number of sign-ups has already broken the record.】

I helped my father into the car.

Before the door could close, Keith grabbed the edge of it.

"Violet, if you leave today, don't count on me bowing my head forever."

"Bowing your head?"

I took out my phone and returned every last transfer, untouched, exactly as it had come.

"Keith, when did you ever once truly bow your head for me?"

The transport pulled slowly away.

I sat inside, holding my father's hand, and didn't look back.