Chapter 4
1565 Words
Cracks in the Ice
Maya woke to sounds in the kitchen at 5:14am according to her phone. She pulled on a robe and found Adrian at the espresso machine, suit already on, hair wet from the shower.
"You're up early," he said, not looking at her.
"So are you. Every day, apparently."
"Markets open at nine-thirty. I need three hours before then."
She watched him make coffee with mechanical precision. "Do you ever sleep?"
"Enough." He poured a second cup, slid it toward her. "Lily still asleep?"
"It's five in the morning. Normal people sleep."
"We're not normal people, Dr. Westwood."
The name still sounded strange. She took the coffee. "What time do you actually go to bed?"
"Midnight. One, usually."
"That's four hours."
"I'm aware of basic math."
Maya leaned against the counter. "You know that's not sustainable."
"It's been working for ten years."
"Has it?"
His jaw tightened. "I have a conference call in twenty minutes."
He left. She stood there with her coffee, alone in a kitchen bigger than her old apartment.
A week in, Maya discovered the home gym. She'd been looking for her phone charger when she heard the rhythmic thud of fists against leather.
Adrian was shirtless, attacking a punching bag like it owed him money. His back was a map of lean muscle and old scars, one long one across his left shoulder blade, another smaller one near his ribs.
He caught her reflection in the mirror and stopped.
"Sorry," Maya said. "I was just…"
"It's fine. Your charger's in the kitchen. Rebecca found it yesterday."
She should leave. Instead, she asked, "Where'd you get the scars?"
"The shoulder was a skiing accident at sixteen. The ribs were a fight at boarding school."
"You got in fights?"
"Just one. I won." He unwrapped his hands. "Lily's friend mentioned it. About your singing."
Maya felt her face heat. "I didn't know anyone could hear."
"The acoustics in this place are terrible." He almost smiled. "It's not that bad."
"Liar."
"It's enthusiastic."
She laughed despite herself. He pulled on a shirt, and something shifted in the air between them.
"Lily's therapist called," he said. "First appointment is Thursday."
"She agreed?"
"Not yet. But she will."
They fell into patterns. Adrian worked impossible hours but started coming home for dinner when Lily was there. Maya's night shifts meant she'd stumble in at dawn to find him already up, coffee waiting.
He learned she was stress-baked. The first time, she'd come home from a particularly rough shift and made three dozen cookies at 2am. Adrian found her in the kitchen, covered in flour, crying over cookie dough.
"Bad night?" he asked.
"Lost a kid. Eight years old. Drunk driver."
He sat across from her, said nothing. Just stayed there while she cried and baked and tried to make sense of senseless things.
At 4am, he said, "The cookies are burning."
"Damn it." She pulled them out. Salvageable, barely.
"Maya." His voice was gentler than she'd ever heard it. "Go to bed. I'll clean up."
"You don't have to"
"I know."
She went to bed and woke at noon to a spotless kitchen and a note: The cookies were good.
For Lily's sake, they played their parts. Movie nights on the couch, Adrian's arm around Maya's shoulders. She'd lean into him and feel his heartbeat, steady and too fast.
Morning kisses on the forehead before he left for work. His lips cool against her skin, lingering a half-second too long.
Inside jokes that started fake and became real. References to movies they'd actually watched together, meals they'd actually shared.
"Remember when you burned the stir-fry?" Lily said one night.
Maya and Adrian exchanged glances. "That was one time," Maya said.
"The smoke alarm went off three times."
"In my defense, Adrian distracted me."
"I asked you a question," Adrian said.
"You kept asking questions. Complicated ones."
Lily rolled her eyes. "You two are ridiculous."
But she was smiling. Eating. Gaining back the weight she'd lost.
Three weeks in, Lily broke.
Maya was in her room when she heard the screaming.
"You don't care! You never cared! You just stuck me somewhere so you didn't have to deal with me!"
She ran to the living room. Lily was standing in the middle of it, sobbing, hurling words at Adrian like weapons.
"Lily" Adrian's voice was strained.
"Don't! Don't you dare 'Lily' me! You left me! After they died, you just left me with strangers and sent checks and called twice a month like that was enough!"
"I was trying to"
"To what? Build your empire? Congratulations, you did! And I became this!" She gestured at herself, wild. "A junkie with nowhere to go and no one who actually wants me!"
"That's not true"
"Yes, it is! Everyone leaves! Mom and Dad died, you abandoned me, my friends only wanted me for drugs or money, and you" She turned to Maya. "You're only here because he's paying you! Don't think I'm stupid! I know this isn't real!"
The words cut through the room like glass.
Maya moved forward. "Lily"
"Don't! Don't lie to me! I'm so tired of everyone lying!" She collapsed, sobbing. "I'm so tired."
Maya caught her, sinking to the floor. Lily clung to her, shaking apart.
"I've got you," Maya murmured. "You're okay. I've got you."
She looked up at Adrian. He stood frozen, face white, hands at his sides like he didn't know what to do with them.
Maya extended her hand.
He stared at it.
"Adrian," she said quietly. "She needs you."
He moved then, slowly, sinking to the floor on Lily's other side. His hand found Maya's across Lily's back.
They stayed there, the three of them on the floor, Lily sobbing between them while Maya held her and Adrian held them both.
"I'm sorry," he said finally. "Lily, I'm so sorry."
Lily's sobs gradually quieted. She fell asleep there, exhausted, still wrapped in Maya's arms.
They carried her to bed together, then stood in the hallway, suddenly awkward.
"Thank you," Adrian said.
"She's right, you know. About me being paid."
"I know."
"But she's wrong about you not caring."
He looked at her, something broken in his eyes. "Is she?"
"Yes." Maya touched his arm. "You're trying. That matters."
He nodded but didn't speak. Just walked away to his wing.
Maya couldn't sleep. At midnight, she gave up and went to the balcony, staring at the city lights.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
She turned. Adrian stood in the doorway, still in his clothes from earlier.
"Too much in my head," she said.
He joined her at the railing. They stood in silence, the city humming below.
"Thank you," he said again. "For not running. Most people would have."
"I'm not most people."
"I'm learning that." He was quiet for a moment. "Why are you doing this? Really. It's not just the money anymore."
Maya thought about lying. Choose the truth instead. "Because she needs help. And because you do too."
"I don't need"
"Yes, you do." She turned to face him. "Why does Lily matter so much? Why are you trying so hard to save her?"
His hands tightened on the railing. "Because our parents didn't. Because I didn't, when it mattered."
"Tell me."
He was quiet so long she thought he wouldn't answer. Then:
"The accident was my fault."
"Adrian"
"They were coming to see me. I'd just closed my first major deal, and they were driving down to celebrate. It was raining. The other driver ran a red light, but they wouldn't have been there if not for me." His voice cracked. "Lily was fifteen. I was twenty-seven. I had a company to run, investors to answer to. I thought boarding school was the answer. Structure. Education. Safety."
"You were grieving too."
"I was a coward. The will had conditions to maintain the company's value, uphold the family name, and never show weakness. I threw myself into that. It was easier than dealing with a fifteen-year-old who'd just lost everything."
"She had you."
"She had my money and my guilt. Not me." He looked at Maya, eyes wet. "The first time she overdosed, I was in Tokyo closing a merger. I didn't even fly back for three days. The second time, I was in London. I kept choosing work over her because work was simple. Work made sense."
A tear slipped down his cheek. He didn't wipe it away.
"She's my sister. She's all I have left of them. And I failed her." His voice broke completely. "I failed her over and over, and she almost died because of it."
Maya reached for him. He collapsed into her arms, this man who never showed weakness, sobbing against her shoulder.
She held him while he shattered, whispering things that might have been comfort or might have been nothing at all.
When he finally pulled back, his eyes were red, his face vulnerable in a way she'd never seen.
"The contract," he said. "This arrangement. It feels…"
"Like paper," Maya finished.
"Yes."
They stood there, the truth hanging between them, too dangerous to name.
"We should sleep," Maya said finally.
"Yes."
Neither of them moved.
Finally, Adrian stepped back. "Goodnight, Maya."
"Goodnight."
She watched him go, then stood alone on the balcony, wondering when this stopped being about money and started being about something she couldn't afford to feel.
- Writer
