The bailiff gestured for Noah to step down, guiding him toward the side exit before I could cross the wooden railing.
“Noah, please,” I called out, but the door closed behind him, the heavy latch clicking into place.
Ellis picked up his leather briefcase, snapping the brass locks shut with two clean pops. “You can have him on alternating holidays, Sabrina. Assuming you find a place with an actual bed.”
He walked past me, the scent of his expensive cologne lingering in the narrow space between the tables.
I followed him out into the wide marble hallway, where the midday sun cut through the tall windows.
Ellis was waiting near the elevators, his briefcase resting against his knee. He did not look angry; he looked like a man who had just closed a routine commercial land deal.
“Why did he say that?” I asked, stopping three feet away from him. “Noah loves his school. He loves our weekends together.”
Ellis reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small, white rectangle. He held it out between his index and middle fingers.
“You should stay at the Regency Inn on West Broad,” Ellis said. “It is cheap, and they do weekly rates.”
I did not take the card. It fell onto the polished floor between us, the black print facing up.
“He was terrified, Ellis,” I said. “What did you say to him?”
“I told him the truth,” Ellis said as the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. “You have sixty-four dollars in your checking account.”
He stepped inside the carriage and turned to face me, his finger hovering over the button.
“A child needs a future, Sabrina,” he said. “Not a half-empty room in a duplex.”
The metal doors slid shut, cutting off his face and the steady tick of his watch.
I walked down the wide stairs to the main lobby, my boots clicking against the marble.
