He Accused Me Of Stealing But I Heard The Truth Chapter 23
“She will after she’s discharged.”
He held the bags out to me.
“I don’t know what she likes. The clerk said this size should fit a five-year-old.”
I didn’t take them.
He lowered his voice.
“Consider it a supplement to the silver bracelet. She doesn’t have to wear any of it. Just… don’t throw it away in front of her.”
That surprised me.
Derek turned his face away, the tips of his ears a faint red.
[What am I even saying?]
[They’re just clothes. Why is this harder than a corporate acquisition?]
[Take one. Just one. Don’t make me stand here holding these pink bags until the store closes.]
I couldn’t help but laugh.
He looked at me at once, as if he’d forgotten what he was holding.
“If you don’t want them, that’s fine. I’ll leave them at the nurses’ station. You can pick what you want, and I’ll have the rest returned.”
I reached into one of the bags and pulled out a pink down coat. It was light and warm, with little fox ears on the hood—exactly the kind of thing Maisie would love.
“This one.”
Derek let out a breath he seemed to have been holding, then instantly smoothed his expression.
“What about the rest?”
“Return them.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t argue. He carried the remaining bags and walked half a step behind me.
At the escalator, he suddenly asked, “If I had asked one more question six years ago, would things be different?”
I paused.
“There is no ‘if.’ Starting to ask now is already too late. But if you’re willing to keep asking, it won’t be meaningless.”
He tightened his grip on the shopping bags and said nothing more.
That evening, he drove me back to the hospital, then had his driver move the luggage I’d stored at the social worker’s office into a short-term rental apartment. Maisie was still in the ward for observation.
Rachel saw a blurry photo of it, taken from the parking garage.
She stood before the glass walls of the Weston Group offices, staring down at the taillights of Derek’s car as it disappeared into the night.
“You won’t go back to him,” she whispered. “I won’t let you.”