Chapter 10

He pushed himself up. His legs shook, but not as violently as before. He stayed standing for several seconds, breathing slowly, focusing on balance."Good," she said. "Now try one step without pulling the bench."He hesitated. "If I fall, this will be a very embarrassing story.""If you fall," she said calmly, "then we stand again."He took a small step forward without dragging himself on the bench. His leg trembled, but it held him. Then another small step. He was not walking yet, but he was moving.He sat down again, breathing hard but smiling slightly. "I had a meeting this morning," he said."With the lawyer?" she asked.He looked at her, surprised. "You're very good at guessing.""My grandpa says when something bad is happening, you don't just fix your body," she said. "You fix your situation."He nodded slowly. "My lawyer found something. Two months after my accident, she had me sign some documents. She said they were medical forms, insurance forms. But they were also financial control documents: temporary decision authority, access to accounts, voting rights in the company if I was medically unable to perform my duties."The girl listened quietly."If the doctors say I cannot walk and cannot work," he continued, "then she becomes the person who makes decisions for my company. For my money. For everything."The girl looked toward the big house. "So, the chair is not just a chair," she said."No," he replied. "The chair is control."They were quiet for a moment."The wedding is in three weeks," he said. "After the wedding, it will be even harder to stop her legally. Everything will look normal: a wife taking care of her sick husband. No one will question it.""Then you don't stop her after the wedding," the girl said. "You stop her at the wedding."He looked at her again, the same way he had looked at her the first day in the park, like he was looking at someone much older than she appeared. "You really think like a general planning a battle," he said."My grandpa says if someone digs a hole for you," she replied, "the worst thing you can do is politely step into it."

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