Chapter 4 - ELENA CHOSE MY MOTHER
“Why didn’t you give this to me?” I asked.
Finn’s face crumpled.
“I thought if you read it, you might leave.”
My heart broke.
“Oh, Finn.”
“I hid it.”
“Yes.”
“That’s bad.”
“It was a scared choice.”
He looked up.
“Like Dad?”
The accuracy of that child was exhausting.
“Yes.”
“Does that mean Dad isn’t bad?”
“It means people can make bad choices when they’re scared.”
“Even grown-ups?”
“Especially grown-ups.”
His eyes were already heavy.
“Will you read it?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“And you won’t leave while I’m asleep?”
I gave him the promise I could keep.
“I’ll be here when you wake up.”
That was enough.
Victor was still in the kitchen when I came downstairs.
I placed the photograph on the island.
Every bit of color left his face.
“Where did you get that?”
“Finn.”
His eyes closed.
“You knew my mother.”
“No.”
“You knew she knew Elena.”
“Yes.”
“For fourteen months.”
“Yes.”
“You hired me knowing this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at the photograph.
“Elena left instructions.”
My heartbeat changed.
“What instructions?”
“If something happened to her, there were people she wanted considered for Finn’s care.”
“You had a list?”
“Yes.”
“And I was on it?”
“No.”
I frowned.
“My mother was.”
Everything stopped.
“She wanted Mom to care for Finn?”
“Potentially.”
“But Mom was already dead when Elena died.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked down.
“After Elena’s accident, her attorney gave me a letter.”
“What did it say?”
“That if Marjorie Lane was unavailable, I should find her daughter.”
Me.
I stared at him.
“You hired me because Elena asked you to.”
“Eventually.”
“What does that mean?”
“I refused at first.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want a stranger chosen by my dead wife living in my house.”
Fair.
“What changed?”
“Finn.”
He stopped sleeping.
Stopped talking.
Wouldn’t let anyone touch his things.
Four nannies quit.
Then Elena’s attorney contacted Victor again.
“And you found me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Employment records through a household agency.”
“You made sure I was assigned here.”
“Yes.”
“I thought it was random.”
“It wasn’t.”
I looked at the photograph.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Victor answered quietly:
“Because I thought if you knew Elena had chosen you, you might stay from obligation.”
I stared.
“So you hid the truth and paid me instead.”
“Yes.”
“And tonight you told me I was nothing but hired help.”
His eyes closed.
“Yes.”
My anger returned.
Good.
May you like
Then I asked the question Victor had been avoiding for years.
“What exactly are you so afraid of?”
