Chapter 31
Anger returned, but beneath it was something else.
A deep, exhausted sadness.
“You all had money,” I said. “Victor lived here. You knew where my mother was. Yet we struggled every day.”
Victor, standing near the wall, turned.
Sofia did not defend herself.
“I offered,” she said. “She refused.”
“Then you should have found another way.”
“You’re right.”
The simple admission broke something in me.
I looked away.
For years, I had imagined that people with power chose not to see families like mine.
Now I understood that sometimes they saw and still failed.
Not because the need was invisible.
Because pride, fear, secrecy, and guilt stood between them and the obvious act of helping.
Victor approached.
“I did not know where you were,” he said. “But that does not excuse what happened today. A contractor under my name forced you to choose between your sick child and your job.”
“This is bigger than one supervisor.”
“I know.”
“What will you do?”
“Change the way those companies are managed.”
I studied him.
“You can say that because it sounds good.”
“Yes.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow I begin proving it.”
Lily caught his finger.
Victor froze.
Her hand was tiny around his knuckle.
For a moment, his face softened completely.
Then Lily sneezed.
I laughed before I could stop myself.
The sound startled everyone.
Victor looked almost offended.
“She sneezed on me.”
“She likes you,” I said.
“That is how she shows it?”
“She has limited options.”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
May you like
It vanished when the workman called from the wall.
“We found a door.”
