Chapter 9
Elena asked for permission to resign.
I said no.
She stared.
Then I corrected myself.
“Sorry.”
That mattered.
“You don’t need permission.”
Her shoulders loosened slightly.
“I want to leave.”
“Because of Victor?”
“Because of all of you.”
Fair.
We sat in the breakfast room.
Sophia colored nearby.
Titan lay beneath her chair.
Elena looked toward him.
“This house scares me.”
I could not argue.
“My daughter thinks capos are normal. She knows which corridors are safe. She knows which adults yell.”
Her voice tightened.
“She should know playgrounds.”
I looked at Sophia.
Three years old.
Cheap notebook.
Already mapping danger without understanding the word.
“What do you want?”
“A normal job.”
I almost laughed.
“Define normal.”
She did not.
Instead she looked at me.
“I want Sophia somewhere adults don’t plan power around rooms she walks through.”
That hurt because it was reasonable.
I nodded.
“You can leave.”
Her eyes filled slightly.
Not relief exactly.
Choice.
Then Sophia spoke without looking up.
“Titan comes?”
Elena laughed.
“No, honey.”
Sophia frowned.
Titan lifted his head.
I understood the problem.
My dog had bonded with the child.
The child had bonded with him.
I looked at Elena.
“She can visit.”
“That isn’t why I’m staying.”
“I know.”
Good.
No debt.
No obligation.
I offered housing outside the estate until Elena found what she wanted.
She refused at first.
Then accepted after I clarified it was not tied to work.
That distinction mattered.
Before she left, I asked one question.
“Why didn’t you tell me Victor was questioning Sophia?”
Elena stared.
“Because men like you usually believe men like Victor.”
No accusation in her voice.
Just experience.
I had no defense.
“Did I ever give you reason to think otherwise?”
She thought.
“No.”
That should have comforted me.
It did not.
Because neutrality from a powerful man is often useless to people who do not know whether speaking will cost them their job.
I nodded.
“Then I need to change that.”
She looked skeptical.
Good.
Trust that arrives instantly after one speech is usually fake.
I looked at Sophia again.
She had drawn Titan sleeping.
Above him, a word Elena had written for her to copy.
SAFE.
I stared longer than I meant to.
That was apparently the standard.
Not feared.
Not obeyed.
May you like
Safe.
Harder than it looked.
