Chapter 6
Isabella had left Maria one instruction before she died.
Not a secret object.
Not a recording.
A sentence.
“If Marcus ever becomes the person Rocco hears first, make sure somebody else still speaks.”
Maria remembered it exactly.
I sat very still.
My wife had been dying.
Still watching the structure around me.
Still worried about who controlled information after she was gone.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
Again.
Painfully.
“When?”
The week after Isabella’s funeral.
Maria told me Isabella had concerns about Marcus.
I told her grief made everyone suspicious.
Then asked her not to mention my wife’s final weeks again unless it involved Noah.
I had shut the door myself.
That was on me.
Maria looked at my face.
“You were drowning.”
“That doesn’t make you wrong.”
“No.”
Good.
I looked at Marcus.
He smiled faintly.
“There it is. You ignored her. Not me.”
Interesting.
He wanted my guilt because guilt could dilute his responsibility.
I nodded.
“You’re right.”
His smile disappeared.
“I ignored her.”
Pause.
“And you exploited that.”
Silence.
Both could be true.
I turned toward Victoria.
“When did Marcus first tell you Maria had to go?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why?”
“She was too attached to Isabella.”
Maria stiffened.
Victoria continued.
“She questioned everything I did with Noah.”
“You mean she protected his routines.”
“I am his future stepmother.”
“You were.”
That landed.
Her engagement ring suddenly looked heavy on her hand.
She stared at it.
I did too.
But I did not ask for it yet.
Not because I was uncertain.
Because I wanted the full truth before symbolism.
“What was supposed to happen after Maria and Noah moved?”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“Nothing.”
Marcus answered instead.
“Household calm.”
I almost laughed.
There it was again.
Calm.
The word people use when they mean nobody will contradict me anymore.
Then Maria said something worse.
“Boss, they weren’t only moving Noah.”
I looked at her.
“Who else?”
She glanced toward Marcus.
“Your mother’s old house staff.”
Four people.
All quietly scheduled to transfer to other properties after the wedding.
Every one had known me before I became boss.
May you like
My entire institutional memory was being dispersed.
One reassignment at a time.
