Chapter 4 - THE THIRD TRIP INSIDE
Eleanor sank into a hallway chair.
For several minutes she could not speak.
Grant stood across from her.
His anger had changed.
It was no longer loud.
It had become disbelief.
“You told me Sofia hated you.”
Eleanor wiped her face.
“She did.”
“No.”
Vittorio’s answer came immediately.
“She didn’t.”
Eleanor looked at him.
Vittorio continued.
Sofia had every reason to hate her.
Instead she pitied her.
That was what Eleanor could never forgive.
Sofia returned to the burning second floor after bringing Grant outside.
She believed Eleanor had escaped.
Then she heard screaming.
A bedroom door had jammed after part of the ceiling collapsed.
Sofia went back through the service hall.
She found Eleanor inside.
The jewelry box lay open on the floor.
Pearls scattered across the carpet.
Eleanor was coughing so badly she could barely stand.
Sofia dragged her through the servant staircase.
Outside, Eleanor collapsed.
Sofia stayed beside her until help arrived.
Then Charles accused Sofia of starting the fire.
Eleanor said nothing.
Again.
Alessia stared at her.
“You let them blame Mom after she saved both of you.”
Eleanor’s face twisted.
“You don’t know what that night was like.”
“No.”
Alessia’s voice shook.
“But I know what today was like.”
The comparison struck harder than anyone expected.
Alessia looked toward the shattered serving table downstairs.
“You watched me struggle to stand.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“You knew I was in pain.”
Silence.
“And instead of helping, you told me to serve you.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Alessia turned toward him.
“You did too.”
Grant looked at her.
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You know now.”
Grant had no answer.
Noah shifted against Alessia’s chest.
She looked down.
Her son had fallen asleep.
A tiny hand rested against her cardigan.
Alessia kissed his forehead.
Then she looked toward Grant again.
“I will not let him grow up thinking this is what family looks like.”
Grant’s face changed.
“Alessia…”
She walked away.
Vittorio followed only after giving her several steps.
He understood she needed to leave under her own strength.
Behind them, Grant remained with Eleanor.
For once, he did not rush to defend his mother.
He only asked:
“Why did you make me hate Sofia?”
Eleanor looked toward the old nursery.
“Because you loved hearing stories about her.”
Grant frowned.
As a child, he had asked constantly about the woman who saved him.
Kitchen workers told him pieces.
Sofia sang to him.
Sofia carried him through the fire.
Sofia called him stubborn before he could speak.
Eleanor felt herself disappearing from her own son’s earliest story.
So she changed it.
“She was not your mother.”
“I never said she was.”
“You looked at her picture like you wished she were.”
Grant stared at her.
The cruelty suddenly looked smaller.
Not less destructive.
Smaller.
Jealousy.
Shame.
Fear.
All dressed up for decades as class and family pride.
Then Eleanor whispered:
“Your father encouraged it.”
Charles hated Vittorio.
He hated Sofia for choosing Vittorio.
He told Eleanor that if Grant grew up admiring Sofia, he would eventually see his own parents as cowards.
So they built a cleaner story.
Sofia the careless servant.
Eleanor the mother whose home she endangered.
Charles the man who protected his family.
Grant grew up inside it.
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“You’re leaving something out.”
Everyone turned.
An elderly woman stood there.
Ruth Bell.
Seventy-eight.
Former Hale housekeeper.
She had lived in a cottage behind the estate for most of her life.
A Moretti bodyguard had found her after Vittorio quietly asked whether anyone from the old staff still remained nearby.
Eleanor went pale.
“Ruth.”
Ruth walked in without asking permission.
Age had bent her slightly.
It had not softened her eyes.
She looked at Grant.
“Your mother is right about one thing.”
Grant waited.
“Your father helped create the lie.”
Then Ruth looked toward Eleanor.
“But not because he hated Sofia.”
Eleanor stood.
“Leave.”
Ruth ignored her.
“Charles was afraid of what Sofia heard before the fire.”
Grant frowned.
“What did she hear?”
Ruth looked at Vittorio.
Even he did not know.
May you like
Then she answered.
“Your father telling Eleanor that if Vittorio Moretti came for Sofia, he would make sure neither of them left the estate alive.”
