Chapter 10: The Quiet After the Report Was Filed
The mansion was different the next morning without the jug and the glove on the counter. I woke in the garage apartment to the sound of the sprinklers hitting the windows, Sofia still asleep with her arm over her pillow. The light coming through the blinds was that same cool, bright daylight that made the marble in the main house look almost blue, but here it just lit up the small kitchenette and the stack of Sofia's library books on the table.
Mrs. Keller knocked at seven with a tray. She didn't wait for me to answer the main house anymore. "He's in the office," she said quietly. "He wants to talk about next steps when you're ready. No rush. Sofia's breakfast is already covered."
I told Sofia she could stay and draw while I went to the main house. She asked if the pretty lady was still there, and I said she was in the east wing but she wasn't allowed near us, and Mrs. Keller would be right outside if she needed anything. That seemed to satisfy her. She went back to coloring with the careful focus she always had when she was trying to be brave.
Alessandro was at his desk when I came in. He stood when he saw my wrist. The red mark had darkened overnight into a duller bruise with a scrape still at the edge. He gestured to the chair across from him, not the one beside him.
"I spoke with Priya last night after the deputy left," he said. "I want to make you an offer. Two weeks paid leave starting today. You stay in the apartment as long as you need, you get the reference letter regardless, and I will have Priya add a note about housing assistance if you decide not to return to this house."
I sat with my hands in my lap. The silver watch on his left wrist caught the light when he moved a folder toward me.
"I appreciate that," I said. "But I need more than two weeks. And I need it in writing."
He blinked once, slow. "Tell me what you need."
I had rehearsed this with Mrs. Keller the night before while Sofia slept, the yellow copy of the incident report folded under my phone. "I need thirty days paid, at the same rate, and the apartment for thirty days whether I work or not. I need a written reference that says nothing about Bianca or the incident, just dates and duties. And I need Priya to put in writing that my daughter's school records and pickup list cannot be changed by anyone but me."
He listened without interrupting, his breathing even. I could hear the wall clock ticking.
"And I need new housing help," I said. "Not just an offer to look. An actual contact. An apartment I can afford without this house."
Alessandro opened the folder. Inside was a draft letter, a severance calculation, and a card for a property manager in town. "Priya anticipated thirty days," he said. "She wrote it for thirty. The letter is already neutral. The school authorization is already flagged from yesterday. This," he slid the card over, "is a two-bedroom on Maple that takes the foundation's relocation stipend. It's not charity. It's budgeted."
I read the letter. It was short, formal, on letterhead. It said I had been employed as residential housekeeper, that I was reliable and thorough, nothing more. That was exactly what I needed.
"I want to transition, not just leave," I said. "If I stay through the end of the month to train whoever comes next, but not in this house while she's here, I can leave with a full month and a clean break."
He nodded. "You would train the next person with Mrs. Keller in the apartment or in the office. Not on the marble. Not near the east wing. After nine a.m. tomorrow, she will be gone. You won't be asked to serve her again."
He added a handwritten line to the draft and initialed it: Paid administrative leave 30 days, apartment occupancy 30 days, neutral reference, school authorization restricted to Elena. Then he signed.
May you like
I signed below him. My hand shook a little from the bruise, but the ink held.
When I came back to the apartment, Sofia asked if I still had a job. I told her I did, for now, and that we had time to find a new place together where no one could tell us to kneel. She hugged my waist and asked if we could get a curtain for her new room that was purple. I said we could look.
