Chapter 6 - THE THINGS ETHAN STOPPED ASKING FOR|
Patrick's message changed something inside me.
Until then, I'd believed I was simply a housemaid who had witnessed an ugly family argument.
Now I understood that someone was actively trying to silence the people who knew what Vanessa had done.
Luca read the message again before giving back my phone.
"Patrick doesn't have the authority to threaten your job."
I tried to smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Moretti."
"And you don't have to call me Mr. Moretti when we're talking about this."
I looked at him.
"Sir, I've been calling you that for eleven months."
For the first time in days, he almost laughed.
"Fair enough."
Later, Elena advised him to keep Patrick's access to sensitive records restricted while the documents were reviewed.
Luca agreed.
He also instructed the household manager that my employment was not to be affected by the investigation.
I was grateful, but I knew the consequences of speaking up were not always so easily solved.
People with ordinary jobs couldn't afford to lose their income because someone wealthy had become uncomfortable with the truth.
That was one reason I understood Grace's fear so well.
Two days later, I visited her apartment at her invitation.
She'd asked whether I could help Ethan prepare food for his school science fair.
Luca had offered to send a professional caterer.
Grace had politely declined.
She wanted Ethan's project to remain a normal school event rather than another public display of Moretti generosity.
When I arrived, Ethan was sitting at the kitchen table with a small electric motor, a cardboard display, and several wires.
His father's watch lay beside the project.
"Hey, engineer," I said.
He looked up.
"Hi, Natalie."
"What are we building?"
"A model showing how electrical energy turns into motion."
"That sounds complicated."
"It isn't that hard."
He paused.
"At least Dad said it wasn't."
I sat beside him while Grace prepared sandwiches.
Ethan carefully adjusted one of the wires.
The tiny motor began spinning.
A smile flickered across his face.
Then he glanced toward the watch.
"Dad was going to teach me how to fix a real engine."
I nodded.
"Your Uncle Luca said Daniel was very good with tools."
"He was."
Ethan's smile disappeared.
"Uncle Luca used to say he'd teach me everything Dad knew."
"Maybe he still can."
The boy shrugged.
"Maybe."
A little later, Grace left to pick up supplies.
Ethan went to his bedroom to find another battery.
While clearing space on the table, I noticed a blue notebook lying partly beneath his science project.
Its cover read THINGS I NEED TO REMEMBER.
I wasn't going to open it.
But Ethan returned, saw me looking at the cover, and quietly pushed it toward me.
"You can read it."
Inside were thirteen numbered lines written in careful handwriting.
The first said, "Don't call Uncle Luca during work."
The second said, "Don't ask Mom why Sunday dinners stopped."
The third said, "Don't cry when people mention Dad."
Farther down, he'd written, "Don't wear Dad's watch where Vanessa can see it."
Another line said, "Don't ask if we're still family."
The final line nearly broke my heart.
"Don't make anyone feel like they have to love you."
I closed the notebook gently.
"Ethan, who told you these things?"
He looked embarrassed.
"Nobody told me all of them."
"Then why did you write them?"
"Because I kept doing things wrong."
I moved my chair closer.
"Missing your dad isn't wrong."
He looked away.
"Vanessa said I was using Dad to make Uncle Luca feel guilty."
My throat tightened.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
He picked at a loose thread on his sleeve.
"I thought maybe she was right."
I wanted to tell him that Vanessa was cruel and selfish.
I wanted to promise that Luca would never disappoint him again.
But neither response would have given him what he really needed.
He needed to know that adults could make mistakes without making children responsible for them.
"Ethan, when I was fourteen, I lived with relatives who made me feel as though every favor came with a price."
He looked at me.
"Really?"
I nodded.
"I started apologizing for things I hadn't done because I was afraid of being asked to leave."
"What happened?"
"I grew up."
I smiled sadly.
"And eventually I learned that needing people doesn't make you weak."
Ethan studied me for a long moment.
Then he whispered, "Sometimes I feel guilty just being here."
I reached across the table.
"You belong in your own home, Ethan."
"And you belong in the lives of people who genuinely love you."
He looked at his watch.
"Even if Dad isn't here anymore?"
"Especially then."
That evening, Luca came by to help Ethan test the project.
The boy was cautious at first.
But when the tiny motor sputtered and stopped, Luca rolled up his sleeves and joined him at the table.
They worked together for nearly an hour.
Nobody mentioned Vanessa.
Nobody talked about money.
For a little while, Ethan was simply a boy working on a school project with someone he trusted.
When Luca finally prepared to leave, Ethan followed him to the door.
"Uncle Luca?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
Ethan hesitated.
"Did Dad ever lie to you?"
Luca looked surprised.
"Why would you ask that?"
The boy twisted his watch strap.
"Vanessa told me Dad wasn't the good man everybody says he was."
Luca's expression changed.
"What exactly did she say?"
Ethan's voice became small.
"She said there were things about Dad's money that you didn't know."
He swallowed.
"And that if I kept asking questions, everybody would find out."
Luca stood perfectly still.
Then he looked at the photograph of Daniel on the living-room wall.
And I realized Vanessa had found another way to hurt Ethan.
May you like
She was no longer satisfied with making him doubt his uncle's love.
Now she was trying to make him doubt the memory of his father.
