“Agreed.”
Luca turned back to his daughter.
“Tomorrow, we’ll find out what your body can do with the right support. No promises we can’t make. No one deciding your future before you’ve had a chance to live it.”
Sofia wiped her face.
“Can Emily stay with me tonight?”
Luca glanced at Emily, giving her the choice rather than assuming it.
“If Emily wants to.”
Emily looked at Sofia’s anxious face. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
For the first time that evening, Sofia smiled.
Outside the ballroom, the house continued to hum with security radios and hurried calls to attorneys. The wedding had not been canceled publicly, but everyone in the house knew it was over.
And as I followed Sofia toward the stairs, I understood that Vanessa’s greatest mistake had not been underestimating a housekeeper.
It had been underestimating a child who was learning to stand.
Chapter 2 – THE ROOM WITH THE BLUE CURTAINS
Sofia did not sleep until nearly three in the morning.
Every time Emily thought the girl had drifted off, she would open her eyes and ask a question she had been holding inside.
“Is Vanessa really gone?”
“She’s in the east guest suite,” Emily answered. “Your dad’s making arrangements with his lawyer. She won’t come into your room.”
“Can she make them send me to Switzerland?”
“No.”
Sofia studied her face. “You said that very fast.”
Emily pulled the chair closer to the bed. The room was lit by a small lamp shaped like a moon. Blue curtains hung around the windows, and the shelves held books, model horses, and a collection of tiny glass animals Sofia had once arranged by color. Before the accident, she had loved climbing the staircase two steps at a time to show people her latest drawing. Now she watched the room as if she were afraid it might change while she slept.
“I said it fast because your dad has made it clear that he will not sign anything sending you away,” Emily said. “And your doctors will make decisions based on your care, not on what Vanessa wants.”
“What if the doctors say I can’t walk?”
“Then we listen to them and ask what can help you. But nobody gets to punish you for the answer.”
Sofia turned toward the window. “Vanessa said if I tried too hard, I would fall and make Daddy feel guilty. She said he had enough problems and I should stop making him worry.”
Emily felt anger rise in her chest. She kept her voice gentle.
“Your father worries because he loves you. That is not your fault.”
“What if I never walk normally?”
“Then you’ll still be Sofia. You’ll still be funny and bossy and terrible at keeping secrets.”
“I’m not terrible at keeping secrets.”
“You told me you hid three chocolate biscuits in your bedside drawer.”
“That was different.”
Emily smiled. Sofia gave a small laugh, then pressed a hand to her thigh.
“Does it hurt?” Emily asked.
“A little. Mostly it’s tired.”
“Then we stop talking and let you rest.”
“Will you be here when I wake up?”
“Yes.”
The answer was not a promise about the future. It was a promise about the next few hours, and that was the kind Emily knew she could keep.
When Sofia finally slept, Emily went downstairs to the staff kitchen. She expected to find the house deserted, but Luca stood at the counter in shirtsleeves, staring at a cup of coffee that had gone cold. His tie was loose, and his dark hair had fallen across his forehead. Without the dinner guests around him, he looked less like the man whose name made people lower their voices and more like a father who had just discovered how much of his child’s life he had missed.
“Is she asleep?” he asked.
“For now.”
He nodded and rubbed a hand over his face.
“I should have known.”
Emily sat at the far end of the counter. “You trusted Vanessa.”
“I trusted her with my daughter.”
The correction landed between them.
“I work here every day,” Emily said carefully. “I saw Sofia getting stronger, but I didn’t know how to tell you without making it sound like I was criticizing your fiancée. She made it clear that my job depended on staying in my place.”
Luca’s eyes sharpened. “Did she threaten you before tonight?”
“Not directly. She would change my schedule if Sofia asked for me. She told the other staff I was too attached. Once she said I should be grateful to have a job in a house like this.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Emily almost laughed. “Because I clean your house, Mr. Moretti. You have lawyers and security and people who speak to you in private rooms. I have a mother who needs her medication paid for. I couldn’t risk being dismissed because I made a powerful woman angry.”
