Chapter 5 - A New Foundation
Life didn't go back to normal. It couldn't.
I was no longer just a maid. I was the head of security for the domestic wing, a role that came with a salary that changed my life. I moved out of my apartment, into a house of my own, and Emma started pre-school.
But every Friday, we returned to the Moretti estate.
Emma would run down the long, marble-floored hall, her rabbit clutched to her chest. She would burst into the office, and Alessandro Moretti, the man who had terrified Chicago for decades, would be waiting for her.
He had started physical therapy. The doctors said he might walk again with a cane, though he still preferred the chair for work. He was different now. The cold flint in his eyes had been replaced by something warmer, something that looked remarkably like peace.
One afternoon, a year later, I sat in the corner of his office, watching them. Emma was showing him a drawing she had made—a picture of a tall castle with a moat, and a man in a wheelchair with a cape.
"You are the king," she said, pointing to the man.
Alessandro touched the drawing. "I am not a king, Emma. I am just a man who was lucky enough to be saved by a broken cookie."
He looked up at me, and for a moment, the room felt like it was finally full of light.
"I bought the property next to yours, Ms. Miller," he said quietly. "It’s a bit large for a single man, but it has a wonderful garden. I thought... perhaps, you and Emma might like to spend your weekends there."
I looked at the man who had once been a monster to the world, and the child who had seen the man instead.
May you like
"I think we would like that very much," I said.
The castle wasn't falling anymore. It had been rebuilt, brick by brick, foundation by foundation, by the smallest, most unexpected hands in the world. And for the first time in my life, I knew we were safe.
