Chapter 11 - The Penthouse
The penthouse was larger than Beatrice’s entire apartment building.
Lily hated it immediately.
“It smells new.”
Beatrice smiled.
“That is a very serious problem.”
“There are no cookie pans.”
“A tragedy.”
“And Daddy’s refrigerator has only water.”
Leo looked offended.
“I have food.”
Beatrice opened the refrigerator.
Mineral water.
Champagne.
Mustard.
Half a lemon.
She looked at him.
“This is not food.”
Lily giggled.
Leo Rossi, who had negotiated with men carrying guns beneath conference tables, looked genuinely embarrassed by the contents of his refrigerator.
Beatrice laughed.
It surprised all three of them.
For the next two days, the penthouse became something none of them expected.
Normal.
Beatrice cooked pancakes.
Lily did schoolwork at the kitchen counter.
Leo took meetings from the dining room instead of disappearing to his office.
He discovered his daughter hated multiplication.
He discovered she loved strawberries but only if the stems were removed.
He discovered Beatrice sang quietly when she washed dishes.
He also discovered he did not know very much about the woman who had become essential to his daughter.
One evening, after Lily fell asleep, Leo found Beatrice sitting beside the balcony windows.
“You should rest.”
“I’ve been resting for four days.”
“Your hand is still injured.”
“My legs work.”
He sat across from her.
“Why did you become a maid?”
She looked amused.
“Is that a rich-person question?”
“Possibly.”
“I was studying nursing.”
Leo’s expression changed.
“That explains the cellar.”
“I completed two years.”
“What happened?”
“My mother got sick.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She needed help.”
“So you quit?”
“I intended to go back.”
“But?”
“Bills.”
Leo understood that word intellectually.
Beatrice understood it personally.
“My mother died three years later.”
“And you stayed in domestic work.”
“It paid more than starting over.”
Leo looked at her injured fingers.
“You could finish school.”
Beatrice stiffened.
“I don’t want charity.”
“I didn’t offer charity.”
“It sounded like it.”
Leo nodded once.
“Fair.”
They sat quietly.
Then he said, “I don’t know how to thank you without turning gratitude into money.”
Beatrice looked toward Lily’s bedroom.
“You can thank me by making sure she never believes what happened was her fault.”
Leo’s expression softened.
“She asked me yesterday why Victoria hated her.”
Beatrice’s chest tightened.
“What did you say?”
“That Victoria hated losing control.”
“Good.”
“She asked if Sofia died because of her too.”
Beatrice looked at him sharply.
Leo’s voice cracked.
“I didn’t know what to say.”
Beatrice moved closer.
“You tell her the truth she can understand.”
“What truth?”
“That adults made terrible choices.”
She held his gaze.
“And none of those choices belonged to her.”
Leo nodded.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Lily screamed from the bedroom.
Both were on their feet instantly.
Leo reached the doorway first.
Lily sat upright in bed.
May you like
A shadow moved across the balcony outside.
Someone had reached the penthouse.
