Chapter 4 - Christmas Dinner for the People Nobody Saw
Ethan canceled the gala.
Victoria called it financial suicide.
He called it necessary.
By midnight, the ballroom had been transformed. Crystal champagne
glasses disappeared. Employees and their children sat at tables beneath
garlands and white lights, eating turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie meant
for wealthy donors.
Lily sat beside Mateo.
“You can have my roll,” she said.
“I have one.”
“You can have two.”
Mateo almost smiled.
Ethan watched from across the room.
For three years, Lily had become quiet every December. Tonight she was
trying to make another child less afraid.
Sarah would have recognized that instinct.
Ethan did too.
Rosa approached carrying a manila envelope.
“Elena gave this to me last week.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“She made me promise to wait unless something happened.”
Inside were copies of payroll deductions, photographs of crowded
apartments, and a handwritten list of employees.
Beside several names was the word PAID.
Beside others: AFRAID.
Beside Rosa’s name: WATCHED.
Ethan’s name appeared at the bottom.
NEXT.
His phone rang.
Grace.
“We found Elena.”
Ethan gripped the table.
“Alive?”
“Yes. She checked herself into St. Catherine’s under her maiden name.”
“Why?”
“She says someone followed her from work.”
Ethan exhaled.
“Bring her here if doctors allow.”
“No. Ethan, listen. She doesn’t trust hotel security.”
“Why?”
“She says one of our guards gave Caleb her address.”
Ethan looked around the ballroom.
Security officers stood at every exit.
Suddenly the hotel felt less safe than the street.
He ordered Grace to replace the entire shift with an outside firm.
Victoria approached.
“You’re losing perspective.”
“An employee was followed home.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She documented it.”
“Poor people document everything when they think there’s a lawsuit.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Do you hear yourself?”
Her face softened artificially.
“I’m protecting what you and Sarah built.”
“By hiding children in a basement?”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“Caleb says you did.”
“Caleb is saving himself.”
“Maybe.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“You think kindness makes you a good owner. It doesn’t. It makes you
easy to manipulate.”
Lily appeared beside Ethan.
“Aunt Victoria?”
Victoria forced a smile. “Hello, darling.”
Lily looked at the gold snowflake pin.
“Sophie said the snowflake lady yelled at her.”
The ballroom seemed to quiet around them.
Victoria crouched.
“Sophie is confused.”
Lily shook her head.
“She cries when she sees you.”
Victoria’s smile disappeared.
“Children lie.”
Ethan’s voice became cold.
“Stand up.”
Victoria rose.
“Leave my daughter alone.”
“She spoke to me.”
“And you called a six-year-old a liar.”
“I said children lie.”
“Not tonight.”
Victoria walked away.
Later, Ethan took Lily upstairs to the founder’s suite. Sarah’s portrait
hung above the fireplace.
Lily placed the bruised roses beneath it.
“Mommy,” she whispered, “Daddy had a bad work day.”
Ethan laughed despite himself.
Then Lily added, “There’s a boy whose mommy is missing, but she’s not
missing anymore. Daddy found her.”
Ethan’s eyes burned.
“I didn’t find her, sweetheart.”
“You helped.”
She looked at Sarah’s portrait.
“Mommy says helping counts.”
Ethan tucked Lily into bed.
When he returned to the fireplace, he noticed one rose had fallen.
Behind the vase was a small brass key.
He had never seen it before.
A tag was tied around it.
S.V.
Sarah Vance.
Ethan stared at the initials.
May you like
The key had been hidden behind his dead wife’s portrait.
And somebody had moved the portrait recently.
