Chapter 16 - What Ana Saw
Ana Marquez had never worked directly for Carter’s parents.
She had been hired temporarily to care for the daughter of a visiting business partner staying at the Hale estate.
Victor Langford’s daughter.
Seraphina.
Emilia stared at June.
“Seraphina?”
June nodded.
“She was seventeen.”
The room felt smaller.
Carter sat beside Emilia.
June explained.
Victor had brought his daughter to the estate during a summer of negotiations with Carter’s father.
Seraphina’s mother had recently died.
The girl was angry.
Wild.
Desperate for attention.
Ana had been hired because Victor did not want to interrupt meetings to deal with his grieving daughter.
“A nanny,” Emilia whispered.
June nodded.
“Your mother treated Seraphina kindly.”
Seraphina had never mentioned it.
Perhaps she did not know Emilia was Ana’s daughter.
Or perhaps she had buried the memory.
“What happened?” Carter asked.
June looked at him.
“One evening, Ana overheard Victor threatening your father.”
The argument concerned employees who had discovered financial misconduct.
Victor wanted them silenced.
Carter’s father wanted them paid and removed quietly.
Ana walked into the room before realizing they were there.
Victor saw her.
“So he tracked her?”
“For a while.”
June nodded.
“Your father protected her. Quietly.”
Emilia closed her eyes.
Again.
Quietly.
Always quietly.
“He offered Ana money,” June continued. “She refused.”
That sounded like her mother.
“She told him she wanted one thing.”
“What?”
“That nobody hurt the workers.”
Carter looked down.
“He promised?”
“Yes.”
“Did he keep it?”
June's silence answered.
Emilia stood.
Anger came slowly.
Not explosive.
Heavy.
Her mother had spent years teaching her dignity.
Years insisting that a person’s job did not determine worth.
Now Emilia understood part of why.
Ana had seen powerful men discuss workers like pieces on a board.
She had chosen to raise her daughter differently.
“Did my mother ever tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she had you.”
Emilia’s eyes burned.
June continued softly.
“Victor knew where you went to school.”
That was enough.
Emilia turned away.
Her mother had not been cowardly.
She had been a parent.
For years, Emilia had wondered why Ana hated private aviation.
Why she refused certain jobs.
Why she always checked the street twice before entering their apartment.
Now she knew.
Carter approached her.
“I’m sorry.”
Emilia looked at him.
“For what?”
“My family was part of this.”
May you like
She touched his hand.
“Then help me finish what both our parents were too afraid to finish.”
