Chapter 6
Renata finally told me why Frank wanted Maisie isolated.
She did it accidentally.
“He said the child was becoming too attached.”
I turned.
“To me?”
Silence.
“Renata.”
She exhaled.
“Yes.”
I stared.
“That is your concern?”
“It changes you.”
Same sentence.
Different mouth.
“How?”
“You leave meetings early.”
“For my daughter.”
“You cancel dinners.”
“When she’s sick.”
“You stopped using the west residence because she hates sleeping there.”
I almost laughed.
“She’s three.”
Renata’s expression sharpened.
“Exactly.”
And there it was.
They did not hate Maisie.
They hated influence they could not control.
A child could ask me to come home.
A child could make me reject tradition without needing political arguments.
A child could change priorities simply by needing her father.
Frank stepped forward.
“You used to understand sacrifice.”
“I still do.”
“No.”
His voice rose.
“You sacrifice for her now.”
I stared.
“Yes.”
That single word angered him more than anything else I said.
He pointed toward the hallway.
“She will make you soft.”
I stepped closer.
“She already did.”
Frank froze.
I let him sit in it.
Soft enough to kneel when she cries.
Soft enough to leave meetings.
Soft enough to notice fear.
Soft enough to ask whether old men calling cruelty tradition might actually be cowards.
Renata looked away.
Then I understood something.
They had not only tested Maisie.
They had been testing me.
Every time she came to me upset, they watched whether I changed plans.
Every time I chose her, Frank lost another piece of proof that the old order still owned me.
The laundry room was escalation.
If Maisie could be frightened into silence, maybe she would stop coming to me.
If she stopped coming to me, Frank could convince himself he still mattered.
May you like
That was the ugliest motive of all.
My daughter had been hurt because an old man could not tolerate becoming unnecessary.
