Chapter 8 - The Night the Lights Went Out
Z
The storm arrived on a Thursday, bringing wet snow and a wind that rattled the windows of Josie's apartment.
At nine that evening, the lights went out.
Toby was brushing his teeth. Josie found a flashlight in the kitchen drawer and checked the circuit breaker, but the entire block had lost power. She called the utility company, learned that repairs might take hours, and wrapped Toby in a blanket.
“Is the operation still happening if we don't have electricity?” he asked.
Josie laughed softly. “The hospital has generators, sweetheart.”
“Good. I don't want my heart waiting for the lights to come back.”
She kissed his forehead and carried him to the sofa.
An hour later, someone knocked on the door.
Josie froze.
She looked through the peephole and saw Rosalind standing in the hallway, wearing a heavy coat and holding a thermos.
“It's me,” Rosalind called. “I brought soup. And before you ask, I came in a taxi.”
Josie opened the door.
“What are you doing out in this weather?”
“Being stubborn. I hear it's contagious.”
Rosalind stepped inside, brushed snow from her sleeves, and set the thermos on the table. Toby sat up immediately.
“Is that chicken soup?”
“It is. And there are biscuits in my bag.”
“You're my favorite rich person,” Toby announced.
Rosalind laughed. “I shall treasure the distinction.”
They ate by flashlight. Rosalind told Toby stories about her childhood, including the time she had tried to ride a horse backward because she believed it would make the animal go faster. Toby laughed so hard that he forgot to be frightened by the dark.
Josie watched them from the kitchen doorway.
She had never seen Rosalind look so relaxed. In the Castellano mansion, the older woman seemed to carry the weight of every portrait on the walls. Here, sitting on a worn sofa with a paper napkin on her knee, she looked like someone's grandmother.
When Toby finally fell asleep, Rosalind lowered her voice.
“I should tell you something.”
Josie sat opposite her.
“The first time Raphael followed me here, he was afraid you were manipulating me.”
Josie stared.
“Manipulating you?”
“He couldn't understand why I would go somewhere without a driver or a security team. He assumed there had to be a reason he hadn't discovered.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He has always believed that kindness is a currency. He gives it when he wants something, and he suspects everyone else does the same.”
Rosalind looked down at her hands.
“I helped teach him that. His father taught him to distrust people, and I spent years protecting him from the consequences. When he was cruel, I called it strength. When he was controlling, I called it responsibility.”
“You didn't make him fire me.”
“No. But I failed to stop him.”
Josie was quiet for a long moment.
“I'm sorry you had to live that way.”
Rosalind's eyes filled with tears. “So am I.”
They sat together while the storm pressed against the windows.
Near midnight, the electricity returned. The refrigerator hummed, the hallway light flickered, and Toby stirred beneath his blanket.
Rosalind stood to leave.
Josie walked her downstairs, carrying the empty thermos.
A black sedan waited at the curb, but no one approached them. Raphael had sent the car only after Rosalind requested a ride home, and the driver remained inside.
Before climbing in, Rosalind touched Josie's arm.
“You don't owe my son a second chance.”
“I know.”
“But if he ever earns one, don't give it to him because you feel sorry for him.”
Josie nodded.
“I won't.”
The sedan pulled away.
From the upstairs window, Toby called out that he was hungry again. Josie returned to the apartment and made him toast.
May you like
Outside, the storm softened to a steady snowfall.
And in a mansion across the city, Raphael received a message from Luca: Gideon had disappeared.
