Chapter 5 - WHY EMMA WAS AFRAID TO LOSE HER JOB
Rizzo disappeared before noon.
Security badge dead.
Apartment empty.
Phone abandoned.
Predictable.
The estate entered lockdown.
I hated that word.
Lockdown meant people with guns at doors.
Staff whispering.
Everyone afraid to ask questions.
Luca found me packing a bag in my room.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
His face changed.
“Why?”
“Because my mother is alone.”
“You're safer here.”
Maybe.
But that was not the only issue.
“I didn't ask where I’m safer.”
He stopped.
Interesting.
I continued:
“If Marco Bellini knows I found Bruno, I don't want my mother pulled into this because I live here.”
“You don't live here.”
“No.”
I rented a small apartment on the South Side.
My mother rented the unit below.
I paid half her bills.
My brother Daniel attended DePaul.
Tuition destroyed the rest of my salary.
Luca knew almost none of this.
Just as he had known almost nothing about most household staff.
“Take security.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“There.”
“What?”
“That voice.”
He frowned.
“The one where you've already decided.”
Silence.
Apparently nobody spoke to him like that.
Good.
“I’ll accept someone checking the building from outside.”
He thought.
“Fine.”
“Do not put anyone outside my mother’s door.”
“Fine.”
“You say that like it hurts.”
“It does.”
I almost smiled.
Then Luca asked:
“Why did Vanessa think firing you would frighten you so much?”
The question surprised me.
“She knew what I earn.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
I looked down.
“Because everyone here knows jobs like this come with references.”
“So?”
“Lose one in a house like yours and every wealthy household in Chicago assumes you stole something.”
His face changed.
“Vanessa could have blacklisted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you still carried Bruno into the dinner.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I stared.
“Because he was alive.”
Simple.
No heroics.
An old dog needed water.
A lie needed exposing.
Luca sat on the edge of a chair.
“I've spent years thinking loyalty meant people stayed because they believed in me.”
I said nothing.
“And?”
“Some probably stay because they don't think they can afford to leave.”
Now he looked directly at me.
That was the beginning of a larger audit.
Not financial.
Household.
Staff contracts.
References.
Housing.
Nondisclosure clauses.
Informal threats.
Rizzo had used access and fear for years because nobody below him believed they could question security leadership.
Vanessa had copied the same logic with me.
Take the money.
Keep quiet.
Or lose the job.
Luca hated that realization.
Good.
May you like
Some lessons should be uncomfortable.
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