CHAPTER 4 — THE HOUSEKEEPER FINALLY TELLS THE TRUTH
Our head housekeeper stepped forward.
She had worked for our family for more than twenty years.
I had never once seen her openly challenge my mother.
But today, she spoke.
“Sir, you need to know what happened.”
Evelyn spun around.
“You don't need to say anything.”
The housekeeper continued anyway.
“Mrs. Hannah did not drop the cake.”
I looked at her.
“What happened?”
She took a deep breath.
“Mrs. Evelyn saw the words on the cake.”
“Happy Birthday Daddy.”
“Then she became furious.”
I clenched my fists.
“She said Hannah had no right to have a child carrying this family's name because she came from a low-class background.”
Evelyn shouted:
“Enough!”
But the housekeeper continued.
“She grabbed the cake from Mrs. Hannah.”
“She smashed it onto the floor.”
“Then...”
She looked at Hannah's wrists.
“She grabbed her.”
“She forced her to kneel.”
“She ordered her to clean everything.”
I couldn't hear anything else.
Everything around me seemed to disappear.
I remembered the nights Hannah had asked me not to stay too late at family dinners.
The times her eyes were red after my mother said something cruel.
The nights I noticed she had been crying, only for her to tell me she was tired.
I never asked.
May you like
I never protected her.
And now I finally understood why.
