Marissa’s face changed.
“She told them you were.”
Rosa shook her head.
“You were so busy trying to become her mother that you didn’t notice she had already made room for you.”
Marissa cried.
Rosa did not comfort her.
Not cruelly.
Just boundaries.
Marissa left with six boxes.
The dog bowl remained.
Months passed.
Ellie began therapy with Dr. Priya Shah, a child psychologist recommended by someone outside the Holloway network.
Grant attended parent sessions.
The first one irritated him.
That was how he knew it was probably useful.
Priya asked:
“What does Ellie do when you leave for work?”
“She asks when I’ll be home.”
“And what do you say?”
“The truth.”
“What is the truth?”
Grant frowned.
“It depends.”
“Exactly.”
He disliked that answer.
Priya continued.
“Children do better with predictability.”
“I cannot predict corporate crises.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“But you can stop telling a six-year-old ‘soon’ when soon might mean after bedtime.”
Grant looked away.
That was fair.
He changed.
Not by retiring.
Not dramatically.
He hired a new operating president.
Reduced travel.
Blocked two school mornings each week.
Dinner became a recurring calendar event that assistants could not move without asking him personally.
At first Grant hated scheduling family life.
It felt transactional.
Then Priya said:
“You schedule what you respect.”
He stopped hating it.
Ellie changed too.
Slowly.
The first time she woke from a nightmare after Marissa left, she stood outside Grant’s bedroom for five minutes without knocking.
He found her on the hallway camera the next morning.
That evening he asked.
“Why didn’t you come in?”
She shrugged.
“Did you think I’d be mad?”
“No.”
Too quick.
Grant waited.
Ellie looked down.
“You need sleep.”
His chest tightened.
“I do.”
She looked up.
“So?”
“So you also need me.”
“That makes you tired.”
“Yes.”
Grant nodded.
“Sometimes.”
Ellie looked confused.
Grant continued.
“People we love can make us tired.”
“That’s bad.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Otis makes me tired. Grandma makes me tired. Work makes me tired. I make myself tired.”
Ellie laughed.
“Tired is not the same as unwanted.”
She became quiet.
Grant touched her hand.
“If you have a nightmare, wake me.”
“What if it’s every night?”
“Then I’ll be tired.”
Her eyes widened.
“And?”
“And I’ll drink coffee.”
She smiled.
Three nights later she woke him.
Grant hated the alarm feeling in his body.
Then loved what the knock meant.
Trust returning was often inconvenient.
That was the point.
The foundation investigation concluded five months after the gala.
Lattice & Rowe had performed legitimate work.
Too much of it at inflated rates.
Marissa’s retained financial interest should have been disclosed.
Grant should have recused himself.
He did not.