Chapter 2: The Weight of Quiet
The day drags the way it always does—slow, heavy, full of small jobs that feel pointless but keep Claudia off my back. I take out the trash, fix the leaky faucet in the downstairs bathroom, mow the patchy lawn out back. Every chore is a reminder: this is what they think I'm good for.
By late afternoon, the house is empty. Claudia's at her bridge club, Sophia's wherever Sophia goes when she's not here making everyone miserable. It's just me and the quiet.
I head upstairs to the guest room, lock the door behind me, and kneel by the bed. My fingers find the loose floorboard in the corner—the one that's been my secret for years. I pry it up carefully. Underneath sits the encrypted phone, wrapped in a soft cloth to keep it from knocking around.
It's been lighting up more often lately. I power it on, thumb through the messages.
Marcus: Package confirmed. Route locked. Window opens in nine days.
Another from an unknown number—burner, probably: Assets liquidated. Transfer complete. Your cut is secure.
I stare at the screen longer than I should. Nine days. After five years of waiting, it feels both too soon and not soon enough.
I type back a single word: Acknowledged.
Then I shut it down, wrap it again, slide the board back into place. My heart's pounding harder than it should. This isn't nerves. It's anticipation.
Downstairs, I make myself busy again—wiping counters that are already clean, folding laundry Bella left in the dryer. Anything to keep my hands moving while my head runs through the plan one more time.
I'm elbow-deep in soapy water, scrubbing a pan that doesn't need it, when I hear the front door open.
Soft footsteps. Not Claudia's sharp shuffle or Sophia's dramatic click. Bella's home early.
She appears in the kitchen doorway, still in her work scrubs, hair escaping the ponytail she tied this morning. She looks worn out, but her eyes light up a little when she sees me at the sink.
"You didn't have to do the dishes," she says quietly.
I shrug, keep scrubbing. "Wasn't doing anything else."
She drops her bag by the table and comes over, reaching past me to turn off the water. "You'll wear a hole in that pan."
Her arm brushes mine—just barely—but it's enough to make me go still. She doesn't pull away right away. For a second, we're just standing there, close enough that I can smell the faint hospital soap on her skin and something warmer underneath that's just her.
"You okay?" she asks, voice low.
I nod. "Yeah. You're home early."
"Slow day. They let some of us leave." She hesitates, then adds, "I picked up Chinese on the way. Thought maybe we could eat before everyone else gets back."
I dry my hands on a towel and turn to face her. She's watching me with that careful look she gets sometimes—like she's trying to see past the quiet guy who lives in her guest room.
"Sounds good," I say.
We unpack the food at the little kitchen table—orange chicken, fried rice, egg rolls. Nothing fancy, but it feels like something when it's just the two of us. No yelling. No eye rolls. No one treating me like I'm in the way.
She hands me a fork. "You eat yet today?"
"Grabbed something earlier."
She gives me a look that says she doesn't believe me, but doesn't push. We eat in comfortable silence for a minute.
Then she says, "You seemed… I don't know. Far away this morning."
I glance up. She's poking at her rice, not meeting my eyes.
"Just tired," I say.
She nods like she accepts it, but I know she doesn't. Bella's always seen more than she lets on.
"You ever think about leaving?" she asks suddenly. "Like… getting your own place again?"
The question hangs there. I could lie. Tell her I'm saving up, that things are tight, that I'm trying. That's what I've said before.
Instead, I say, "Sometimes."
She looks at me then—really looks. "You could, you know. If you wanted. I wouldn't… I mean, we'd manage."
We. Not they. We.
I set my fork down. "You saying you want me gone?"
Her eyes widen. "No. God, no. That's not—" She stops, takes a breath. "I just don't want you stuck here if it's making you miserable."
I lean back in my chair. "What makes you think I'm miserable?"
She gives a small, sad laugh. "Damian, come on."
I want to tell her everything right then. That I'm not stuck. That I've been building something bigger than this house, bigger than the lies they all believe about me. That soon I'll have more than enough to take care of her—really take care of her—the way she's been carrying everyone else all this time.
But I can't. Not yet.
So I reach across the table and cover her hand with mine—just for a second. Her skin is warm. She doesn't pull away.
"I'm not going anywhere," I say. "Not unless you tell me to."
Her fingers curl slightly under mine, like she's holding on without meaning to. Then the front door slams—Claudia's home—and the moment breaks.
Bella slips her hand back, stands up to clear the containers. But she glances at me as she does, and there's something new in her eyes.
Hope, maybe.
Or fear.
Either way, it's something.
Nine days.
I help her clean up, moving around each other in the small kitchen like we've done it a thousand times.
Just a little longer, I think.
Then I'll tell her everything.
And I'll make sure she never has to carry it all alone again.