She paused. “You’ll meet them soon enough. Just try not to be nearby when they start arguing.”

“Arguing about what?”

“Money,” she said flatly. “Always money.”

Within a week, I understood the household.

Arthur, Eleanor’s brother and the man who had hired me, was eighty-one, widowed, sharp-eyed, and suspicious of everyone. He was still walking with a cane, but the staff whispered that his health was failing.

His daughter, Vivien, smiled like honey and looked at people with eyes so cold they made my skin prickle.

Vivien came almost every afternoon, always dressed perfectly, pearls clicking at her throat, a lawyer usually following close behind.

“Daddy, we just need your signature,” she would say sweetly. “It’s about Eleanor’s care plan. We found a more affordable facility.”

“Eleanor stays here,” Arthur answered.

“Daddy, be reasonable. She barely knows where she is anymore. And after you’re gone—”

“She knows exactly where she is, Vivien. She understands more than any of you think.”

One afternoon, Vivien noticed me standing in the doorway with Eleanor’s tea tray.

“And who is this?”

“Eleanor’s caregiver,” Arthur replied. “She’s been here for a month.”

“Hm.” Her gaze moved over me slowly, like a cat studying something it might eventually attack. “How nice.”

A few weeks later, the hospital called while I was reading to Eleanor. I excused myself and stepped into the hallway.

My hands were already trembling before I answered.

“Ma’am, we need Noah back this afternoon for updated scans and testing.”

“Yes,” I said quickly. “Yes, we’ll be there.”

After I hung up, I pressed my forehead against the cool wallpaper and tried to breathe.

When I turned around, Arthur was at the end of the hall in his robe, leaning on his cane, watching me carefully.

“Who keeps calling you and making your hands shake?” he asked quietly.

I realized then that while I had been watching his children fight over his fortune, Arthur had been watching me far more closely than I knew.