Chapter 6 - “MR. MORETTI DOESN’T LIKE EXCUSES”Sofia remained hospitalized for two nights.
Her lungs improved.
Her anger did not.
Alessandro visited again only after asking permission.
That mattered to her.
Emma was coloring beside the bed.
Rosa sat near the window.
Alessandro brought no flowers.
No envelope.
No dramatic gift.
Only questions.
“Sofia, Denise had notes about your breathing.”
Her face changed.
“She wrote it down?”
“Yes.”
“Then she knew.”
“Yes.”
Sofia looked away.
“I told her three times.”
“What did she say?”
“Open a window.”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“The basement windows don’t open.”
“I know.”
Emma looked up from her coloring.
“Mom coughs in the shower too.”
Sofia smiled weakly.
“Keep drawing.”
Alessandro continued:
“Why didn’t you stop using the chemical?”
Sofia stared at him.
“Because I need a job.”
“You could have reported it.”
“To who?”
There it was.
The same question every frightened worker eventually asked.
“Crestline HR.”
Sofia laughed.
“I did.”
Alessandro stopped.
“What?”
She had called nine months earlier about missing overtime.
HR told Denise.
The next week Sofia lost two preferred shifts.
After that, she stopped calling.
“Did you report the chemical?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I learn.”
Alessandro felt the shame of hearing that.
Not her shame.
His.
Sofia continued.
“Denise says Mr. Moretti doesn’t like excuses.”
Alessandro stared.
“What else does ‘Mr. Moretti’ supposedly dislike?”
Sofia almost smiled.
“Sitting.”
“What?”
“If we sit in a guest area, you don’t like it.”
“I don’t care.”
“Food.”
“What food?”
“Eating house food.”
“I don’t care.”
“Calling out.”
“I care if half the staff disappears. I don’t care if someone is sick.”
“Phones.”
“That one is probably true.”
Sofia laughed.
So did Rosa.
The tension eased.
Then Sofia said:
“People are scared of your name.”
Alessandro became quiet.
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I don’t think you do.”
He waited.
“You don’t yell.”
“Victor does sometimes.”
“Denise does.”
“But when they say, ‘Mr. Moretti will hear about this,’ that is enough.”
Alessandro understood.
He had built a reputation for control in business.
Inside negotiations, it served him.
Inside employment hierarchies, others could weaponize it.
“Did you ever meet me before?”
“Twice.”
“Why didn’t you ask?”
Sofia almost looked offended.
“Ask what?”
“Whether I wanted sick people fired.”
Sofia stared.
“You had ten men outside your study yesterday.”
“Twelve.”
“That makes it better?”
He almost smiled.
She continued.
“People like me do not walk into rooms with people like you and ask whether our supervisor is lying.”
Emma raised her hand.
“I did.”
Everyone looked at her.
Sofia laughed despite herself.
“Yes, baby.”
Emma returned to coloring.
Alessandro looked at her.
Maybe the only reason the truth reached him was because a child did not understand hierarchy well enough to obey it.
That thought was not flattering.
He changed subject.
“The cottage.”
Sofia stiffened.
“You and Emma can remain there while this is investigated.”
“After?”
“If you remain employed, housing continues.”
“And if I don’t?”
Alessandro thought.
“You’ll receive the contractual transition period.”
“Ninety days?”
“Yes.”
She looked surprised.
“Not thirty?”
“No.”
Tears filled her eyes.
That small difference mattered.
Three months could mean finding an apartment without panic.
Alessandro hated how little he knew about what stability looked like at Sofia’s income level.
Then he asked:
“What do you want?”
Sofia became suspicious.
“I don’t understand.”
“From this.”
“Nothing.”
“Back pay?”
“That’s already mine.”
Correct.
“Medical expenses?”
“If work caused it, yes.”
Correct again.
“Job?”
Sofia looked toward Emma.
“I don’t know.”
That surprised him.
“You don’t want to return?”
“I almost couldn’t breathe.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I mean I don’t know if I want to clean this house again.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Fair.”
Sofia looked at him carefully.
“You expected me to be grateful because you said I’m not fired.”
The sentence hit.
Maybe he had.
A little.
He hated that.
“No.”
She continued.
“Mr. Moretti, not firing someone for being hospitalized isn’t kindness.”
Alessandro sat very still.
“It’s normal.”
“Yes.”
Emma looked up.
“Mom, is Mr. Boss in trouble?”
Sofia covered her face.
Rosa laughed.
Alessandro smiled.
“A little.”
Emma considered.
“Did you do bad?”
Alessandro looked at Sofia.
Then answered the child.
“I didn’t know enough.”
Emma frowned.
“That’s not doing bad.”
Sofia looked at him.
Alessandro said:
“Sometimes it is.”
The room became quiet.
That was the point where he stopped thinking of himself as the man who had discovered someone else’s misconduct.
If the Moretti estate had paid for benefits workers never received, if threats operated in his name, if people were injured by policies inside his home—
then ignorance was not innocence.
It was a management failure.
Maybe even a moral one.
May you like
He could not undo the hospital bed.
He could decide what happened next.
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