Page 140 of Enzo

I close my eyes and grip the counter harder.

I remember the Jenga game. Asking her what she wanted to be when she was ten, and the way her expression changed before she told me she wanted to be an astronaut. I remember how much safety matters to her.

Her apartment. Her classroom. The children.

Her unbridled belief that a child could do whatever they wanted, if they believed in themselves enough.

Because little Molly didn’t have any of that.

Something sharp slices through my chest.

She said her father was kind and cuddly. That he looked out for them.

She wasn’t deceiving me. She was protecting herself.

And of all people, I understand that because I know what it feels like when a family secret is exposed and lives are destroyed because of it.

Except Molly didn't expose any of this.

Someone else did it to her.

I’m not horrified by where she came from.

I’m not embarrassed by her father.

I’m concerned about her.

I want her to be okay.

“It’s all over the internet,” Matteo continues. “It’s not just that. They’re now calling her a …” He pauses.

“What?”

“They’re calling her a gold digger.”

“What the hell?”

Molly is nothing like that. She doesn’t care about money, and she came up to me before she even knew what a Knight was.

In that instant I understand what this is. This is the media turning an innocent woman into whatever version of her will sell the most headlines. The focus has finally begun shifting away from Father and the old stories, and for that I should be grateful, but now it has pivoted to Molly.

“There’s something else.”

My stomach drops even further. “What now?”

“Mama’s here.”

I frown. “Here where?”

“In New York.”

He tells me that Rio and Raquel weren’t casually visiting Mama. They went because they were worried about her. More journalists were camped out outside her home.

I’ve done it again. I’ve made Mama’s life worse.

I slump against the countertop, heart hammering inside my chest. All the time Molly and I were hiding out here in our own little peaceful piece of paradise, the world outside was imploding.

Father is furious, and I can guess why.