Chapter 143: The Farewell

Milo walked into the kitchen that morning and stopped short at the sight of Michelle standing in the middle with a suitcase at her feet. She wore nice clothes, her eyes red-rimmed like she’d been crying for a while now.

Stella was in front of her, gripping both her hands, tears streaming freely down her round face. "Why? What happened? Something happened with your family?"

"Yes," Michelle said, her voice steady but tired. "My mom is suddenly sick. I have to go back."

Stella pulled her into a tight hug, sobbing openly now. "Oh dear, I will really miss you."

Milo stood frozen in the doorway, guilt crawling up his throat. He was sure this was his fault. He was the one who’d told Roderick what he’d seen in the garden.

He didn’t know if Salvatore had fired her outright, but he felt responsible.

Michelle glanced over Stella’s shoulder and caught sight of him, and despite everything, she managed a small, warm smile. "Oh, Milo. I will not meet you again. But I loved meeting you and everyone here."

Milo crossed the kitchen and hugged her before he could stop himself.

"I’m sorry," he whispered.

Michelle pulled back and wiped a stray tear from his cheek with her thumb, the gesture was so calm.

"You don’t need to say sorry. I have to go back to my village because my mom is sick."

Milo knew it was a lie. But he said nothing.

He watched from the doorway as a couple of the maids walked Michelle out toward the front entrance, Roderick following behind to help load her suitcase into the car.

A guard sat waiting behind the wheel, ready to drive her wherever she was actually going. Milo studied her face one last time before the car door shut, seeing no sign of death hanging over her, nothing like what he’d feared.

Salvatore wasn’t going to kill her. That much, at least, brought him some relief. Still, sadness settled heavy in his chest at the thought of never seeing her again.

Beside him, Teo burst into tears and threw his arms around Milo’s waist.

"Why are you crying?" Milo asked gently, hugging him back.

"I will not get cookies from her again," Teo sobbed into his shirt.

Stella smiled, still wiping her own eyes, and knelt down next to him. "Hey, don’t worry, I will give you cookies as much as you want."

That seemed to help only slightly. Stella straightened up and turned to Milo. "Salvatore will not have breakfast here today. But he said to ask you to have breakfast in the dining room."

Milo nodded, then hesitated. "Can I ask Teo to eat with me?"

"Sure," Stella said, already reaching for another plate.

Teo perked up immediately at the idea and settled into the seat beside Milo in the dining room, still sniffling but distracted now by the food in front of him.

"You will go to work? So you can’t play with me?"

"No," Milo said, "but I will be home early today. Usually Mr. Portello asks me to have lunch with him."

Teo’s whole face lit up. "Can I have lunch with you too?"

"Of course."

"After that, we can go swimming?"

Milo hesitated, the memory of nearly drowning still fresh enough to make his stomach twist. "I don’t think I want to swim."

"Oh, come on!" Teo whined. "It’s so hot now, it’ll be good to swim."

"Well, I can play around with you," Milo said. "But don’t ask me to swim like last time."

Teo nodded, satisfied enough with that compromise, and went back to devouring his breakfast.

That afternoon, Liam appeared to collect Milo for the lunch reservation Salvatore had apparently arranged.

"He will not come?" Milo asked as they walked toward the car.

"I don’t know," Liam admitted. "But I think he will not be there, as he only reserved it for you."

Milo’s face fell slightly. "Can you cancel it? I will eat at home. Teo is waiting for me."

"Oh, wait." Liam pulled out his phone. "I will ask Mr. Portello if it’s okay. You want to eat at home?"

Milo nodded, and after a brief exchange, Liam lowered the phone with a small smile. "Mr. Portello said it’s okay. So I will drive you home. Should I pick you up? We don’t have anything here though, so you can stay at home and relax if you want."

"I’m quite bored too today," Milo admitted, and Liam laughed lightly, turning the car back toward the mansion.

Once home, Milo had lunch with Teo, who talked nonstop through the entire meal about nothing in particular: a bird he’d seen, a game he wanted to play, a question about why the sky was blue that he answered himself before Milo could even respond.

Afterward, they wandered out toward the lake together, the sun still high and warm overhead.

The mansion’s grounds stretched out in every direction like their own small world, more village than estate, with stables and animal enclosures and buildings whose purpose Milo could only guess at.

Milo had forgotten how big the area was.

They passed the horse stables, and Milo quickened his pace slightly, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead until they’d cleared the section entirely.

Beyond a low fence, the open field gave way to a stretch of trees, growing taller and denser the deeper they walked.

Afternoon light filtered down through the thick canopy in uneven patches, leaving the spaces between the trunks shadowed and cool.

Milo breathed it in, the quiet of it, the peace. He liked this place.

Then the trees thinned and opened onto the lake. The same lake he’d nearly drowned in. It spread out wide and still, ringed by flat stones and low bushes, the water clear near the shallow edges and deepening into a faint green toward the center.

Teo immediately tried to coax him into the water, tugging at his arm, but Milo shook his head firmly and waded in only enough to sit at the edge, letting the water lap around his ankles.

"No, don’t pull me," he said when Teo tried again. "I don’t want to go anywhere. I will not swim."

Teo pouted but didn’t push further, splashing off on his own instead, swimming back and forth in wide, happy loops.

Milo tried to go into the water, feeling it around his body. It was so cool and relaxing. He dipped his face down toward the water once, just enough to feel it cool against his skin, before lifting his head again above the surface.

Once they’d had enough, they started back toward the mansion, but Teo suddenly veered off the path, tugging Milo toward the swamp instead.

"Teo, no," Milo said immediately, remembering exactly what lived out there.

"We just want to pass by," Teo insisted, already walking. "I heard this morning they brought evil men to the basement. Maybe they will throw them into the swamp."

Milo’s stomach turned. "Oh, Teo. No, we are going back to the mansion."

"Come on, Milo! We just want to pass by."

Milo sighed, giving in despite every instinct telling him not to. "Just pass by, okay?"

"Yes!"

They didn’t see anyone being thrown in, but they didn’t need to. Three men were already inside the enclosure, pressed against the iron bars as far from the water as they could manage, shouting and pleading, their voices cracking with terror.

The crocodile floated motionless nearby, unbothered, watching.

Milo’s whole body went cold. "Teo, we are going back."

Teo’s eyes had welled up, his earlier excitement gone completely. "Milo, can we help them?"

"Teo," Milo said carefully, gripping his shoulder, "if you do it, Salvatore might throw us in there instead of them."

Teo swallowed hard, but before either of them could move, one of the men spotted them and lunged toward the bars.

"Please help me! Please! I will give you money! Anything! Just open the gate. I will give you a lot of money!"

"I don’t want your money," Teo said, taking a step toward the gate anyway, his small hands reaching for the latch.

A guard appeared from nowhere, closing the distance in seconds, and scooped Teo up off his feet before he could touch it. "Leave them alone, kid."

Milo grabbed Teo the moment the guard set him down, pulling him away, walking as fast as his legs would carry them both, away from the shouting and the still water and the crocodile that hadn’t moved once.

"If the crocodile is not hungry," Teo said quietly once they were far enough away, his voice small, "maybe they will be safe, right?"

Milo didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say.