Chapter 16 - WHO WAS “US”?
Ewald immediately denied it.
"I never said that."
Bianca laughed.
"You absolutely did."
Helga set down the fry she had been holding.
Alexander looked between them.
"What exactly did he say?"
Bianca kept her eyes on her father.
"He said Alexander was starting to separate family money."
Ewald shook his head.
"I said he was reorganizing things."
"You said Helga was the reason."
"I did not."
Bianca stared at him.
"You're lying."
Ewald's face reddened.
Alexander raised one hand.
"Stop."
Neither did.
Bianca leaned toward her father.
"You told me Helga had gotten into his head."
"I said Alexander was feeling guilty about his mother."
"Same thing."
"No."
Helga spoke.
"Not the same thing."
Bianca turned.
Helga's voice remained calm.
"If we're going to spend three days arguing over distorted sentences, let's stop creating new ones."
Bianca sat back.
Alexander looked grateful.
Ewald looked irritated.
Helga looked at him.
"Did you tell Bianca that Alexander was changing financial plans because of me?"
Ewald hesitated.
"I might have said he was thinking differently."
"About?"
"Money."
"Because?"
Ewald glanced at Alexander.
"Because he talked about repaying you."
Helga nodded.
"That still doesn't explain why Bianca thought she was being cut out."
Bianca answered.
"Because my father said Alexander had started using the word his instead of ours."
Alexander stared.
"What?"
Bianca looked at him.
"You had."
He thought about recent arguments.
Maybe.
He had started saying my account.
My investments.
My money.
Not because he was planning to exclude Bianca.
Because Ewald's financial problems had made him more protective.
Bianca had noticed.
And instead of asking what changed, she had interpreted it through fear.
Helga leaned back.
"Who is us?"
Bianca frowned.
"What?"
"Every person in this argument keeps using that word."
Helga pointed lightly around the table.
"Us."
She looked at Bianca.
"You said the envelope was 'our future.'"
Then Ewald.
"You thought Alexander helping Bianca meant helping you."
Then Alexander.
"You thought supporting Bianca meant tolerating her father."
Alexander looked down.
Helga continued.
"Nobody defined us."
The table went quiet.
The observation was simple.
That made it painful.
Alexander turned to Bianca.
"When you say our money, what do you mean?"
Bianca looked defensive.
"You know what I mean."
"No."
He shook his head.
"I really don't anymore."
She looked down.
"The life we're building."
"That's not a bank account."
"I know."
"What expenses are ours?"
"Home. Travel. Plans. Everything."
"What is yours?"
Bianca stared.
"What is mine?"
"Yes."
She frowned.
"My salary."
"What else?"
"My savings."
Alexander nodded.
"What is mine?"
Bianca looked irritated.
"Your salary. Your savings."
"Good."
He pointed toward the envelope.
"Then why did my savings become your father's future?"
Bianca's eyes filled.
"Because I thought we were going to help him."
"Thinking isn't agreeing."
"I know."
"Do you?"
She slammed one hand lightly onto the table.
"Yes."
People in the restaurant outside the private room glanced toward the door.
Bianca lowered her voice.
"I know now."
Helga watched her.
There was a difference between being cornered and learning.
Helga wasn't sure which one she was seeing yet.
Ewald spoke.
"I don't want anything."
Alexander looked at him.
"What?"
"The money."
Ewald pushed his chair back slightly.
"Keep it."
Alexander almost laughed.
"It was always mine."
Ewald winced.
"Fine."
He looked at Helga.
"Give it to her."
Helga frowned.
Ewald shrugged.
"Or don't. I don't care."
Helga leaned forward.
"That's not true."
Ewald stared.
"You cared enough to hold it."
He looked away.
Helga continued.
"Wanting money isn't a crime."
Alexander glanced at her.
She kept looking at Ewald.
"Humiliating yourself because you wanted it badly enough to stop asking questions is the problem."
Ewald's jaw tightened.
Then he nodded once.
"I wanted it."
Helga nodded.
"Good."
Bianca looked at her father.
Something shifted in her face.
Not affection.
Disappointment.
Perhaps for the first time, she saw the role he had played without having Alexander or Helga explain it.
Ewald had accepted her lie because the lie paid him.
He had not forced her to make it.
But he had rewarded it.
Alexander looked at Bianca.
"I need to ask you something."
She waited.
"When you told Ewald I'd said yes, did you believe I eventually would?"
Bianca thought.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you usually do."
Alexander frowned.
She continued.
"You complain. You ask questions. You say it's too much."
She looked at him.
"Then you help."
He sat back.
That was true.
He had trained everyone around him to treat his boundaries as opening negotiations.
Not because they were all manipulative.
Because he often reversed himself.
He wanted to be generous.
He also wanted credit for resistance.
That was uncomfortable to admit.
Alexander looked at Helga.
She raised one eyebrow.
He almost laughed.
"I see it."
"Good."
He turned back to Bianca.
"Then I need to change that."
Her face tightened.
"Meaning?"
"When I say no, I mean no."
"To me?"
"To everyone."
Helga nodded slightly.
Ewald stared at the table.
Bianca looked frightened again.
Alexander saw it.
"That isn't punishment."
"It feels like it."
"Because you were benefiting from the old version."
Her eyes narrowed.
"So was Helga."
Alexander looked at his mother.
Helga answered for herself.
"Yes."
Bianca blinked.
Helga continued.
"Alexander has offered me things after I told him no."
Alexander frowned.
"Because you needed them."
"Sometimes."
Helga looked at him.
"And sometimes because you needed to feel useful."
He looked down.
Bianca watched.
For the first time, Helga saw her understand that she and Alexander's mother were not opposing moral symbols.
They were people who had both benefited from his inability to separate generosity from guilt.
The difference was what each had done with that access.
Helga had often refused.
Bianca had sometimes claimed.
Ewald had expected.
Alexander had enabled all three dynamics by keeping his boundaries vague.
The restaurant door opened.
A server looked in.
"Everything okay?"
Helga smiled.
"Perfect."
The server looked unconvinced.
"More fries?"
"Absolutely."
The door closed.
Alexander rubbed his face.
Bianca unexpectedly laughed.
Ewald did too.
For ten seconds, they were simply people exhausted by themselves.
Then Bianca's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
Alexander noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She locked the phone.
"Bianca."
She hesitated.
Then turned the phone around.
A message from Lydia.
I HEARD WHAT'S BEING SAID ABOUT HELGA. IT ISN'T FAIR. CALL ME.
Helga frowned.
"What is being said?"
Bianca looked down.
Alexander's face hardened.
"What did you tell people?"
Bianca looked at him.
"Nothing."
Then another message appeared.
Lydia again.
May you like
SOMEONE IS SAYING HELGA SECRETLY RECORDED YOU FOR MONEY.
Helga went completely still.
