“What did he mean?” I asked, looking between Ethan and my grandmother. “What happened thirty years ago?”

Evelyn sank into the leather armchair behind her, her face pale.

“Your mother,” Evelyn said, her voice barely audible. “She was so young, Maria.”

“What about her?” I asked, my voice rising slightly.

“My father paid her a settlement,” Ethan said, his eyes fixed on Evelyn. “Did he not?”

“It was not a settlement,” Evelyn whispered. “It was a promise. But Richard found out.”

Ethan walked over to Evelyn and knelt down so he was at eye level with her.

“What did my father promise her?” Ethan asked gently.

Evelyn shook her head, tears spilling over her wrinkled eyelids. “He promised her that you would always be taken care of. Both of you.”

Ethan stood up slowly, his expression hardening into something I had never seen before.

He looked at me, then at Lily, who was now fast asleep, her breathing slow and even.

“I need to see the old files,” Ethan said, turning toward the safe built into the library wall.

“The corporate files?” I asked.