He placed the letter inside a drawer already filled with others.
Eight.
He didn’t even feel angry anymore — just exhausted.
In the living room, Lila sat on the couch with her arms crossed, watching him with eyes that looked far older than three. Olivia’s eyes.
Sophie stood by the bookshelf pulling volumes down one by one and dropping them on the floor.
“She left,” Lila said flatly.
Ethan nodded.
“Good,” Sophie shouted.
“Because you bit her,” Lila reminded her.
Sophie shrugged.
People came. People left. No one stayed.
Ethan kissed their heads before leaving for work, even though Lila stiffened and Sophie flinched.
That evening his assistant Caleb was waiting in the driveway.
“The agency called,” Caleb said carefully. “They have someone else.”
Ethan sighed. “Let me guess. Desperate?”
“Different,” Caleb replied. “She’s a housekeeper. No childcare training.”
“Then why send her?”
Caleb hesitated. “She requested this job. Said she understands what your daughters are going through.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“What’s her name?”
“Rachel Bennett.”
When Ethan looked at the photo attached to the application, something stopped him.
Her eyes.
They carried the same raw grief he saw every morning in the mirror.