In the days that followed, life in Moses’s house settled into an unfamiliar peace. Catherine walked in the garden. She spoke with Grace. She began to see the house not as a trap, but as a place where nothing was demanded from her but honesty.
Yet questions remained.
Whenever Moses left the house, drivers arrived. Men in suits came to meet him. Phone calls seemed serious, important, full of numbers and decisions. People spoke to him with deference.
One afternoon, while Catherine was in the garden, a convoy of black SUVs rolled through the gate. Men stepped out carrying folders and briefcases.
She hid partly behind the trees and watched.
“Good afternoon, Chairman Bario,” one of them said.
Chairman.
The word made her go still.
She listened as they discussed contracts, financial projections, the board, a major announcement, media inquiries. Moses’s entire posture changed during the conversation. He was still calm, but now his calm had authority in it—quiet, practiced power.
When the men left, Catherine stepped out and faced him.
“They called you chairman.”
“Yes.”
“Chairman of what?”
He hesitated. Then said, “I run several companies.”
“How many?”
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