The Housemaid Is Watching
by Freida McFadden
Contents
Chapter 51
Overview
Millie confronts Enzo about his past after Cecelia and Ramirez leave, demanding the truth about his ties to Dario Fontana. Enzo admits he took part in violent collections, including breaking people’s fingers, and he blames himself for his sister Antonia’s death because Dario married her. Although Enzo denies ever killing anyone and insists he did not murder Jonathan Lowell, Millie ends the chapter increasingly convinced Enzo has been lying all along.
Summary
After Cecelia Winchester and Detective Ramirez leave the house, Millie realizes she has only thirty minutes before the children return from school and decides to confront Enzo immediately about what she has learned.
Millie presses Enzo on his hidden connection to mobster Dario Fontana and refuses to accept Enzo’s attempts to minimize it as harmless “errands.” Enzo admits he was involved in intimidating people over money and, when Millie pushes for specifics, he confesses that the violence was real: they broke people’s fingers.
Enzo insists he is ashamed and says his worst guilt is personal—he believes his early involvement with Dario led to Dario dating and marrying Enzo’s sister, Antonia, and Enzo blames himself for Antonia’s death. He frames his current impulse to help others as an attempt to atone for what happened.
Millie asks directly whether Enzo ever killed anyone for Dario and whether he murdered Jonathan Lowell. Enzo emphatically denies killing anyone and swears he did not kill Jonathan, but Millie cannot shake the feeling that Enzo has been hiding the truth for years, and her trust in him continues to collapse.
Who Appears
- MillieConfronts Enzo about his mob past; her trust fractures further.
- EnzoAdmits violent debt-collection work for Dario; denies killing anyone or Jonathan.
- Cecelia WinchesterPublic defender who has just left; her revelations trigger Millie’s interrogation.
- Detective RamirezInvestigator who leaves with Cecelia; part of the inquiry into Enzo.
- Dario FontanaMobster from Enzo’s past; employer tied to Enzo’s confessed violence.
- AntoniaEnzo’s sister; Enzo blames himself for her death through Dario.
- Jonathan LowellMurder victim; Enzo again denies responsibility for Jonathan’s death.