The Housemaid Is Watching
by Freida McFadden
Contents
Chapter 32
Overview
In the immediate aftermath of Nico’s violent outburst, Millie and Enzo clash over whether Nico’s aggression is normal or alarming. Nico’s detached reaction to being kicked off the team and punished convinces Millie something deeper is wrong. When Enzo refuses the idea of therapy, Millie privately investigates psychopathic traits in children and decides she will intervene rather than wait.
Summary
After Nico’s outburst at the Little League game, Millie, Enzo, Ada, and Nico ride home in tense silence. Nico stares out the window, oddly unmoved by being kicked off the team, while Enzo grips the steering wheel hard.
At home, Enzo orders Nico to sit quietly in the living room with no TV while he speaks with Millie in the kitchen. Millie confronts Enzo about Nico punching another boy, but Enzo keeps minimizing it as “normal boy behavior,” admitting he fought with his fists as a child and framing it as toughness, even though he concedes it may be viewed differently in America.
Millie and Enzo return to Nico and try to discipline him. Nico offers a flat apology and blames the other boy, Grayson, then impatiently asks for his punishment. Enzo confirms Nico is off the team and adds a month without devices, but Nico reacts with a shrug and runs upstairs, slamming his door.
Millie proposes therapy, convinced something is wrong with Nico’s emotional coldness, but Enzo rejects the idea outright and insists Nico is fine. Left alone later, Millie searches online for signs of psychopathy in children and matches several traits to Nico’s recent behavior—lack of guilt, lying, possible cruelty to animals, and aggression—then resolves that she will not ignore the problem and will act to “save” her son if necessary.
Who Appears
- MillieMother; alarmed by Nico’s cold aggression, suggests therapy, and researches child psychopathy traits.
- EnzoFather; minimizes Nico’s violence as normal boy behavior and refuses the idea of therapy.
- NicoMillie and Enzo’s son; reacts apathetically to punishment after punching another boy and seems emotionally cold.
- AdaMillie and Enzo’s daughter; present during the tense car ride home.
- GraysonBoy Nico punched; mentioned as the target Nico blames for provoking him.