Chapter 5 - ELI STOPPED TALKING
Eli asked for Maria twelve times the first day.
By the second, he stopped asking.
Vincent found that worse.
The child ate little.
He refused to enter the dining room.
When Adrian appeared at the far end of a hallway, Eli immediately moved behind his father.
Adrian stopped walking.
He did not come closer.
That evening, Vincent found Eli pushing food beneath the edge of his plate.
“Not hungry?”
Eli shook his head.
Vincent sat beside him.
“Maria didn’t leave because of you.”
No response.
“You told the truth.”
Eli stared at the table.
Vincent waited.
Eventually the boy whispered, “I didn’t get dinner.”
Vincent felt something tighten in his chest.
“What?”
“Uncle Adrian said lie or no dinner.”
Vincent remembered the exact sentence.
One tiny lie and maybe you earn dinner tonight.
Adrian may have meant it as intimidation.
Eli had understood it literally.
A three-year-old now believed food could depend on saying whatever adults wanted.
Vincent called a pediatric therapist the next morning.
He did not use the family doctor.
He wanted someone outside Bellacorte influence.
Dr. Hannah Cole met Eli in a private office in Winnetka.
Afterward, she spoke to Vincent alone.
“He is not showing signs of severe lasting trauma based on one session.”
Vincent exhaled.
“But he is afraid that disagreeing with powerful adults has consequences.”
Vincent said nothing.
Hannah continued.
“What happened at dinner matters. What happens next matters more.”
Vincent looked through the glass door at his son playing with wooden animals.
“How do I fix it?”
“You can’t erase it.”
He disliked the answer.
Hannah continued.
“You show him consistently that truth does not cost him safety, food, affection, or belonging.”
That sounded simple.
Vincent knew it was not.
At the estate, Nora had another discovery waiting.
Laura Bellacorte—Eli’s mother—had established a trust shortly after Eli’s birth.
Vincent knew that.
What he had forgotten was that Caleb drafted it.
Nora placed the document on the table.
Several schedules were attached.
One was missing from Vincent’s copy.
Schedule C.
“What was in it?”
“I requested the bank’s certified copy.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“When do we get it?”
“Tomorrow.”
Vincent leaned back.
“What does the main trust say?”
“Mostly standard provisions.”
“Mostly?”
Nora pointed to one paragraph referencing Schedule C.
It concerned a “successor family protector” if the serving parent could no longer act in Eli’s interests.
Vincent read the phrase slowly.
The schedule would identify the successor.
He already had a suspicion.
That night Helena called him.
He declined.
She called again.
Then Adrian.
Then Caleb.
May you like
Three people suddenly wanted to talk before Schedule C arrived.
Vincent answered none of them.
