Chapter 13
Ava asked the question three weeks later.
“When Mommy coming home?”
Dante was helping her fit a puzzle piece into the wrong corner.
He stopped.
Celeste had been in Ava’s life for more than a year.
At three, that was an enormous portion of memory.
Dante could end a marriage with signatures.
A child did not reorganize attachment that quickly.
“Celeste isn’t going to live here anymore.”
Ava frowned.
“Why?”
Dante had discussed this with Dr. Grant.
Keep it simple.
Do not make the child responsible.
Do not turn one parent figure into a monster.
“Some grown-up things happened, and living separately is safer right now.”
“Mommy bad?”
Dante looked at her.
“She made some bad choices.”
“Uncle Marcus bad?”
“He did too.”
Ava considered this.
“Daddy bad?”
The question caught him completely unprepared.
“Sometimes.”
She smiled.
“Okay.”
Then she returned to the puzzle.
Dante sat there longer than necessary.
Children did not need flawless adults.
They needed adults who stopped pretending mistakes belonged only to other people.
Meanwhile, Marcus faced consequences inside and outside the family.
He returned profits connected to the business advantages he obtained through Celeste.
His company lost its Harbor Point participation permanently.
Investigators considered extortion-related charges alongside his cooperation.
Dante refused to intervene.
Marcus asked for one private meeting.
They met at Claire’s office, not the estate.
“I never wanted Ava’s money,” Marcus said.
Dante stared at him.
“That sentence does not help.”
“I know.”
“You wanted leverage.”
“Yes.”
“And because the original theft wasn’t yours, you convinced yourself you weren’t hurting her.”
Marcus nodded.
Dante looked at his brother.
Their father had taught them the same lesson in different words.
If you did not create another person’s weakness, exploiting it was simply smart.
Dante had believed versions of that lesson himself.
Now it sounded disgusting when applied to Ava.
“You shoved her.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“I know.”
“That has nothing to do with the financial case.”
“I know.”
“You panicked and decided the thing in her hand mattered more than the child holding it.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
That was the part Dante could not file away as business.
Marcus asked whether he could apologize someday.
Dante did not answer.
May you like
Not because the answer was no.
Because the answer belonged partly to a three-year-old who did not yet understand what had happened.
