Chapter 3 - THE GIRL WITH THE PILLOW
Rocco did not question Ava in the estate.
He took her to a private family therapist his attorney recommended, then waited outside.
Bianca was furious when she learned.
“You had my daughter interviewed without me?”
“I had her speak to someone who doesn’t need anything from her.”
“She needs her mother.”
“Then why did she look frightened when you asked her to explain?”
Bianca folded her arms.
“She’s sensitive.”
Rocco had heard that word used too many times to make another person’s fear sound inconvenient.
Later that afternoon, the therapist asked whether Rocco would sit with Ava for ten minutes.
Ava sat at one end of a sofa.
Rocco stayed at the other.
No bodyguards.
No questions about Bianca.
He asked only:
“Do you feel safe with me in the room?”
Ava nodded.
“With Noah?”
Another nod.
Then Rocco waited.
Almost a minute passed.
Ava finally said, “Mom says Noah has to learn his place before the wedding.”
Rocco felt his jaw tighten.
“What place?”
Ava stared at her slippers.
“Below us.”
“Did you ask for that?”
Ava did not answer.
Rocco remembered the hallway.
The pillow.
The blanket.
Her upset face.
And the sentence that had sounded strangely adult coming from a twelve-year-old.
Guard dogs don’t need sleep.
“What were the pillow and blanket for?”
Ava looked at him quickly.
Then away.
“Nothing.”
The therapist intervened gently.
“You don’t have to answer today.”
Ava nodded gratefully.
Rocco did not push.
Outside, the therapist told him something important.
“Ava is monitoring every answer for consequences.”
“From me?”
“I don’t think so.”
That evening Rocco received an email forwarded from Ava’s school counselor.
For three weeks, teachers had noticed she was tired, distracted, and unusually anxious before weekends at the Bellandi estate.
Bianca had told the school it was wedding stress.
Rocco read the message twice.
Noah was losing sleep.
May you like
Ava was losing sleep.
And only one adult kept insisting the arrangement was for Ava’s comfort.
