Chapter 7
Mia began eating normally within a week.
Sleep took longer.
For several nights she woke asking whether she had cleaned enough.
Rocco moved every hockey bag and training hamper out of sight.
Dr. Hannah told him not to turn the equipment itself into something frightening.
So eventually he brought one clean helmet home.
Mia touched it cautiously.
“Dirty?”
“No.”
“You mad?”
“No.”
“Grandma?”
Rocco sat beside her.
“Grandma isn't here.”
Mia relaxed.
That reaction hurt.
Then Hannah helped Mia describe more of what happened.
Not in one dramatic interview.
Over several short sessions.
Mia said Bernice repeatedly asked her:
“Did you really see Grandma take money?”
Mia said yes.
Bernice told her she was confused.
Mia said no.
Laine told her the blue envelopes contained “family money.”
Mia repeated that she would tell Daddy.
That was when the cleaning started.
At first she still received meals.
Then Bernice said Mia could eat after admitting she made up the story.
Mia refused.
By the second day, staff began questioning the punishment.
Bernice told them Mia had eaten privately.
She had not.
One kitchen worker secretly gave Mia water and half a cup of milk.
The worker was terrified to tell Rocco because Bernice controlled household staffing while he traveled.
Rocco listened to her statement.
“You thought I'd fire you for disobeying my mother?”
The woman looked down.
“Yes, sir.”
That answer became another indictment.
Rocco had never told staff to obey Bernice over child safety.
He had never needed to.
Everyone assumed hierarchy mattered more than judgment.
Because that was how the family operated everywhere else.
The audit meanwhile revealed a second problem.
Several cash deposits were missing entirely.
Not transferred to Laine.
Not traceable.
Someone had physically removed them.
Total:
$73,400.
Bernice denied taking cash.
Laine denied receiving it.
Ralph knew nothing about it.
Then arena security logs showed Bernice entering the equipment office late at night on seven occasions.
Always alone.
May you like
On five of those nights, security cameras in the corridor were disabled.
Using Ralph’s administrator profile.
