Chapter 1
Gabriele did not go after Cordelia again.
That surprised everyone.
Instead, he crossed the conservatory, took Theo from his bodyguard, and carried him into the heated service lounge.
Theo’s hands were painfully cold. His cheeks were bright red, and his socks were damp where snow had gotten inside his shoes.
“Daddy.”
“I’ve got you.”
Theo buried his face against Gabriele’s shirt.
A private physician attending the banquet checked him immediately. Theo had been outside less than ten minutes. He was frightened and chilled, but there were no signs of serious cold injury.
Gabriele should have felt relieved.
He did not.
He kept thinking about the people who had remained at the dinner table while a three-year-old pounded on glass.
His security chief, Evan Russo, stood near the doorway.
“Who saw her put him outside?”
Evan hesitated.
“That’s what I’m trying to establish.”
Gabriele looked past him toward the banquet gallery.
There had been thirty-two guests.
At least half could see the terrace.
“Establish it faster.”
Theo lifted his head.
“Aunt Cordelia said you said so.”
Gabriele looked down.
“Said what?”
“That I stay outside.”
Something inside him went still.
“I never said that.”
Theo watched his face carefully.
“Okay.”
The trust in that small answer hurt more than accusation would have.
Gabriele carried him to a quiet guest suite, where a housekeeper found warm pajamas.
When Theo was settled with hot chocolate, Gabriele returned to the banquet hall.
Cordelia sat beneath the damaged wreath frame while her attorney spoke beside her.
Malcolm had an ice pack against his cheek.
Neither looked ashamed.
Gabriele faced the guests.
“Who was told I ordered Theo put outside?”
Silence.
Then an older family associate slowly raised his hand.
Another followed.
Then a third.
Cordelia stood.
“This is absurd.”
Gabriele ignored her.
“What exactly were you told?”
The first man cleared his throat.
“Cordelia said the boy had been acting out all evening. She said you wanted him taught consequences.”
Gabriele looked toward his aunt.
She did not look away.
Another guest spoke.
“Malcolm said not to interfere.”
Gabriele turned toward his cousin.
“Why?”
Malcolm shrugged.
“You spoil him.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Malcolm’s jaw tightened.
Gabriele continued.
“Why did you tell thirty adults not to help my son?”
Cordelia interrupted.
“Because somebody has to raise him properly.”
Theo’s mother, Laura, had died in a highway accident eighteen months earlier.
Since then, Cordelia had repeatedly complained that Gabriele was too soft with the boy.
Gabriele had dismissed it as an older relative’s opinion.
Now he understood something he should have understood much earlier.
Cordelia had not been criticizing his parenting.
May you like
She had been testing how much authority she could claim over Theo when Gabriele was not present.
And judging by the people who stayed seated while a child cried outside, the answer was far too much.
