Chapter 12
The direct confrontation happened three weeks later.
Not at the estate.
At a lawyer’s conference room in Midtown.
Sofia requested it.
Lorenzo attended only because she asked him to.
Grant sat across from her.
Eleanor sat farther away.
No one wore the confidence they had carried in the garden.
Sofia began.
“Why didn’t you let me go?”
Grant rubbed his wedding ring.
“You were leaving me.”
“Yes.”
“You never even told me.”
“I was afraid of you.”
His face tightened.
“I never hit you.”
“You grabbed me.”
“I lost my temper.”
“You blocked doors.”
“I was trying to talk.”
“You took my keys.”
“So you wouldn’t drive upset.”
“You canceled my doctor.”
Grant stopped.
Sofia continued.
“You knew the baby might be too small.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“You had your father.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“I had spent months trying not to involve him.”
Lorenzo looked down.
Grant finally seemed to understand what that meant.
Sofia had protected him from Lorenzo far longer than he deserved.
Eleanor interrupted.
“Grant thought he was losing his family.”
Sofia turned toward her.
“You were a nurse.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
“You knew I needed that scan.”
“I knew doctors overreact.”
“No.”
Sofia placed the concierge report on the table.
“You knew exactly what the doctor said.”
Eleanor looked away.
“What were you protecting?”
Eleanor’s answer came slowly.
“My son.”
“From me?”
“From your family.”
There it was.
For years Eleanor believed the Belluccis considered Grant inferior.
A useful associate.
A husband allowed near the table because Sofia loved him.
When Sofia planned to leave, Eleanor saw confirmation of her oldest fear.
Grant would lose his marriage.
His position.
His access.
His child would grow up Bellucci.
“She’s a girl,” Eleanor said bitterly. “You people would’ve raised her to believe the Hale name meant nothing.”
Sofia stared at her.
“So you humiliated a granddaughter you were supposedly protecting?”
Eleanor had no answer.
Grant whispered:
“I didn’t want to lose the baby.”
Sofia looked at him.
“You were willing to risk her health so I couldn’t leave with her.”
May you like
He covered his face.
For once, nobody rescued him from the meaning of his own choice.
