Chapter 5
Margot Bellucci, Lorenzo’s younger sister, arrived the next afternoon with soup and the tact nobody else in the family possessed.
She did not ask Sofia about Grant.
She talked about nursery paint.
Hospital parking.
Whether newborn diapers were worth buying in bulk.
Sofia relaxed.
Lorenzo noticed.
He also noticed that his presence made her more careful.
That hurt.
Margot found him in the kitchen later.
“She’s scared of what you’ll do.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“You punched her husband.”
“He swung first.”
“I know.”
“You think I should’ve let him?”
“No.”
Margot poured coffee.
“I think Sofia knows exactly what happens in this family when somebody hurts someone we love.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
“She didn’t tell you because she didn’t want her marriage turning into a war.”
“He buried her.”
“Yes.”
Margot’s voice sharpened.
“And she still gets to decide what happens to her life.”
That evening Sofia came downstairs with an envelope.
Inside were photocopies of medical notes.
Three weeks earlier, at an appointment Grant had not attended, a nurse noticed bruising around Sofia’s upper arm.
Sofia said she had bumped into a cabinet.
The nurse did not believe her.
Dr. Pierce asked Grant to remain outside during the next visit.
That time Sofia admitted he had grabbed her during arguments.
Not punched.
Not kicked.
Grabbed.
Blocked doors.
Taken keys.
Shouted close enough that she could smell coffee on his breath.
Sofia had minimized it even then.
The clinic documented coercive control and offered resources.
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“I wasn’t ready.”
Lorenzo read the note again.
“What changed?”
Sofia touched her stomach.
“Dr. Pierce said stress wasn’t helping my blood pressure. She asked if I had somewhere safe to go.”
“You had me.”
Sofia looked directly at him.
“I had you if I was willing to start a blood feud.”
The sentence stayed between them.
Then Sofia showed him a second document.
A hospital social worker had been scheduled to meet her immediately after the final ultrasound.
Lorenzo finally understood why the location mattered.
The scan was medical.
But the appointment had also been Sofia’s first planned step out of the marriage.
Only three people were supposed to know.
Sofia.
Dr. Pierce.
May you like
And the hospital social worker.
Grant had somehow found out.
