Chapter 4
The estate records showed that Marina had tried to leave the property twice before the service-room collapse.
The first attempt came four days after Nico’s birth.
Security footage showed Marina standing at the east gate holding the baby while a housekeeper carried a small diaper bag.
She remained there six minutes.
Then returned inside.
Damiano watched without understanding.
“Why didn’t the gate open?”
Matteo pulled up the security log.
A note had been attached to Marina’s profile:
Postpartum travel restricted without family clearance. D.R. order.
Damiano stared at the initials.
“I never issued that.”
“I know that now.”
“Who entered it?”
“House administration.”
“Whose account?”
“Helena’s assistant.”
Damiano looked back at the footage.
Marina had been trying to leave.
Not flee the country.
Not disappear.
She had tried to attend a pharmacy appointment because Nico needed a pediatric vitamin refill and Marina wanted ten minutes outside the estate.
The gate guard called the house.
Someone told him Damiano did not want Marina traveling without approval.
Marina went back upstairs.
The second attempt happened two days later.
This time Marina requested a car for her postpartum appointment.
The request disappeared from the transportation schedule.
In its place:
Physician rescheduled. Patient resting at home.
Again, Damiano had never seen it.
Caroline warned him.
“This is becoming more than rude treatment by an overbearing mother-in-law.”
Damiano already knew.
Marina had not simply been overworked.
Her movement had been controlled.
Using his authority.
He asked Matteo:
“Did any guard ever speak to me directly?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Matteo looked ashamed.
“Because nobody thought Mrs. Ricci needed permission to communicate your household orders.”
Damiano stared at him.
Then answered something Matteo clearly did not expect.
“That’s my failure.”
“No, sir—”
“Yes.”
Damiano closed the file.
“I built a house where questioning the person above you looked like disloyalty.”
May you like
He looked toward Marina’s gate footage.
“My mother used it exactly the way I taught everyone to.”
