Chapter 6
The protective-order hearing forced everyone into daylight.
Victor’s attorney showed photographs of his bruised face.
Marcella’s attorney submitted the mark left by Lorenzo’s slap.
Lorenzo’s reputation occupied half the argument before anyone discussed Bianca.
Michael did not deny the violence.
He argued context.
The judge watched the security footage.
Victor shoved Bianca.
Lorenzo arrived.
Victor lied.
The tape proved the lie.
Victor lunged toward the monitor.
Lorenzo struck him.
Marcella grabbed Lorenzo.
Lorenzo slapped her.
The judge was not impressed by any adult in the video.
She extended a narrow mutual no-contact arrangement among Lorenzo, Victor, and Marcella while the assault cases were reviewed.
Then she said something Lorenzo remembered.
“Being provoked does not make retaliation lawful by default.”
He accepted the reprimand.
Victor seemed disappointed.
Not because he lost.
Because the order did not go further.
Michael noticed.
“So did I,” Lorenzo said afterward.
A separate discovery request in Bianca’s marital case produced something stranger.
Victor had been keeping private notes about Bianca for nearly four months.
Not a diary.
An incident log.
Dates.
Times.
Descriptions.
Bianca forgot dinner with Marcella.
Bianca left prenatal vitamins downstairs.
Bianca became emotional after discussing nursery.
Bianca stumbled entering vehicle.
Bianca refused help on stairs.
Bianca raised voice when advised to rest.
Bianca read the list with disbelief.
“That dinner with Marcella was canceled.”
Rachel checked the calendar.
Bianca was right.
Marcella had canceled.
The prenatal vitamins had been left downstairs because Victor moved them.
Bianca remembered asking him where they were.
The “emotional” nursery argument began because Marcella suggested the baby sleep at her house several nights a week.
The vehicle stumble was Bianca catching her heel on a curb.
A normal moment converted into a record.
Rachel looked at the creation dates.
The earliest entry predated Bianca’s first known argument with Marcella about the baby.
“Why was he documenting you four months ago?”
Bianca did not know.
Then Rachel found the title of the file.
POSTPARTUM CONCERNS — B.V.
Not pregnancy concerns.
Postpartum.
May you like
The baby had not even been born.
Yet Victor was already writing the story of what Bianca would supposedly be like afterward.
