Chapter 13
Raffaele brought all four children into family counseling.
Not because they were broken.
Because adults had made them carry adult secrets.
Rebecca asked why her mother was no longer sleeping at the estate.
Samuel asked whether helmets were bad.
Jacob stopped wanting to attend motorcycle events.
Adrian said almost nothing for the first two sessions.
Then, during the third, he finally spoke.
“I thought if I proved what happened, Dad wouldn't be dead for nothing.”
Raffaele sat beside him.
His hand remained open on his knee.
He did not reach for the boy without permission.
Adrian stared at the floor.
“What if I hadn't found the label?”
Raffaele answered carefully.
“You were never responsible for finding it.”
“But nobody else did.”
“I know.”
That admission hurt.
Adrian looked at him.
“Would Vanessa still be here?”
Raffaele’s breathing slowed.
“Yes.”
The boy looked away.
Truth again.
No comfort.
Raffaele preferred it now.
Vanessa cooperated with the investigation.
She admitted knowing about the uncertified equipment before Luca’s final rally.
Grant continued fighting the characterization that he knowingly endangered riders, arguing that he believed the equipment was still functionally safe.
The evidence would have to decide what consequences followed.
Raffaele did not choose for it.
Then an old audio archive surfaced.
A voicemail.
Luca.
Recorded the night before the fatal rally.
Raffaele listened alone.
His brother sounded annoyed, not afraid.
Luca mentioned that Grant’s new helmets felt “cheap” and said he planned to ask Raffaele about them after the ride.
The voicemail had been left on the household office line.
Raffaele checked the message log.
It had been marked heard.
Then deleted.
User access:
Vanessa Moretti.
Raffaele sat absolutely still.
May you like
She had not merely failed to warn Luca.
She had intercepted Luca trying to warn him.
