Chapter 6
Daniel Reed drove down from Milwaukee the next morning.
He was not part of Raffaele’s world.
He sold commercial insurance, coached youth baseball on weekends, and looked uncomfortable when armed security opened the estate gates.
The two men had met only at school events and custody exchanges.
Vanessa had maintained the distance deliberately.
Daniel sat across from Raffaele in the library.
“Vanessa told me you didn’t want me around the house.”
Raffaele stared at him.
“She told me you refused invitations.”
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“That sounds about right.”
Their dislike had been manufactured through separate stories.
Daniel showed Raffaele months of text messages.
He had repeatedly asked for additional time with Mason.
Vanessa often refused.
Her reasons changed.
Mason had schoolwork.
Mason was tired.
Mason wanted to stay home.
Mason was bonding with his new family.
One message stood out.
Daniel had written:
Mason told me he wants to stay an extra week this summer.
Vanessa replied:
He doesn’t know what he wants. Stop rewarding disloyalty.
Raffaele read the last word twice.
Disloyalty.
That word belonged in his world.
Not an eight-year-old’s custody schedule.
“Did Mason ever tell you anything about Lily?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He mentioned her constantly at first. Then almost stopped.”
“When?”
“Maybe seven months ago.”
Approximately when the first nanny was fired.
Daniel continued.
“He started asking weird questions.”
“What kind?”
“If a kid does something bad because an adult tells him to, is the kid still bad?”
Raffaele felt his stomach turn.
“When did he ask that?”
“January.”
Months before the brunch.
“Why didn’t you push?”
“I did. He shut down.”
Daniel looked angry now.
“At the time, Vanessa told me he was adjusting to living around your people.”
Raffaele did not defend his lifestyle.
It made an easy explanation.
That was part of the problem.
Vanessa could hide almost anything behind the assumption that the Mafia household itself caused Mason’s anxiety.
Daniel asked to see his son.
Claire arranged it immediately.
Mason cried when his father entered the room.
Not frightened crying.
Relief.
Daniel held him while Raffaele stayed near the door.
Then Mason looked over his father’s shoulder.
“Is Mom coming?”
“No,” Raffaele said.
The boy relaxed.
Daniel noticed.
So did Raffaele.
That afternoon, Claire explained the legal reality.
“Daniel can request temporary custody while this is investigated.”
Raffaele looked toward the windows.
“Will he?”
“He should.”
Mason was not Raffaele’s biological child.
Raffaele loved him.
May you like
That did not give him the right to keep him where he felt safest.
For the first time, protecting the boy might mean letting him leave.
