Chapter 7
Vanessa reacted badly when she learned Daniel had come to the estate.
“He has been waiting for an excuse to take Mason.”
She stood at one end of Claire’s conference room while Raffaele sat at the other.
Both attorneys were present.
No private arguments.
No bodyguards.
“You kept them apart,” Raffaele said.
“I protected my son.”
“From his father?”
“From instability.”
Daniel had held the same job for eleven years and lived in the same house for six.
The argument failed before she finished it.
Vanessa shifted.
“You don’t understand Mason.”
“Then help me understand why he ruins his shoes.”
Her expression changed.
Only slightly.
Claire noticed.
Raffaele continued.
“Why did he hide food for Lily?”
Vanessa looked toward her attorney.
“Children share food.”
“Why did apologizing to Lily make you angry?”
“I never said that.”
“Mason did.”
Her face hardened.
“You are letting an eight-year-old manipulate you.”
There it was again.
Every person who challenged Vanessa became unreliable.
Nannies were incompetent.
Daniel was unstable.
Lily was spoiled.
Mason was manipulative.
Only Vanessa’s interpretation remained trustworthy.
After the meeting, Daniel filed for temporary primary custody.
Vanessa’s attorney immediately requested that Mason remain in the Moretti home until a hearing.
Claire opposed it.
Raffaele did something Vanessa did not expect.
He supported Daniel.
When Vanessa heard, she called Raffaele directly despite her attorney’s instructions.
“You’re giving my son away.”
“He has a father.”
“You’re choosing Daniel over me.”
“No.”
Raffaele looked through the window toward the garden where Mason and Lily were playing under supervision.
“I’m choosing the arrangement that gives Mason the fewest reasons to be afraid.”
“You don’t know what he’ll say once Daniel gets him alone.”
The sentence caught his attention.
“What are you afraid he’ll say?”
Silence.
Vanessa hung up.
Raffaele immediately called Claire.
“She’s afraid of Mason talking.”
“I think we already knew that.”
“No.”
He watched the boy outside.
“I thought she was afraid he’d make her look bad.”
“What’s the difference?”
May you like
Raffaele’s eyes remained on Mason.
“I’m starting to think she’s afraid he knows something we don’t.”
