Chapter 11
Stefano and Rafael were taken to separate Moretti properties.
Not police.
Not court.
Family isolation.
No council access.
No men under them.
No phones.
No visitors except those Dante approved.
For men who had lived through influence, irrelevance was its own punishment.
Gabriel hated it.
“They should be dead.”
“Maybe.”
“You keep saying maybe.”
“Because certainty ruined us.”
Gabriel looked toward the Moretti estate windows.
They had returned before sunrise.
Ethan slept upstairs.
Vanessa sat alone in the morning room.
Lily was with Dante’s mother-in-law in another wing.
Safe.
Gabriel asked:
“Can I see him?”
Dante knew who.
“Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Does he want to see you?”
Gabriel stared.
“He’s seven.”
“Still a person.”
“You’re going to make him choose?”
“No.”
Dante’s voice hardened.
“I am going to ask what he wants today.”
“Tomorrow can change.”
Gabriel almost laughed.
“You sound like Sofia.”
“Good.”
Ethan was awake.
When Gabriel entered, the boy stopped.
“Dad.”
Gabriel crouched.
“Hey.”
Ethan did not run.
Gabriel saw.
Pain.
“What?”
Ethan looked toward Dante.
Then Vanessa.
His whole world in one room.
“Did you make Mom hurt Lily?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Gabriel’s face tightened.
“I told her Lily needed to be moved away from Moretti power.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Seven years old.
No patience for ideology.
Gabriel looked down.
“I told her to make Lily feel like she didn’t belong.”
Ethan stared.
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt him.
Good.
Ethan continued:
“You told me she was my servant.”
Gabriel looked toward Vanessa.
She whispered:
“I did that.”
“For him?”
“For me.”
Dante watched.
Vanessa was finally taking ownership.
Ethan’s lip trembled.
“I was mean to her.”
“No,” Dante said.
Everyone turned.
“You repeated what adults taught you.”
Ethan looked at him.
“That doesn’t mean you keep doing it.”
The boy nodded.
Gabriel asked:
“Do you want to come with me?”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
Vanessa looked sharply at him.
Ethan froze.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Gabriel’s face broke.
Ethan continued:
“I want Mom.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“And Lily.”
“Dante.”
“House.”
Gabriel stared.
“What about me?”
Ethan looked miserable.
“I don’t know.”
Dante almost intervened.
Stopped.
This belonged to them.
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“That’s okay.”
First decent thing Dante had heard him say.
Ethan began crying.
Gabriel reached.
Paused.
“Can I hug you?”
Ethan nodded.
Gabriel held his son.
No promises.
No claims.
Afterward, Lily entered holding her rabbit.
She stopped when she saw Gabriel.
“Wolf.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Dante stood immediately.
Lily hid behind his leg.
Gabriel’s face changed.
He understood.
This child knew him only as a shadow visitor.
Not family.
Not protector.
Fear.
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said.
Lily looked up at Dante.
“What?”
“He said sorry.”
“Why?”
Gabriel crouched at a distance.
“Because I scared your mommy Vanessa.”
Lily frowned.
“And made her make you clean.”
Vanessa looked down.
Gabriel continued:
“That was wrong.”
Lily considered.
Then:
“Okay.”
Not forgiveness.
Just information.
She returned to Dante’s side.
Gabriel almost smiled.
May you like
Children did not give adults the grand emotional endings they wanted.
Maybe that was healthy.
