Chapter 13
The independent custody evaluator visited Lorenzo’s home.
He hated every minute.
The evaluator asked about firearms.
Security.
Business visitors.
Drivers.
Bodyguards.
Emergency procedures.
Whether the triplets would ever sleep at the estate.
Whether capos would attend family dinners.
Whether children might hear conversations about violence.
Lorenzo answered.
Not beautifully.
Honestly enough.
The report found what Sofia expected.
Julian had legitimate reasons to dislike some features of Lorenzo’s world.
That did not make his custody scheme legitimate.
The evaluator recommended that Sofia establish an independent primary residence for the children.
Not Lorenzo’s estate.
Not Julian’s apartment.
Hers.
Lorenzo read the recommendation.
“You agree with this?”
Sofia nodded.
“Yes.”
“You have an entire floor at my house.”
“I know.”
“Security.”
“I know.”
“Nurses.”
“I know.”
“Then why pay for another place?”
Sofia looked at him.
“Because I want them to know where my life ends and yours begins.”
That sentence hurt him.
He accepted it.
Sofia rented a townhouse in the West Village.
Three bedrooms became four after renovation.
A nursery for the triplets.
A room for rotating newborn-care staff.
A small room for Sofia.
No council meetings.
No capos.
Lorenzo’s security team provided discreet exterior coverage under rules Sofia approved.
Not men standing inside the kitchen.
Not conversations in hallways.
Lorenzo visited as grandfather.
Not as household authority.
The distinction took practice.
The first time he walked in and told a nurse where to move a bassinet, Sofia looked at him.
He stopped.
“Sorry.”
The nurse almost dropped the blanket she was holding.
Lorenzo Ravelli apologizing inside a nursery was apparently more startling than three crying infants.
Sofia’s postpartum evaluation found no psychiatric incapacity.
She was tired.
Sometimes anxious.
At one point she developed symptoms consistent with mild postpartum depression.
She received treatment.
That fact became important too.
Because accepting help did not prove Julian right.
Having a postpartum mental-health condition would not have made her an unfit mother by itself.
The entire Mercer strategy depended on treating ordinary maternal vulnerability as disqualification.
Sofia refused that shame.
She saw a therapist.
Used nurses.
Asked Lorenzo for help when she wanted it.
Said no when she did not.
Henry gained weight.
Ava caught up.
Miles slept worst.
May you like
The baby chosen because he seemed easiest on paper turned out to be the loudest at two in the morning.
Sofia found that deeply satisfying.
