Chapter 6
Lorenzo wanted Julian removed from Sofia’s life permanently that night.
Sofia told him no.
Not because she wanted Julian back.
Because she wanted to understand what he had done before deciding what came next.
“You already understand enough.”
“No, Dad.”
“He moved your call button.”
“I know.”
“He let his father take your baby.”
“I know.”
“He swung at me.”
“You hit him.”
“He swung first.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Lorenzo stopped.
Sofia sat in a private conference room at the hospital wearing a robe over her gown.
She looked exhausted.
Still pale.
Still recovering.
Still his daughter.
Also twenty-eight.
Also a mother of three.
Also entitled to make decisions he hated waiting for.
“What do you want?”
he asked.
“I want facts.”
“You have facts.”
“I want all of them.”
Rebecca sat beside her.
Lorenzo exhaled.
“Fine.”
That word meant something different coming from him.
Julian’s marital history became the next path.
For almost two years, he had argued that Sofia spent too much time at the Ravelli estate.
Too many family dinners.
Too many capos around.
Too many security men.
Too many conversations that stopped when children entered.
He wanted to move permanently to Westchester.
Sofia was willing.
But Julian also wanted Lorenzo’s contact limited.
That she refused.
Lorenzo had never threatened Julian.
Not directly.
But he had always made Julian feel peripheral.
The Ravellis owned the larger social world.
More money.
More influence.
More men listening when Lorenzo spoke.
Julian hated it.
When Sofia became pregnant with triplets, he became more vocal.
“I don’t want my children learning that your father’s life is normal.”
Sofia had answered:
“Then we build our own normal.”
Julian heard:
Lorenzo stays.
The marriage worsened.
Still, no divorce discussion.
At least not openly.
Rebecca discovered Julian had begun seeing a family-law attorney privately during the second trimester.
His counsel later confirmed the limited fact after Julian waived enough privilege to defend himself publicly:
Julian had sought advice about custody if the marriage ended.
The attorney advised him that Lorenzo’s reputation alone would not automatically make Sofia an unfit parent.
Courts would care about actual child safety.
Stable caregiving.
Parental conduct.
Each home.
Julian asked whether having reliable paternal-family support mattered.
Of course it could.
He asked whether one parent’s refusal to accept reasonable help after a multiple birth could matter.
Potentially.
But context would matter.
None of that advice was improper.
The attorney had never told Julian to manipulate Sofia.
Never told him to remove a baby.
Never told him to manufacture evidence.
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The advice simply gave Julian a map of what a real custody dispute would examine.
And somewhere after that consultation, he began building the circumstances he thought would make him look stronger.
