Chapter 1 - THE PARTY ENDED BEFORE THE MUSIC DID
The musicians were still playing when Raffaele ordered the engagement party over.
Nobody argued.
Guests began leaving the garden in uncomfortable silence while bodyguards opened the gates and staff quietly cleared glasses from tables that had been prepared for another three hours of celebration.
Victoria stood beside the terrace with the engagement ring clenched in her fist.
“You’re ending our marriage over a chair?”
Raffaele looked at Noah.
Margaret had taken the plates away completely. His son stood pressed against her skirt, trying not to cry anymore because too many adults were watching.
“It stopped being about a chair when you put your hands on him.”
“He needs discipline.”
“He’s three.”
“He’s spoiled.”
Raffaele’s face hardened.
Victoria lowered her voice.
“You indulge him because his mother died.”
That ended the conversation.
Raffaele pointed toward the house.
“Collect your things.”
Sophie was still sitting at the children’s table.
She had not touched the dessert Victoria placed in front of her.
Raffaele noticed something he had missed during the confrontation.
The girl did not look victorious.
She looked ashamed.
When Victoria told her to get up, Sophie quietly picked up the chair that had been taken from Noah and tried to drag it back toward its original place.
Victoria stopped her.
“Leave it.”
Sophie immediately let go.
That tiny reaction stayed with Raffaele.
Margaret noticed it too.
An hour later, after the last guest left, Victoria and Sophie were waiting in the main foyer for a car.
Victoria refused to look at Raffaele.
Sophie did.
“I’m sorry about Noah’s chair,” she whispered.
Victoria turned sharply.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Sophie lowered her eyes.
The car arrived.
As Victoria walked outside, Margaret approached Raffaele.
“This wasn’t the first time.”
He looked at her.
“What wasn’t?”
“Her deciding where Noah belongs.”
Margaret had worked at the estate for twenty-one years. She had known Raffaele before he married Noah’s mother. She had helped care for Noah since infancy.
She was not dramatic.
That made the sentence worse.
“What has she done?”
Margaret glanced toward the doorway where Victoria had disappeared.
“She’s been changing his routines for months.”
Raffaele’s expression darkened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times.”
He stared at her.
Margaret continued.
“Every time, Victoria told me you had already approved it.”
Raffaele felt the first real wave of fear beneath his anger.
May you like
Because Victoria had not humiliated Noah impulsively.
She had been practicing.
