Chapter 6 - SOPHIE’S QUESTION
Daniel called late on a Sunday.
Sophie had woken from a nightmare.
He did not know whether it mattered, but he had promised Raffaele he would stop deciding alone what information was important.
“She asked if Victoria can make me send her somewhere else.”
Raffaele stood from his desk.
“Why would she think that?”
“She keeps saying her mother decides where she belongs.”
Third clue.
Daniel had asked Sophie whether Victoria ever threatened to send her away.
Sophie would not answer.
But she asked a question instead.
“If Mom gets married, do I still have to be useful?”
Daniel did not understand what that meant.
Neither did Raffaele.
Not yet.
The next morning Margaret remembered something.
Two months earlier, Sophie had been helping her arrange flowers.
Out of nowhere, the girl asked:
“Can moms give kids back?”
Margaret thought she meant adoption.
She reassured her and moved on.
Now it sounded different.
Raffaele asked Daniel to let Dr. Carter recommend a separate specialist for Sophie.
Daniel agreed.
Victoria did not.
She accused both men of turning her daughter against her.
Her attorney sent another letter demanding that Sophie not be questioned about the engagement without Victoria’s consent.
Daniel’s attorney responded that as Sophie’s father with joint legal custody, he had the right to obtain appropriate mental-health care.
The disagreement moved into family court.
For Raffaele, that created a new danger.
Victoria’s lawyers could argue that Sophie’s distress came from exposure to the Marconi household.
They could ask questions about security.
Violence.
The adults surrounding Noah.
Raffaele’s own history.
His advisers recommended distance.
“Let Daniel handle his custody problem,” one told him. “Keep your name out of it.”
Raffaele understood the logic.
He also understood what following it would mean.
Another family would close ranks.
Another child would be left inside the silence.
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He had spent his whole life believing privacy protected people.
He was beginning to understand that privacy also protected whoever controlled the room.
