Chapter 13 - VICTORIA’S LAST OFFER
Victoria asked to speak to Raffaele before the next custody hearing.
Thomas advised against it.
Raffaele agreed only through attorneys in a controlled conference room.
Victoria looked thinner.
Gone were the engagement ring and the polished confidence from the reception.
She sat across from him.
“I loved you.”
Raffaele said nothing.
“I did.”
“You wanted to marry me.”
“That usually requires love.”
“You wanted access to a household where nobody questioned you.”
Her face tightened.
“That is not fair.”
“Neither was making a five-year-old earn dinner.”
Victoria looked away.
For the first time, she spoke about her own childhood.
A rigid mother.
Punishments.
Food rules.
Humiliation described as discipline.
She said she believed children needed hard boundaries because weak children became helpless adults.
Raffaele listened.
Her history explained something.
It excused nothing.
“You knew what it felt like,” he said.
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And you gave it to Ava anyway.”
She had no answer.
Then came the offer.
“If I give up custody temporarily, will you tell Melissa to let me see Ava without supervisors?”
“No.”
“Raffaele—”
“No.”
“I am her mother.”
“And she is not your possession.”
Victoria’s expression hardened again.
There she was.
The woman from the reception.
She stood.
“You think you saved them.”
Raffaele looked at her.
“No.”
He thought about Hannah’s warning.
May you like
“Adults should have protected them before they needed saving.”
Victoria left without looking back.
