Chapter 14 - The Order No Father Could Fight
Salvatore did not take me.
That was almost worse.
He wanted Nico to know he could have.
The man at the van door fired twice into the roof, shattered the radio equipment, and vanished into the dark before Marco's men reached us.
Salvatore disappeared with him.
By the time the lights came back, the terminal was empty except for us, three abandoned vehicles, and David bleeding beside the river.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
He was alive.
I hated how relieved I felt.
"Do not make me regret caring," I told him while Clara pressed gauze to the wound.
David managed a weak laugh.
"You always did have terrible taste."
"You are proof."
Bianca looked at me for the first time at close range.
She was beautiful, but not in the polished way photographs had made her look.
There were lines around her eyes now.
A thin scar crossed her left wrist.
Four years had survived on her body even if photographs had not shown them.
"Emma."
"Bianca."
Neither of us knew what to say.
Then she looked at the bandage visible above my collar.
Her face changed.
"Leo?"
"Safe."
"You protected him."
"Yes."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Thank you."
The gratitude hurt more than hostility would have.
"He is a good kid."
"He was a baby when I left."
Her voice broke.
"Does he remember me?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes.
Nico approached.
Everything complicated returned to the air.
Bianca looked at him.
"Where is Leo?"
"The estate."
"With who?"
"An outside team."
"Not Vittorio?"
"No."
"Not Salvatore?"
"No."
"Mateo?"
Nico's jaw tightened.
"Missing."
Bianca went pale.
"What happened?"
"Later."
"Nico -"
His phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Grace.
He answered.
His face changed before she finished the first sentence.
"Say that again."
Silence.
Then his eyes found mine.
Something was terribly wrong.
"We are coming back."
He ended the call.
"What?" Bianca demanded.
Nico spoke as if each word were something he had to force through his teeth.
"Child Protection is at the estate."
I stared.
"What?"
"With police."
Bianca stepped forward.
"Why?"
"Emergency removal order."
Nico's hand tightened around the phone.
"They say Leo is in immediate danger because of repeated armed incidents connected to me."
No one spoke.
It was cruel because it was not entirely false.
Leo had been shot at twice in two days.
His safehouse had been breached.
His mother had been secretly imprisoned.
His uncle had been chained in a basement.
Any ordinary child protection worker would see danger everywhere.
The problem was where they intended to place him.
"Who is the temporary custodian?" I asked.
Nico looked at me.
I knew before he answered.
"Vittorio."
Bianca made a sound of disbelief.
"No."
"Grace is challenging it."
"No."
Bianca grabbed Nico's sleeve.
"You cannot let him take Leo."
Nico's eyes turned deadly.
"I will not."
Grace called again while we drove.
This time Nico put her on speaker.
"Do not do anything stupid," she said immediately.
"Define stupid."
"Threatening police, touching a caseworker, blocking a lawful order, hiding the child, or saying anything that can be played in court tomorrow."
"The order gives my son to the man trying to kill him."
"I know."
"Then the order is not lawful."
"It is signed by a judge."
"Which judge?"
Grace hesitated.
"Marlowe."
Marco swore.
Bianca looked at him.
"Who?"
"Daniel Marlowe."
Marco's face was grim.
"His campaign appears in Eleanor's ledger."
Grace's voice sharpened through the phone.
"Do you have proof?"
"Yes."
"Send it now."
"Will it stop the removal?"
"Not in the next twenty minutes."
Nico looked ready to tear the vehicle apart with his hands.
"Then what will?"
Grace went quiet.
"A higher court."
"How long?"
"Hours."
"We do not have hours."
"If you resist, you may lose Leo for months instead of hours."
The truth of it was vicious.
Vittorio had found a way to make Nico's strength useless.
A gun could not fix a court order.
Power could not punch paperwork without proving the paperwork right.
We reached the estate to find twelve police vehicles outside the gates.
Reporters were already gathering.
Of course they were.
Someone had called them.
Vittorio wanted witnesses.
He wanted Nico humiliated publicly.
He wanted the city to watch a crime lord forced to hand over his son.
Inside the foyer, Leo stood behind Grace.
Two child protection workers waited near the stairs.
Detective Pike stood with uniformed officers.
And Vittorio waited by the front door wearing the same navy coat and silver star cufflinks.
I felt hatred settle into something cold.
Leo saw Nico.
"Papa."
He ran.
Nico caught him and lifted him into his arms.
For a moment, nobody dared interrupt.
Then Pike spoke.
"Mr. Valenti, you have been served."
Nico turned slowly.
"You."
Pike smiled.
"Me."
Grace stepped between them.
"Detective Pike is here as law enforcement support only."
"He should be in handcuffs."
"Not yet."
Pike's smile widened.
Bianca entered behind us.
Vittorio's face changed.
Real shock.
For perhaps the second time since I met him, his mask failed.
"Bianca."
She looked at him.
"You look disappointed."
Every reporter outside would have paid a fortune for that moment.
Vittorio recovered.
"My dear girl."
He opened his arms.
Bianca stepped backward.
"Do not touch me."
The child protection supervisor looked confused.
"Mrs. Valenti?"
"Bianca Valenti."
"We were informed you were deceased."
"That was convenient for some people."
Grace immediately moved toward the supervisor.
"This materially changes the custody facts."
The woman looked uncomfortable.
"The order names Mr. Vittorio Valenti as temporary kinship placement."
"The child's mother is standing here."
"I understand."
"Then amend it."
"I do not have authority."
"Call someone who does."
The supervisor stepped aside to make calls.
Hope flashed.
Pike crushed it.
"Mrs. Valenti is a missing person with no verified identity status and possible involvement in an active criminal investigation."
Bianca rounded on him.
"You took money from Vittorio the week I disappeared."
The foyer went silent.
Pike's smile vanished.
"Careful."
"Seventy-five thousand dollars."
Grace looked at Nico.
"Do not say another word."
Pike's face turned red.
"This woman needs to be detained for questioning."
Grace stepped in front of Bianca.
"Try it without a warrant."
For five glorious seconds, Pike looked uncertain.
Then Vittorio cleared his throat.
"This spectacle is hurting the child."
I wanted to throw him through the front doors.
Leo hid his face against Nico's neck.
Vittorio softened his voice.
"Leo knows me."
"Leo knows snakes too," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
Vittorio's eyes chilled.
"The waitress."
"Still listening."
He smiled.
"You have caused enough difficulty for one week."
"I get overtime."
Pike snorted.
Vittorio ignored him.
"This is a family matter."
"Interesting."
I looked at Bianca and Marco.
"Half your family was legally dead yesterday."
Marco smiled.
Vittorio did not.
The child protection supervisor returned.
Her face told us everything before she spoke.
"The order remains in effect until the emergency hearing tomorrow morning."
Nico's arms tightened around Leo.
"No."
Grace touched his shoulder.
"Nico."
"No."
Police shifted.
Leo began to cry.
"Papa, I don't want to go."
Nico closed his eyes.
I watched a man who had frightened rooms full of adults become powerless because his six-year-old son was begging him to break the law.
"I know."
"Tell them no."
"Leo."
"Tell them."
Nico pressed his forehead to Leo's.
"If I fight them now, they will say I am dangerous to you."
"You are not."
"I know."
"Then fight."
Nico's face cracked.
I turned away because the grief was too private.
Bianca was crying openly.
Marco stared at the floor.
Vittorio waited.
That was the part I hated most.
He was patient because the law was doing his violence for him.
Nico finally lowered Leo to the floor.
"You go for tonight."
Leo shook his head violently.
"No."
"Listen to me."
Nico held his face gently.
"Tomorrow I will be there."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"Real promise?"
"Real promise."
Leo looked toward me.
"Emma?"
My throat closed.
I crouched.
He hugged me carefully.
His mouth came close to my ear.
"The yellow dinosaur was from Uncle Vittorio."
I froze.
The tracker.
The dinosaur found under Leo's bed.
Vittorio had given it to him.
Leo pulled back.
"He told me Mama is coming to his party tomorrow."
I stared at him.
"What party?"
Vittorio appeared behind the caseworker.
"Time to go, Leo."
The boy's face closed.
"At Lumina," he whispered quickly.
Then he walked away.
Vittorio took his hand.
Before leaving, he looked at me.
"Some tables close before the staff is ready to leave."
I smiled despite wanting to hit him.
"Then somebody should check the fire exits."
His eyes narrowed.
The doors closed behind them.
Nico turned toward me.
"What did Leo say?"
I looked at Bianca.
Then Marco.
Then Clara.
"Vittorio gave him the yellow dinosaur with the tracker."
Nico's face turned to stone.
"And?"
"There is a party at Lumina tomorrow."
Bianca went pale.
"No."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"Vittorio holds his foundation gala there every year."
She stared at Nico.
"That is where he introduced me to your family."
Marco's expression darkened.
"And where he plans to introduce Leo as his heir if Nico is removed."
Nico looked toward the empty doorway.
For the first time, I saw fear become strategy in his eyes.
May you like
"Then tomorrow," he said, "we go back to where this started."
