Chapter 8 - THE THING HE COULD NOT TAKE BACK
Vittorio made three calls.
The first was to the company’s board.
The second was to Lake Forest police through Rachel Stein.
The third was to Illinois child welfare authorities.
Rachel watched him make the last one.
“You understand they may examine you too.”
“They should.”
She studied him for a moment.
“That may be the smartest thing you’ve said this week.”
Vittorio reported the breakfast incident.
All of it.
Bianca forcing Lucy toward the bowl.
Marcus participating.
Emma recording it.
Vittorio punching Marcus.
Vittorio slapping Bianca.
He did not describe his violence as protection.
He described what he had done.
Once the report existed, he could no longer decide later that family reputation mattered more.
By evening, Marcus knew.
He called from a number Vittorio did not recognize.
“You really went to the police?”
“Yes.”
Marcus laughed once.
“You think that makes you clean?”
“No.”
That stopped him.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“You have no idea what you just opened.”
“Then explain it.”
“You want the audit? Fine. You want child-services people walking through your house? Fine. But when Bianca tells them what kind of father punches a man ten feet from his daughter, don’t act surprised.”
Vittorio looked through the glass doors toward the backyard.
Lucy sat beneath a maple tree with Theresa, collecting leaves.
Marcus continued.
“Drop the audit. Restore my access. Bianca and I forget breakfast happened.”
There it was.
Not anger.
Negotiation.
Vittorio’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Was that the plan?”
Marcus disconnected.
Twenty minutes later Rachel received letters from two attorneys.
Marcus intended to pursue battery charges.
Bianca claimed she had been assaulted without justification and expressed “serious concerns regarding Lucy Romano’s exposure to violent behavior.”
Rachel read the sentence twice.
“They’re setting up a fitness argument.”
“For what?”
“Not custody. Bianca has no parental rights. Leverage. Reputation. Possibly guardianship concerns if they can pull in Lucy’s maternal relatives or trigger deeper review.”
Vittorio nodded slowly.
Bianca had spent months calling Lucy unstable.
Marcus had arranged his business position so removing him endangered the company.
Now both were using Vittorio’s temper as their strongest evidence.
He looked at Rachel.
“They were waiting for me to hit them.”
Rachel did not answer immediately.
May you like
“We don’t know that.”
Not yet.
