Chapter 6 - The Dark Truth of the Estate"You're... coming to my custody hearing?" Serena stammered, staring at Vittorio in absolute shock.
"Your ex-husband’s lawyer made a mistake," Vittorio said smoothly, placing the legal document back on the desk. "He dragged my name into a legal proceeding to bully a mother. I don't tolerate bullies. And more importantly, I don't allow anyone to hurt the woman who brought my sons back to life."
Before Serena could respond, the library door clicked open. Franco walked into the room, his face dark, holding a small black digital device—a high-powered camera SD card.
"Boss," Franco said, nodding respectfully to Serena before turning to Vittorio. "We grabbed the guys in the silver sedan. They weren't private investigators hired by her ex-husband."
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed. "Who are they?"
"Moretti’s men," Franco revealed in a harsh whisper.
The air in the room suddenly felt electric. Serena saw Vittorio’s hands slowly clench into fists.
"Moretti?" Vittorio repeated softly. "They've been watching my children?"
"They've been photographing the drop-offs at St. Jude's for two weeks, Boss," Franco said, holding up the SD card. "They were waiting for an opening. A day when security was light."
Serena gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as the horrifying reality clicked into place. The silver sedan wasn't just taking photos for a divorce lawyer. It belonged to a rival syndicate. A rival that was planning to kidnap Vittorio’s sons.
Vittorio turned to Serena, his eyes filled with a terrifying, ancient rage. "Now you know the truth, Serena. The reason my boys are wild, the reason they break nannies, the reason this house is a fortress... is because their mother wasn't killed in a car accident three years ago."
Serena held her breath. "What happened to her?"
"Moretti’s men ambushed her car while she was taking the boys to the park," Vittorio said, his voice flat, emotionless, and filled with unimaginable pain. "She died protecting them. My sons saw it happen. They were three years old."
The room fell into an agonizing silence.
Serena’s eyes filled with tears—not for herself, but for Marco, Nico, Alessandro, and Tommaso. The butter on the floor, the cereal armor, the refusal to let adults close—it wasn't bad behavior. It was terror. They were terrifying adults because they believed that if they let down their guard, the bad men would come back and take them too.
And Tommaso standing at the top of the stairs at 2:00 a.m. wasn't watching for imaginary monsters. He was waiting for the men who had taken his mother.
"Oh, God," Serena whispered, her heart breaking for the four boys.
"I kept them isolated," Vittorio confessed, looking away toward the grand fireplace. "I hired security, I built walls, I pushed them away because every time I looked at their faces, I saw her. I thought keeping them scared of the world was the only way to keep them alive."
He looked back at Serena, his dark eyes softening. "Until you walked in through that rainstorm. You didn't give them walls, Serena. You gave them a home."
Franco stepped forward. "Boss, what do we do about Moretti’s crew in the basement?"
"Handle it," Vittorio ordered coldly. "Make sure Moretti understands that if he so much as looks toward St. Jude’s Academy again, I will erase his entire family from New York."
Franco nodded once and exited the library.
Vittorio walked over to Serena, stopping just inches away from her. "On Monday, we deal with your ex-husband. But this weekend, my sons are safe because of you. What do you need, Serena?"
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Serena looked up into the eyes of the man everyone feared—a man who had carried a mountain of grief and blood alone for three years.
"I need you to sit down with your sons tonight, Vittorio," Serena said softly, using his first name for the very first time. "Not as the Boss. As their dad."
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