Chapter 5 - Vincent Romano Already Knew
Alessandro called Vincent.
He did not mention the letter.
“Did my father ever tell you I had a child?”
Silence.
Then Vincent said:
“Where is Isabella?”
“Safe.”
“What happened?”
“Answer me.”
Vincent exhaled.
“Yes.”
Alessandro’s grip tightened around the phone.
“How much did you know?”
“Your father said there was a pregnancy. Later he told me the mother
disappeared.”
“Did you know the child lived?”
“No.”
“Did Isabella?”
Another pause.
“No.”
Alessandro did not know whether to believe him.
Then Vincent asked a question that mattered.
“Is the child in your house?”
Alessandro ended the call.
He had his answer.
Vincent might not have known before.
He knew now.
Alessandro ordered additional security around Rosa and Lily.
Rosa objected.
“I don’t want men following her everywhere.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then don’t turn her childhood into a fortress.”
Alessandro looked at her.
She was right.
Again.
Power could protect Lily.
It could also destroy any chance she had at an ordinary life.
They agreed on discreet security.
No armed men hovering beside playground equipment.
No convoy to preschool.
No teaching Lily to fear every stranger.
Alessandro had spent his adult life managing threats.
May you like
Fatherhood, he discovered, required learning not to make the threat the
center of the child’s world.
