Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT SERENA REFUSED TO LOSE ANOTHER PERSON
“Victor!”
Serena dropped beside him.
The warehouse burned around them.
Victor pressed a hand beneath his ribs.
Blood slipped through his fingers.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Serena.”
“Stop telling me what to do!”
Another shot struck concrete nearby.
Enzo returned fire toward the walkway.
Gabriel vanished into smoke.
Serena hooked Victor’s arm around her shoulders.
He was far heavier than he looked.
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.”
He tried.
Nearly collapsed.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’ve had better nights.”
Together they staggered toward the exit.
Behind them Enzo freed Anthony.
Security teams moved through smoke.
Outside, Serena helped Victor into an SUV.
A medic tore open his shirt.
The bullet had passed through his side.
No exit wound.
“We need the hospital.”
Victor grabbed the medic’s vest.
“Children.”
“Secure,” Enzo said. “Estate locked.”
Only then did Victor release him.
Serena sat beside Victor during the drive.
His hand found hers.
Neither commented.
At the private hospital Victor disappeared into surgery.
Serena sat in a corridor covered in his blood.
Anthony sat twenty feet away with his injured shoulder bandaged.
For almost an hour she ignored him.
Eventually he said, “Serena.”
“No.”
“I need to explain.”
“No, you need to testify.”
He looked down.
“I will.”
She turned.
“At the hearing?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll tell the judge you took Gabriel’s money?”
“Yes.”
“That you filed for custody because he paid you?”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I almost died.”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“At least something got through.”
Anthony wiped his face.
“I was angry.”
“At me?”
“You left.”
“You cheated.”
“I know.”
“You froze our accounts.”
“I know.”
“You let Lucia sleep on an air mattress for three months because punishing me mattered more than her comfort.”
His face crumpled.
“I know.”
Serena looked away.
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“Good.”
He swallowed.
“But I’ll fix the custody case.”
“You’ll tell the truth.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not fixing anything. It’s the minimum.”
Anthony nodded.
For once, he had no argument.
At 4:16 a.m., the surgeon appeared.
Serena stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
“The bullet missed Mr. Rinaldi’s liver by less than an inch.”
Her knees weakened.
“He’s stable?”
“He lost significant blood, but yes.”
“When can I see him?”
The surgeon looked at her bloodstained clothes.
“Family only.”
Serena opened her mouth.
Enzo appeared behind her.
“She’s family.”
Serena turned.
Enzo did not blink.
The surgeon nodded.
“Five minutes.”
Victor looked almost peaceful unconscious.
Machines surrounded him.
Serena sat.
She had known him less than forty-eight hours.
That realization felt ridiculous.
Less than two days.
Yet somewhere between flying apples, death threats, Lucia making pancakes, and Victor stepping in front of a bullet meant for no one in particular because that was simply what he did, something had changed.
She took his hand.
“You are unbelievably inconvenient.”
His fingers moved faintly.
Serena froze.
Victor’s eyes opened.
“Did you insult me while I was unconscious?”
She laughed through tears she had not realized were falling.
“You heard that?”
“Hard to sleep around you.”
“Good.”
His eyes searched her face.
“Lucia?”
“Safe.”
“Boys?”
“Safe.”
“Anthony?”
“Unfortunately alive.”
Victor’s mouth curved weakly.
“There she is.”
Serena looked at him.
“Who?”
“The woman who walked into my kitchen and refused to be intimidated.”
“That woman may have been concussed.”
He squeezed her fingers weakly.
Something passed between them.
Quiet.
Dangerous in a different way.
Serena stood before it could become a mistake.
“You should sleep.”
“Stay.”
One word.
She stopped.
Victor’s eyes were closing already.
“Please.”
The mafia boss who commanded hundreds of men had said please.
Serena sat again.
“I’ll stay.”
He slept.
Three days later Victor returned home against medical advice.
Serena scolded him.
He ignored her.
The boys attacked him carefully.
Tommy hugged his uninjured side.
Marco pretended he had not cried.
Nico demanded to see the bullet.
Alessandro asked whether shooting hurt more than vaccines.
Lucia made Victor a card reading:
GLAD YOU DIDN’T DIE.
Victor framed it.
Life almost became normal.
Then Serena’s custody hearing arrived.
She entered family court wearing the black blazer she had worn to the Rinaldi estate.
Victor offered to accompany her.
She refused.
“This is something I have to do.”
He respected it.
Anthony testified first.
His lawyer nearly resigned at the table when Anthony admitted everything.
Gambling debts.
Gabriel’s payment.
The manipulated emergency custody request.
He withdrew his petition.
Then he asked the judge to grant Serena primary custody.
The judge was visibly stunned.
Serena thought it was over.
Then Anthony’s former attorney stood.
“Your Honor, there is another issue.”
Serena’s stomach dropped.
The attorney submitted photographs.
Serena living at the Rinaldi estate.
Victor holding Lucia outside the hospital.
Armed security around the children.
The warehouse shooting.
The lawyer argued Serena had knowingly placed her daughter inside the home of a suspected organized-crime leader.
Serena’s attorney objected.
The judge overruled.
Then came the worst sentence.
“Given the credible concerns regarding the child’s safety, I am ordering a temporary independent welfare review before final custody is granted.”
Serena’s heart stopped.
Lucia would remain with her temporarily.
But investigators would inspect the Rinaldi estate.
Interview Victor.
Review criminal associations.
Her safest place could now destroy her case.
Outside the courthouse Victor waited beside his car.
Serena told him everything.
His face remained calm.
“We’ll handle it.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I need to move out.”
Victor went still.
“The investigator cannot see Lucia living in a fortified mafia compound.”
“She’s safer there.”
“This isn’t about actual safety. It’s about what the court believes.”
“You’re taking her back to that apartment?”
“No. Anthony agreed to pay temporary support. I found a small place.”
Victor looked almost hurt.
Serena hated seeing it.
“The boys are going to think I abandoned them.”
“They won’t.”
“They already believe everyone leaves.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Then don’t.”
Her breath caught.
Neither moved.
“Victor…”
“Stay.”
“This is my daughter.”
“And they are my sons.”
“I know.”
“They sleep through the night now.”
Her eyes burned.
“Don’t do this.”
“Tommy speaks more because of you. Marco stopped fighting every adult who enters a room. Nico apologized to a housekeeper yesterday. Alessandro ate broccoli.”
Despite herself Serena laughed.
Victor touched her cheek.
“Stay.”
She whispered, “I can’t.”
Pain flickered in his eyes.
His hand fell.
Serena returned to the estate that evening to pack.
The children were told she and Lucia were moving temporarily.
Marco said nothing.
Nico kicked a chair.
Alessandro cried.
Tommy disappeared.
They searched everywhere.
Garden.
Bedrooms.
Kitchen.
Safe room.
No Tommy.
Then Marco found something on Tommy’s pillow.
Adriana’s silver medal.
Beside it was a note written in shaky six-year-old handwriting.
I WENT TO FIND MOMMY’S BROTHER SO HE WILL STOP MAKING PEOPLE LEAVE.
Victor stared at the empty bed.
Serena’s blood turned to ice.
May you like
Tommy had gone looking for Gabriel.
Alone.
