Chapter 5 - THE ACCOUNT IN MY SON'S NAME
I drove to Carla Marino's house at nine-thirty that morning.
Rachel tried to stop me.
She was probably right.
I shouldn't have gone angry.
I shouldn't have gone alone.
But after learning that my mother-in-law's name appeared on the document used to empty my son's account, I couldn't sit quietly drinking coffee while everyone around me told me to wait for lawyers.
Carla opened the door wearing a pale pink robe.
Her expression changed the moment she saw me.
“Anna.”
“You knew.”
She blinked.
“About what?”
I held up my phone.
“Leo's account.”
Carla's face answered before her mouth did.
I stepped inside.
“You notarized my signature.”
“Keep your voice down.”
I almost laughed.
That phrase apparently ran in the Marino family.
“No.”
“Anna, please.”
“You helped your son steal forty-two thousand dollars from your grandson.”
“It was not stealing.”
“You sound exactly like Luca.”
Carla tightened her robe.
“He told me you had agreed.”
“Then why did you notarize a form I wasn't standing in front of you to sign?”
Silence.
Carla looked toward the kitchen.
“Coffee?”
I stared at her.
“Are you insane?”
She flinched.
Then something unexpected happened.
Carla started crying.
Not delicate tears.
Real ones.
She sat at the kitchen table and covered her face.
“He told me the two of you were separating.”
I felt cold.
“He told everyone that.”
“He said you knew about the business.”
“I didn't.”
“He said you wouldn't release Leo's account because you were angry.”
“I didn't even know he wanted it.”
Carla shook her head.
“He said it would be replaced in ninety days.”
“And that made fraud okay?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Her eyes filled again.
“Because he is my son.”
I stood perfectly still.
That sentence explained more about Luca than anything else.
Because he was her son.
So rules bent.
People forgave.
Consequences disappeared.
Carla had spent forty years teaching Luca that intentions could erase damage.
I said quietly, “Leo is your grandson.”
Her face crumpled.
“I know.”
“Then you should have protected him too.”
I left.
By noon, I had spoken with a family attorney and a financial fraud attorney.
By one, new passwords protected every account I controlled.
By two, I had moved important documents to Rachel's house.
By three, Luca had called fourteen times.
I answered none.
Then Sabrina texted.
I found something. We need to meet.
I wanted nothing to do with her.
But evidence was evidence.
We met at a coffee shop halfway between my house and the airport.
Sabrina looked awful.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
Eyes swollen.
She placed a folder on the table.
“Luca kept this at my apartment.”
“Why?”
“He said he didn't want business paperwork mixed up with his personal things.”
I opened it.
Copies of bank statements.
Investor presentations.
Draft contracts.
Then something else.
A divorce petition.
My name at the top.
Anna Marino.
Luca had prepared it weeks earlier.
My stomach twisted.
But the worst part wasn't that he planned to divorce me.
I already knew that.
The worst part was a draft custody proposal.
Luca wanted Leo with him every other week.
That alone wasn't shocking.
Then I read the notes attached.
Establish Anna's inconsistent income.
Document emotional instability following separation.
Show Luca provides stronger long-term financial environment.
I stared at Sabrina.
“Did you see this before?”
“No.”
My hands shook.
I worked freelance from home.
I had built my schedule around Leo for years because Luca's flight schedule changed constantly.
He was now planning to use the flexibility I created for our family as evidence that I was financially unstable.
And worse—
He had been secretly creating debt in my name.
I suddenly understood.
If the business succeeded, Luca would appear financially secure.
If I was left with hidden debt and reduced savings, he could portray me as struggling.
Maybe he hadn't planned it that coldly.
Maybe.
But I no longer gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Sabrina whispered, “There's a voice memo.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“He sent it two weeks ago.”
She played it.
Luca's voice filled the space between us.
“I just need everything clean before Monday. Once the accounts are separated and Anna realizes this is actually happening, she'll probably panic. That's why I need to file first. My lawyer said the parent who looks organized usually has an advantage early on.”
I stopped the recording.
My vision blurred.
Sabrina said, “I'm sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
“I need a copy.”
“You can have everything.”
Then she looked down.
“There is something else.”
Of course there was.
She twisted her coffee cup.
“I wasn't just flying to Chicago for my birthday.”
I waited.
“We were supposed to look at apartments.”
My chest tightened.
“Together?”
She nodded.
“He asked me to move there.”
“And Leo?”
“He said he would eventually ask for a transfer base and have Leo part of the time.”
I stared out the window.
Cars moved through the parking lot.
People carried grocery bags.
A man helped a toddler into a car seat.
Normal life continued.
Sabrina said quietly, “I ended it yesterday.”
I looked at her.
“I don't want credit.”
“Good.”
She accepted that.
“I just need you to know I'm not helping him anymore.”
For the first time, I believed her.
That didn't make us friends.
But betrayal had put us on the same side of one truth.
Luca had manipulated everyone.
My phone buzzed.
Rachel.
Leo's school called. Luca is there.
I jumped up so quickly my chair scraped backward.
“What?”
Another message arrived.
They thought you knew he was picking Leo up.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I immediately called the school.
The secretary answered.
“This is Anna Marino. Is my son there?”
A pause.
“Mrs. Marino… Leo was signed out about ten minutes ago.”
My blood ran cold.
“By who?”
“His father.”
“Where did they go?”
“I don't know.”
I called Luca.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a message appeared.
I need time with my son before you make him hate me. Don't turn this into something it isn't.
I called.
Straight to voicemail.
My fingers trembled so badly I could barely type.
BRING HIM BACK NOW.
No response.
Then I remembered Leo's smartwatch.
Family location sharing.
I opened the app.
A small blue dot appeared on the map.
Moving.
North.
Away from our neighborhood.
Sabrina leaned toward the screen.
“Where are they going?”
I zoomed out.
Then my stomach dropped.
I recognized the highway.
The route led toward a small municipal airport twenty-six miles outside the city.
May you like
The same airport where Luca had learned to fly.
And the blue dot was moving directly toward it.
