Chapter 5: The Night Noah Asked Why
Raffaele stepped toward the chain, but Lydia raised one hand.
“Do not touch him.
Any further incident will be included in my report.”
Matteo tucked the key beneath his shirt.
“For once, brother, listen to someone you cannot command.”
“You used Sophie to enter my office.”
“Prove it.”
Sophie pointed at him.
“He gave Mummy the red box with the papers.”
Victoria grabbed her suitcase from the arriving driver.
“She is confused and exhausted.”
“I saw you hide it,” Sophie said.
“You told me Noah was stealing my life.”
Lydia crouched beside her.
“Did anyone tell you what to say today?”
“Mummy told me to say Mr.
Raffaele frightened us.”
Victoria’s suitcase slipped from her hand.
“That is enough,” she snapped.
“She needs sleep.”
Lydia stood.
“Sophie will remain with an approved temporary caregiver tonight while I investigate.”
“I am her mother.”
“And she has just accused you of coaching her statement.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“I am a registered foster caregiver.
My certification remained active after I cared for my sister’s grandchildren.”
Lydia checked the identification Margaret offered.
“Both children may stay with you in the east cottage.
Raffaele may have supervised contact only.”
Matteo smiled at his brother.
“Your son will sleep on your land, and you’ll need permission to say good night.”
Raffaele’s fist closed, but Noah was watching from the doorway.
He opened his hand again.
“Margaret,” he said, “give Lydia everything she needs.”
That evening, Noah sat at Margaret’s kitchen table without touching his soup.
Sophie pushed the bread basket toward him.
“You can have mine,” she said.
“I don’t want it.”
“You always want bread.”
“You don’t know what I always want.”
Sophie pulled back her hand.
“I was trying to be nice.”
Noah’s eyes filled.
“Your mother wants me gone.”
“I don’t.”
A knock sounded.
Margaret opened the door to find Raffaele beside Lydia.
“You have twenty minutes,” Lydia said.
“I’ll remain in the hall.”
Raffaele sat opposite Noah.
“I brought your blue pajamas.”
“You packed the wrong ones.”
“I know.
I could not find the ones with the rockets.”
“They were under my pillow.”
“I should have known.”
Noah stared into the soup.
“Did you love me before you thought I wasn’t yours?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love me now?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let her treat me like I was in the way?”
Raffaele’s answer caught in his throat.
Noah pushed his chair back.
“You only saw it because Margaret dropped the plates.”
“I saw too late,” Raffaele said.
“That is my fault, not yours.”
“You were supposed to notice.”
“I know.”
Noah’s voice broke.
“Mum would have noticed.”
Raffaele gripped the edge of the table.
Margaret rested a hand on his shoulder before he could look away.
“Elena asked me to keep laughing after she was gone,” he said.
“Instead, I filled every room with people and told myself that meant we were living again.”
“You chose Victoria.”
“I did.”
“She hated me.”
“And I failed to see it.
You have every right to be angry with me.”
Noah wiped his face with his sleeve.
“What if that paper is true?”
Raffaele moved from his chair to the floor beside him.
“Then I will still be the man who held you when you were born, taught you to ride a bicycle, and checked beneath your bed every night for three years.”
“Four years,” Noah whispered.
“Four years.
I still check sometimes.”
Noah slid from his chair and pressed his face against his father’s shoulder.
Raffaele held him as his own eyes filled.
Sophie watched from across the table.
“Nobody checks under my bed.”
Margaret opened her arms.
“Come here, child.”
Sophie crossed the room, and Margaret wrapped her in the same blanket she had placed around Noah.
Lydia turned her face toward the hallway and quietly closed the door halfway.
A sharp knock came ten minutes later.
Matteo’s attorney stood outside with a court order.
“Mr.
Marconi must leave the property,” he said.
“The board has invoked the morality clause.
Matteo controls the estate until the hearing.”
“This is my home,” Raffaele said.
“Not tonight.”
Sophie suddenly pulled a tablet from beneath her sweater.
“I took this from Mummy’s red box,” she said.
“It started recording when they argued.”
May you like
She touched the screen, and Matteo’s voice filled the kitchen.
“Once the false test is accepted, Raffaele loses Noah, the trust, and everything Elena tried to protect.”
