Chapter 10
One more day became a war.
Vittorio vanished.
Silvio made bail.
Judge Marino tried to block warrants.
Councilman DeLuca called three reporters and painted me as a criminal using a child for sympathy.
He was not entirely wrong about the criminal part.
But he was wrong about Mia.
I met Detective Hale at a federal building that smelled like bad coffee and old carpet.
She placed documents in front of me.
“If you hand over Matteo’s files officially, we can move on warrants.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then men like Vittorio keep hunting a four-year-old.”
I signed.
Every page.
Every release.
Every permission that opened my family’s books.
Rafael watched in silence.
Outside, he said, “There is no going back.”
“Good.”
“The old men will call this betrayal.”
“They can whisper it through prison glass.”
He almost smiled.
That evening, Lena confronted me in the safe apartment kitchen.
“You’re giving them everything?”
“Yes.”
“Even crimes that could hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked toward Mia, asleep on the couch with Rosie under her arm.
“Because my brother asked me to become better than us.”
Lena’s face softened.
“You think this makes you better?”
“No. I think it makes me late.”
She nodded.
“Late can still matter.”
The next morning, federal raids hit six locations.
A charity office.
A judge’s vacation home.
Silvio’s private club.
A warehouse tied to Vittorio.
News broke by noon.
By two, my name was everywhere.
Mafia boss cooperates.
Verrone charity under investigation.
Hidden child at center of corruption case.
I hated that last headline.
Mia was not a center.
She was a child.
But headlines do not care.
Lena threw the newspaper into the trash.
“She can’t go to school now.”
“Not yet.”
“She loved it.”
“I know.”
Mia overheard.
“Did bad men ruin school?”
Lena closed her eyes.
I crouched.
“For now, yes.”
Mia’s chin trembled.
“Because I asked you?”
“No.”
I took her small hands.
“Because bad men were already bad. You just helped us stop pretending.”
She looked at me.
“Daddy talk.”
Lena and I both froze.
Mia did not notice.
May you like
She hugged Rosie.
“I like daddy talk.”
