Chapter 2
The police arrived before Grant could fix his face.
I made sure of that.
The second I found Ethan and Mia locked inside the SUV, Marco had called 911, resort security, my attorney, and the children’s doctor.
By the time Grant was pulled out of the broken valet kiosk, sirens were already cutting through the estate road.
Lucinda tried to stand.
I pointed at the bench.
“Sit.”
Her eyes widened.
“You don’t command me.”
“I just did.”
She sat.
Not because she respected me.
Because four bodyguards and two security cameras were facing her.
Grant spat blood onto the pavement.
“You assaulted me.”
“You tried to hit me after I found two children locked in your car.”
“That is not my car.”
I held up the key.
Lucinda’s face tightened.
Officer Ramirez stepped out of the first patrol car.
He had worked events at Romano Estate before.
He knew my family.
He also knew not to treat wealth like innocence.
“Mr. Romano,” he said. “Where are the children?”
“With my doctor inside.”
“Were they conscious when removed?”
“Yes. Barely.”
Lucinda’s voice cracked.
“Oh, please. They were hot and whining, not dying.”
I turned to her.
“Say one more careless word about them.”
Ramirez lifted a hand between us.
“Mrs. Vale, you’ll have your chance to give a statement.”
Grant wiped his mouth.
“I want him arrested.”
Ramirez looked at the destroyed kiosk.
“Noted.”
Then he looked back at me.
“Security footage?”
“Every angle.”
Grant’s face changed again.
There.
Fear.
My estate did not run on trust.
It ran on cameras, logs, staff reports, and locked access systems.
My father built hotels.
I built evidence.
Lucinda knew that.
Grant apparently did not.
Inside the medical suite, Ethan lay on a cot with a cooling towel on his forehead.
Mia sat beside him, sipping water with both hands around the cup.
Dr. Naylor checked their vitals while my housekeeper, Rosa, stood near the wall crying silently.
I went to Mia first.
She reached for me.
I knelt so she would not have to stand.
“I’m here.”
“Are they mad?”
“No.”
“Grant said if we told, he’d put us somewhere darker.”
The room went silent.
Dr. Naylor’s jaw tightened.
Rosa covered her mouth.
I kept my voice soft.
“Where darker?”
Mia looked at Ethan.
He whispered, “Laundry room.”
My blood slowed.
“What laundry room?”
“The old one by the spa,” Mia said. “The one with no windows.”
I turned to Rosa.
Her face was white.
“Sir,” she whispered, “that room is locked. It has been locked for years.”
“Who has keys?”
“Management. Family. Senior staff.”
Lucinda had keys.
Grant had taken keys.
My hands curled.
Ethan opened his eyes.
“Uncle Silvio?”
“Yes, buddy.”
“Is Mommy mad in heaven?”
My throat closed.
“No.”
“Because I cried.”
I closed my eyes for one second.
Then opened them.
“Your mommy would be proud you survived.”
His lip trembled.
“She told me to take care of Mia.”
He was five.
Five.
And carrying his mother’s last instruction like a burden meant for a grown man.
“You both take care of each other,” I said. “But I take care of you.”
Mia looked at me like she wanted to believe it but had forgotten how.
I deserved that.
I had been away too much.
Business meetings.
Flights.
Hotels.
Acquisitions.
All the things I told myself were for their future.
While their present was being locked behind car doors.
Dr. Naylor stepped aside with me.
“They’re dehydrated and overheated. They need hospital observation.”
“Do it.”
Mia heard.
“No hospital.”
“It’s to make sure you’re okay.”
“Lucinda said hospitals take kids away if they complain.”
I looked at Dr. Naylor.
His face had gone grim.
“She said that?”
Mia nodded.
“After Ethan said his tummy hurt.”
Grant had not just endangered them.
He had trained them not to ask for help.
I walked back to the valet court while paramedics prepared transport.
Lucinda was now crying into a tissue.
For the officers.
Not for the children.
Grant stood beside her, hands cuffed in front because he had tried to leave.
My attorney, Evelyn Cross, arrived in black heels and colder eyes than mine.
She listened to Ramirez, reviewed the initial footage on my security tablet, then looked at Lucinda.
“My client will pursue emergency protection for both minors.”
Lucinda stood.
“They are my brother’s children too.”
I stepped closer.
“No. They are Matteo’s children. You were their aunt. Today, you became the woman who held the key.”
Her face twisted.
“You left them with me.”
“I trusted you.”
“You dumped them on everyone and played saint.”
“I gave you staff, doctors, tutors, a house account, and full support.”
“You gave me babysitting while they inherited everything.”
Evelyn’s pen stopped.
Grant hissed, “Lucinda.”
Too late.
Ramirez heard.
So did the body cameras.
I stepped even closer.
“There it is again.”
Lucinda’s eyes flashed.
“You think I don’t know the will? Matteo always got the golden path. Then he dies and his children still come before me.”
“They are children.”
“They are obstacles.”
The word landed like a knife.
Even she heard it.
Her mouth snapped shut.
A second police car arrived.
Then child protective services.
Then an unmarked sedan.
A man stepped out wearing a navy suit and federal badge.
My stomach tightened.
Federal involvement did not appear for overheated children.
Not this fast.
He walked directly to me.
“Silvio Romano?”
“Yes.”
“Special Agent Cole Mercer. We need to speak privately about your brother Matteo’s death.”
The valet court went silent.
Lucinda’s face turned gray.
Grant stared at the ground.
I looked from one to the other.
“What about Matteo’s death?”
Mercer’s eyes moved to the locked SUV.
May you like
Then back to me.
“We no longer believe the lake crash was an accident.”
