Chapter 10
By the time I reached my apartment, two men were waiting outside.
Not police.
Not neighbors.
Private security in gray coats.
Luke grabbed my sleeve.
“Mom?”
I put my body in front of him.
One man stepped forward.
“Grace Bell?”
I did not answer.
He held out papers.
“You have been served.”
Angelo moved faster than I expected.
He took the papers from the man’s hand.
His voice was ice.
“Who sent you?”
The man hesitated.
“Mrs. Milena Torrisi.”
Angelo looked at the document.
His jaw tightened with every line.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed it to Dominic, who had pulled up behind us.
Dominic read quickly.
Then his mouth hardened.
“She is asking the court for temporary guardianship of Luke.”
The ground seemed to tilt.
I pulled Luke closer.
“She cannot do that.”
“She can ask,” Dominic said. “She will not win if we move fast.”
Luke started shaking.
“No,” he whispered. “I’m not going with her.”
I dropped to my knees and held his face.
“Listen to me. Nobody is taking you from me.”
“But they can,” he said.
His fear gutted me.
Because he was old enough to know adults lied.
Angelo crouched beside us.
“No,” he said. “They cannot. I will stand in court and tell the truth.”
I looked at him.
“You better.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
Dominic began making calls.
Angelo sent the two men away.
They left without another word.
Inside my apartment, everything looked too small for the storm outside.
Luke sat on the couch with his backpack still on.
I made tea with hands that would not stop trembling.
Angelo stood near the door, looking at our cracked walls, our secondhand table, the stack of bills beside the microwave.
He saw ten years.
All of them.
“I did this to you,” he said.
I turned.
“No. Milena did this. But you believed her.”
May you like
He lowered his head.
“And that is mine to carry.”
