Chapter 2 - The Forged Signature
It listed Valentina as the proposed guardian.
Marcus as financial custodian.
And a private boarding residence in Connecticut as Ruby’s temporary address.
Ruby was three.
I read the page twice.
Then I looked at my wife.
“When were you planning to send her away?”
Valentina’s voice came out thin.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“There are suitcases upstairs.”
“Domenico, please.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“It was a legal precaution.”
“For what?”
He glanced at Valentina.
Wrong move.
I handed the papers to my attorney, Luca Ferraro, who had been at the banquet.
“Call the family court clerk. Verify the filing.”
I crouched beside Ethan.
“Go with Teresa.”
Valentina snapped, “He stays with me.”
“No child stays in this room while adults threaten each other.”
Twenty minutes later, Luca returned.
“The petition was filed yesterday.”
My stomach turned.
“There’s a hearing Monday morning.”
“On what basis?”
He handed me a second page.
Three sworn statements claimed I kept firearms accessible around Ruby, left her unattended during business meetings, and had threatened Valentina in front of both children.
One statement came from Marcus.
One from Valentina.
The third came from Dr. Nathan Sloan, Ruby’s pediatrician.
I stared at the name.
“Ruby hasn’t seen Sloan in six months.”
Luca nodded.
“The statement says he examined her last week.”
I looked down at my daughter.
She was playing with the button on my cuff.
“Ruby, did Mommy Val take you to a doctor?”
She whispered, “Man took pictures.”
The room went cold.
“Pictures of what?”
“My arm.”
Valentina shut her eyes.
I turned to her.
“What did you do?”
She whispered, “Nothing.”
Ruby pulled up her sleeve.
There was a yellowing bruise near her elbow.
A normal toddler bruise.
Except someone had circled it with blue marker.
Luca looked at me.
“They’re building a neglect case.”
Then his phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The judge assigned to Monday’s hearing is Vincent Kessler.”
May you like
I knew that name.
Marcus had paid Kessler’s campaign debt two years earlier.
