Chapter 2
“Don't move him until we know he's warm enough,” Rosa Morales said.
The housekeeper appeared from the kitchen carrying two towels. Her face had lost its usual steady color. She had worked in the mansion for eight years, long enough to know when Dante Rinaldi's silence was more dangerous than his temper.
“I'm calling for help,” she said.
Bianca pushed herself upright among the gift boxes. “No one needs an ambulance. He's being dramatic.”
Rosa didn't answer her. She knelt near Theo, careful not to touch him without asking. “Can I put this warm towel around your feet?”
Theo nodded.
Dante heard himself say, “Call the sheriff too.”
Luca gave a harsh laugh. Blood touched the corner of his mouth. “You're calling the police after punching me?”
“Yes.” Dante placed the airplane on a side table where Theo could see it. “And I'm staying here until they come.”
Rosa used her phone. Dante made his own call to an attorney, but ended it almost immediately. This was not a business dispute to contain. A little boy was shivering in a borrowed coat.
Bianca paced toward the doorway. “I can explain this. Theo has been lying to everyone since Elena died.”
“Then you'll explain it to the deputies,” Dante said.
Theo's lips trembled. “Will they take my plane?”
“No,” Rosa answered before Dante could. “It belongs to you.”
The boy looked surprised by the certainty.
An ambulance arrived with a sheriff's deputy twenty minutes later. A paramedic checked Theo's temperature, circulation, and breathing. He was cold, frightened, and developing painful redness in his feet, but he was alert. She recommended an emergency department assessment and began warming him gradually.
When a deputy asked who had put Theo outside, Bianca answered first.
“He ran out. Children do impulsive things.”
“The door was locked,” Theo said.
No one had asked him to speak. Every adult in the foyer turned toward him.
Bianca's eyes sharpened. “Theo, think before you tell stories.”
Dante stepped between her and the bench, then deliberately stepped back. He had already shown the boy what angry men did with their hands. He would not add another frightening example.
The deputy crouched a few feet away. “You can tell me what happened, but you don't have to tell it all right now.”
Theo held the towel tightly. “I knocked. She said I had to wait for the timer.”
“What timer?”
“The kitchen one. The one that rings.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
Dante noticed. “Rosa?”
“I heard that bell last Tuesday.” Her voice broke. “I thought they were doing a baking lesson.”
Luca said, “You weren't even on duty Tuesday night.”
“I came back for my keys.”
The deputy wrote both statements down. He also photographed the broken trolley, the snowy steps, Theo's clothing, and the toy. Dante asked that he photograph the damaged wheel before anyone tried to repair it.
Then the deputy turned to Dante. “I need your account of the altercation with your son.”
Dante gave it without describing the strike as an accident.
“I hit him,” he said. “He grabbed my arm. I could have stepped away, but I didn't.”
Luca stared at his father as though the admission were a trap.
At the hospital, a nurse led Theo into a private exam room. A physician documented the cold exposure and older bruises on his upper arms, explaining that their cause could not be determined from appearance alone. A social worker joined them and made a child-protection report.
Dante sat outside, staring at the wooden airplane in a clear belongings bag. Elena had taught Theo a phrase while they built it: You get to choose where it lands.
He had remembered her words as sentimental. He had never considered how much a child might need them.
Near midnight, a child-protection investigator introduced herself as Hannah Price. She explained that Theo could not simply leave with Dante because Dante wished it. They needed to assess his safety, his relationship with the child, and the immediate home situation.
“I understand,” Dante said, though obedience did not come naturally to him.
Hannah studied him. “I also have a report that you assaulted the child's father tonight.”
“I did.”
“Then you understand why that matters.”
Dante nodded.
Inside the exam room, Theo asked Rosa for paper. He drew a small blue rectangle with five uneven marks underneath.
Hannah asked what it meant.
“The bell,” Theo said. “Those are the times I had to stay out.”
May you like
Five marks.
Christmas Eve had not been the first time.
