Chapter 3 - THE GRANDMOTHER WHO CONTROLLED EVERYTHING
Isabella Ravalini arrived at the penthouse the following afternoon wearing a black wool coat and pearls large enough to announce her presence before she spoke.
She was sixty-eight.
Elegant.
Immaculate.
And accustomed to being obeyed.
Lucas met her in the library.
Hannah remained upstairs with Matteo.
“Mother.”
Isabella smiled.
“Lucas.”
He did not offer her a drink.
“Did you tell Matteo that Sofia abandoned him?”
Isabella's smile faded.
“What?”
“Answer me.”
She folded her gloves.
“Children misunderstand things.”
“Did you say it?”
Isabella looked toward the window.
“Sofia was never suited to this family.”
Lucas's jaw tightened.
“That wasn't my question.”
Isabella sighed.
“She was weak.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“She was my wife.”
“And she made you miserable.”
Lucas stared.
Isabella continued.
“She was always frightened. Always questioning your work. Always talking about leaving Manhattan.”
Lucas's voice became cold.
“She was frightened because someone threatened her.”
Isabella looked up sharply.
“What?”
Lucas studied her.
For a moment, something flickered in his mother's eyes.
Recognition.
Then it disappeared.
Sofia Ravalini had died eighteen months earlier.
Officially, she had been killed in a car accident on a wet highway outside the city.
She had been driving alone.
The police concluded she lost control of the vehicle.
Lucas had accepted the finding.
At least publicly.
Privately, he had never stopped wondering why Sofia was on that highway at two in the morning.
Isabella stood.
“You cannot keep living in the past.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Matteo is five.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks his mother left because she didn't love him.”
Isabella said nothing.
Lucas continued.
“If you ever tell him that again, you won't see him without me present.”
His mother stared.
“You would threaten me?”
“No.”
He opened the library door.
“I'm setting a boundary.”
Upstairs, Hannah was helping Matteo build a cardboard planetarium.
He had painted Saturn purple.
She had not corrected him.
When Lucas entered, Matteo looked up.
“Daddy!”
Lucas crouched.
“Hey, buddy.”
Matteo held up the planet.
“Miss Hannah says planets don't have to be perfect.”
Lucas smiled faintly.
“She's right.”
Hannah looked at him.
Something in his expression told her the conversation with Isabella had not gone well.
Later, Lucas found Hannah in the kitchen.
“Thank you,” he said.
She looked up.
“For what?”
“For telling me.”
Hannah nodded.
“Matteo needed you to know.”
Lucas leaned against the counter.
“He doesn't talk about Sofia much.”
“Children grieve differently.”
Lucas looked down.
“I don't know how to help him.”
Hannah's expression softened.
“You don't have to fix his grief.”
He looked at her.
“You just have to be there.”
Lucas was silent.
Then he whispered:
“I wasn't there enough when Sofia was alive.”
Hannah didn't answer.
He continued.
“And now I'm afraid I'm making the same mistake with my son.”
For the first time, Hannah saw the man beneath the reputation.
Not the feared Ravalini boss.
May you like
Not the billionaire businessman.
Just a father who was terrified of failing the only person he had left.
