Chương 8 - THE MAN WHO DIDN’T NEED TO STAND
Ferreri’s trial began eleven months after the wedding.
Bianca testified.
So did Matteo.
Paolo.
Accountants.
Drivers.
Corporate officers.
Lorenzo testified last.
Ferreri’s attorney tried exactly what everyone expected.
“Mr. Vitali, you harbor personal resentment toward my client.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised him.
“You believe he contributed to your fiancée abandoning you.”
“Yes.”
“You believe he caused the accident that left you confined to a wheelchair.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“I am not confined to it.”
The attorney paused.
Lorenzo touched the rim.
“It gets me places.”
A few jurors smiled.
The attorney recovered.
“You believe he caused your disability.”
“I believe evidence shows he arranged an attack intended to kill me.”
Different.
“Yet you survived.”
“Yes.”
“Would you describe yourself as bitter?”
Lorenzo considered.
“Sometimes.”
Ferreri’s attorney looked pleased.
Then Lorenzo continued:
“Usually about inaccessible bathrooms.”
Laughter.
Even the judge looked down.
The attorney lost momentum.
That mattered.
Ferreri had built two years of strategy around the belief Lorenzo’s disability could always be used to humiliate him.
It could not.
Not anymore.
The jury convicted Ferreri on most major counts.
The sentence would keep him away for decades.
Lorenzo did not attend sentencing.
He and Sofia went to lunch.
A restaurant she selected.
Fully accessible.
Of course.
She moved a chair from the table before he arrived.
He looked at the empty space.
“You prepared.”
“Basic competence.”
“Romantic.”
“Eat your pasta.”
He loved her.
The realization arrived without drama.
He did not say it that afternoon.
Because for once, Lorenzo understood not every feeling required immediate action.
Sofia would have been proud.
May you like
Probably.
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