Chapter 13 - Don’t Go Near My Son
Giulietta was at the Hudson estate by nightfall.
Luca ran into her arms before the car fully stopped. He looked at the gown, the missing veil, and the tension in Enzo’s shoulders.
“So,” he said carefully, “I’m guessing the wedding was bad?”
Giulietta laughed for the first time all day. It came out shaky, but real. “Very bad.”
He touched the skirt of her dress. “Did you win?”
She knelt to his height. “Yes.”
He nodded, satisfied with that.
For one precious hour, the world narrowed to soup in the kitchen, Luca explaining a board game he wanted to play, and the simple miracle of hearing her child breathe safely in the next room. Then Enzo came in with his phone.
His face told her enough.
Preston had tried to contact the estate through a former driver, offering cash for Luca’s location.
The driver had reported it immediately to Marconi security.
Giulietta stood so fast her chair scraped the floor. “He did what?”
Enzo handed her the phone. The message chain was right there. Preston insisting he “just wanted to talk to the boy.” Preston promising no one had to know.
Something inside Giulietta went ice-cold.
This was why she had never been willing to settle for a quiet cancellation. Men like Preston didn’t stop when embarrassed. They escalated when cornered.
She forwarded everything to the investigators.
Within an hour, the district attorney added attempted witness interference and unlawful contact related to a protected minor beneficiary. Preston’s lawyer stopped returning his calls. Warren, already facing a financial seizure order, reportedly screamed at everyone within reach.
That night, Giulietta sat beside Luca’s bed until he fell asleep.
Margaret joined her in the hall afterward, holding two mugs of tea. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For all of it. For not getting my son away from Warren when he was still young enough to unlearn him.”
Giulietta took the mug. “You spoke when it counted.”
Margaret looked toward Luca’s room. “Will he be safe?”
Giulietta’s answer came without hesitation. “With my life.”
May you like
The next morning, court opened.
And for the first time in years, Warren Hale had to walk into a room where his name could not protect him.
