Chapter 6 - No Men at the Door
"Someone followed my sister," Rosa said when Alessandro answered Helen's call.
He already had the photograph on his desk. "I know. I'm looking into it."
"No. You listen. Don't send a convoy to my apartment. Don't put armed men outside Lily's preschool. I won't trade one kind of fear for another."
"Then what do you want?"
"Report the messages. Keep the originals. Stop pretending your family can settle this privately."
For a long moment he said nothing.
"You're right," Alessandro answered.
Rosa had prepared herself for a fight. The agreement unsettled her more.
At the local police station she and Helen filed reports about the message and photograph. The officer explained what they could document and what remained difficult to prove. Rosa listened without expecting anyone to make the danger disappear by tomorrow.
Maribel picked Lily up and brought her to a nearby park. When Rosa joined them, her daughter was studying a worm on the sidewalk.
"Mama, worm got no shoes."
"He seems happy without them."
"Bad lady have shoes."
Rosa crouched. "Yes. But people aren't bad because they have shoes, honey. They are responsible for what they say."
"She sorry?"
"Not yet. And you don't have to be friends with someone who scares you."
Alessandro met his security chief, Luca Bianchi.
"I can find out who took the photo," Luca said. "There are people who owe us information."
"No threats. No favors. Give the copy to counsel and cooperate with the report."
"Your father will call that weakness."
"He can learn a new word."
Luca hesitated. "Boss, I don't think Miss Romano sent it. Her cousin Enzo has been boasting about knowing the situation before everyone else."
Alessandro looked at the image again. Lily had one hand in her aunt's. Her little shoes were muddy. The picture was ordinary, and that was what made it cruel.
"Find out what Enzo said," he replied. "Nothing more."
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When Luca left, Alessandro called Rosa once. She didn't answer. He left no message.
For the first time, he let his silence be a form of respect instead of abandonment.
