Chapter 5 - Elena’s Signature
The child psychologist’s name was Dr. Maya Chen.
She did not promise a breakthrough.
She watched Leo play.
She asked Rico about sleep, meals, noise, and what happened when his son cried.
Then she said, “He needs adults who can tolerate his fear without punishing him for it.”
Rico looked down.
Clara stayed silent.
For three days, small things improved.
Leo ate toast at the kitchen table.
He let Rico sit beside the bath.
Once, he laughed when Clara made a toy truck deliver a sock.
Rico heard it from the doorway and had to turn away.
On Thursday, Teresa arrived with a box of Elena’s belongings.
“I was going to keep everything packed,” she said.
Clara glanced toward Leo, who was napping upstairs.
“Maybe let his father decide what he’s ready to see.”
Teresa opened the box anyway.
There were photographs, a soft green scarf, and a folder stamped with the name of Elena’s charity.
Safe Harbor Families.
A loose envelope fell onto the floor.
Clara picked it up.
An invoice showed a payment to Bellini Kitchen Supply.
She recognized the address.
“That’s the restaurant’s back entrance.”
Teresa went still.
“What?”
“This company. That address belongs to Il Destino.”
Rico walked in before Clara could say more.
Teresa pushed the invoice toward him.
“Elena asked me to hold these.”
“When?”
“A week before she died.”
His face emptied.
“You’ve had them for six months?”
“She said they were copies. She said she was sorting out a mistake.”
“And you never told me?”
“Vincent said the accountants had handled it.”
Rico took the folder.
There were invoices for meals, housing repairs, emergency supplies.
Clara watched his eyes move down one page.
Then stop.
“What is it?”
He turned the paper around.
His signature sat beneath a transfer authorization.
“That’s yours?” she asked.
“It looks like mine.”
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
Teresa sat down slowly.
Rico reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, Leo cried upstairs.
“Daddy!”
He looked toward the ceiling.
Then at the folder.
Clara held out her hand.
“I’ll keep these here.”
For once, Rico left the money and answered his son.
As his footsteps faded, Teresa whispered, “There’s something else.”
Clara looked at her.
“Elena wasn’t going to that charity event to give a speech.”
May you like
Her voice broke.
“She was going there to meet a lawyer.”
