Chapter 7 - The Wife Who Refused to Come Home
Elena refused to sleep in the master bedroom.
Roman tried not to react.
Failed.
“You’re my wife.”
“I know.”
“This is your room.”
“It was.”
The word hurt.
Roman stepped backward.
“What do you want?”
“Space.”
“How much?”
She almost smiled.
“You're negotiating space like property.”
“I negotiate everything.”
“That was always the problem.”
He accepted the guest suite.
Barely.
Sophia moved between them.
Morning with Elena.
Homework with Mara.
Dinner with Roman.
At night she asked:
“Are we family again?”
Roman answered:
“We never stopped.”
Elena answered:
“We’re figuring out what family looks like.”
Both true.
Anthony was charged with attempted murder, unlawful experimentation, conspiracy, kidnapping, medical fraud, and dozens of additional crimes.
Isabella cooperated.
So did Luca.
The scandal became national news.
Valente businesses came under scrutiny.
Roman opened records voluntarily.
His lawyers nearly revolted.
“You do understand investigators will find unrelated crimes.”
“Yes.”
“Roman.”
He stared.
“I’m finished protecting a system that put my daughter on a laboratory table.”
Some legal businesses survived.
Others did not.
Old partners threatened him.
Roman walked away.
That surprised everyone.
Elena watched quietly.
One evening she asked:
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you dismantling it?”
He looked toward Sophia.
“Because she asked if I would hurt Anthony.”
“And?”
“I realized she knows what people say about me.”
Elena’s face softened.
“I don’t want her learning fear is how men solve problems.”
“That is not how you were raised.”
“No.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“I’m improvising.”
They began therapy.
Roman hated it.
The therapist asked how he felt.
“Fine.”
Elena laughed for the first time in session.
The therapist said:
“That response appears ineffective.”
Roman stared.
“I pay you?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunate.”
Slowly, truth emerged.
Elena had hidden Mara because she believed Roman would reject her family.
Roman admitted he probably would have when younger.
Elena lied about her illness fears because Roman solved danger through force.
Roman admitted that too.
Neither excused the lies.
But they understood the soil they grew in.
Mara remained at the mansion.
Not as maid.
Elena insisted.
“You saved Sophia.”
Mara refused money.
Roman offered a job.
“What?”
“Head of child safety and medical advocacy for the foundation.”
“I don’t have that qualification.”
“You have more than half the people who did.”
She laughed.
Eventually accepted after writing her own contract.
Roman called it hostile.
She called it employment.
Sophia called Mara Aunt Mara for the first time.
May you like
Mara cried in the pantry.
Roman pretended not to see.
