“You will receive all appropriate information through your attorney.”
“I want to see my son.”
“That will depend on whether you can follow instructions you do not like.”
Nobody spoke to me that way.
I almost reminded her.
Then I looked at the photograph again and realized that my need to dominate every conversation was part of the evidence against me.
“What do I do?”
For the first time, Patricia’s voice lost some of its steel.
“You retain family counsel.
You comply with the temporary order.
You do not send employees, investigators, gifts or messages.
You attend the evaluation requested by the court.
And you decide whether you want to be a father or merely claim possession of a child.”
The call ended.
Marco stood across from my desk, silent.
“You knew?” I asked.
“Not until this morning.”
“Find out where they are.”
He did not move.
The refusal was so unusual that I raised my head.
“You heard the lawyer,” he said.
“If I search for them, I become part of the case against you.”
“I pay you.”
“Yes.
But I am not going to help you terrify a five-year-old boy.”
The words landed with humiliating accuracy.
I dismissed him, then sat alone for nearly an hour.
Vanessa called eleven times.
On the twelfth, I answered.
“Dante, I need to explain.”
“You sent Claire our messages.”
“She already had most of them.”
“You gave her photographs.”
“She asked me to sign a statement.
I thought the divorce meant we could finally stop hiding.”
There was a desperate brightness in her voice, as if she still believed this was the beginning of our future.
“You knew about the child?” I asked.
Silence.
“Vanessa.”
“Claire mentioned a son.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“She told me the court had sealed everything.
She said if I warned you, Patricia would subpoena my accounts and include me in the corporate investigation.”
“What investigation?”
Vanessa began to cry.
The affair had not been our only secret.
For two years, I had used company drivers, apartments and travel accounts to hide our meetings.
Vanessa had accepted consulting payments from one of our subsidiaries despite performing no work.
Victor had arranged the invoices.
Claire’s legal team had traced every dollar.
By noon, my board had received copies.
At two, the chairman requested an emergency meeting.
At four, Victor stopped answering his phone.
