Chapter 4
Gabriel spoke to both children separately with a child therapist present.
Not because he doubted them.
Because he refused to turn their memories into adult interrogation.
Noah’s account stayed consistent.
Victor created “safe zones” during gatherings.
The rules changed constantly.
Sometimes Noah could play beside the barbecue tables.
Sometimes not.
Sometimes he could retrieve his football from the garden.
Sometimes crossing the stone path meant he had “broken perimeter.”
When Noah argued, Victor punished him.
Noah said:
“He says real guards have to stop people who don’t listen.”
The therapist asked:
“Did he call himself your guard?”
“No.”
“Who did he say the guards were?”
Noah shrugged.
“Everybody.”
Emma’s account was different.
Victor praised her.
He told her she was mature.
Responsible.
Easy to protect.
Whenever Noah crossed one of Victor’s invisible boundaries, Victor told Emma:
“See why your brother needs more security?”
She believed him at first.
Then the punishments became rougher.
She started objecting.
Victor told her:
“Don’t become difficult like him.”
Gabriel felt ashamed that both children had been managing an adult’s moods while he sat thirty yards away discussing business.
The therapist later told him:
“Your children learned two different survival strategies.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Noah argued.”
“Yes.”
“Emma complied.”
“Yes.”
“Which one is worse?”
“That is not the useful question.”
He knew.
Still, he hated that answer.
Meanwhile, Rebecca began verifying Vantage’s staffing sheets.
Two guards listed on the barbecue invoice were working another event across town at the same time.
GPS data from their company vehicles confirmed it.
A third had called out sick.
The fourth claimed he had never worked the Moretti estate.
Four names.
Zero actual guards.
Rebecca contacted Vantage’s insurer and counsel.
No conclusions yet.
But the paper staffing was false.
Then she compared the incident reports.
Nearly identical phrases appeared across several dates.
Poor compliance.
Unsafe impulsivity.
Requirement for specialized child-protection presence.
Laura frowned.
“These read like clinical conclusions.”
“They aren’t.”
“Who was receiving them?”
Rebecca turned over a contract-renewal packet.
Vantage was seeking a three-year extension with the Moretti family office.
Annual value:
$1.7 million.
Gabriel looked up.
“For estate security?”
“Estate events, executive overflow, family travel, and specialized child protection.”
May you like
He stared at the final phrase.
Noah’s supposed behavior had become part of the justification for a contract worth more than five million dollars.
