Chapter 8 - Daniel Price
Daniel, the security supervisor, became an uncomfortable witness.
He had shown Helena the cart footage at 9:31.
He knew she knew.
Why did he not stop her when she brought Leo into the garage later?
“I didn’t understand what she was doing at first.”
“When did you understand?”
“When I saw the bucket.”
“And then?”
He looked down.
“I called Ms. Bellucci.”
“What?”
“I told her security cameras covered the garage.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she was handling a family discipline issue and I should return to my post.”
“And you did?”
“Yes.”
I stared.
Daniel had been employed by the Belluccis for seventeen years.
Military before that.
Calm under pressure.
He could face armed trespassers.
Helena saying:
Family discipline
made him withdraw.
“Why?”
He answered honestly.
“Because I didn’t know whether I had authority to challenge a Bellucci family member over another Bellucci child.”
There.
Structure.
Again.
I asked:
“Did Leo look distressed?”
“Yes.”
“Then authority shouldn’t have mattered.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I know that now.”
He was not fired.
Some relatives demanded it.
I refused.
He received formal discipline and retraining.
More importantly, we rewrote security policy.
Any employee could intervene or call emergency services when they reasonably believed a child, vulnerable adult, employee, or guest faced immediate harm.
No family approval required.
Even if the person creating the danger was a Bellucci.
May you like
Especially then.
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