Chapter 13
Constance requested mediation before her criminal and civil matters concluded.
Juliet refused to attend.
Fabio agreed once.
No Mabel.
No bodyguards in the room.
Just lawyers.
Constance wore a cream suit and pearls.
She looked like herself again.
That was almost irritating.
She began:
“I never wanted Mabel harmed.”
Fabio nodded.
“I believe you.”
Constance seemed relieved.
Then Fabio continued.
“You just decided her illness could wait.”
Her relief disappeared.
“I believed Juliet was panicking.”
“At 104 degrees.”
“She always panics.”
“Doctor said hospital was appropriate.”
“I didn’t know it was a kidney infection.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Constance looked down.
Fabio asked:
“Did you want me to hit you?”
“No.”
“Did you think I might?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
There it was.
“What did you expect?”
“You’d take the keys.”
“I did.”
“You’d threaten me.”
“Probably.”
“You might grab my arm.”
Fabio stared.
“And if I did?”
“I would go to court.”
“For how long?”
“Until everyone calmed down.”
Fabio almost laughed.
“Everyone.”
“Yes.”
“You mean until Monday’s vote died.”
Constance’s expression hardened.
“The reform was reckless.”
“It exposed Veridian.”
“It destroyed family security relationships built over thirty years.”
“It exposed your loan.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Anthony helped me privately.”
“While you sent millions of trust dollars to his company.”
“They did real work.”
“Some.”
She looked away.
Fabio continued.
“You were going to lose voting shares.”
Constance said nothing.
There.
He had reached the center.
Not greed.
Control.
“You were scared.”
She looked at him.
“You think that makes me weak?”
“No.”
Fabio’s voice softened.
“I think being scared made you dangerous.”
Constance’s eyes filled.
She had spent decades holding the family together through crises.
Deaths.
Business wars.
Investigations.
Marriages.
Betrayals.
She believed control was the reason everyone survived.
Fabio believed control was the reason nobody learned to function without her.
She whispered:
“I gave my life to this family.”
Fabio nodded.
“You did.”
“And now I’m supposed to sit quietly while accountants tell us how to live?”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“You’re supposed to stop deciding that everyone else’s safety becomes negotiable when your authority is threatened.”
Constance began crying.
Then:
“Will Mabel ever know I love her?”
Fabio did not answer for his daughter.
“She’ll know what happened in a way appropriate for her age.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I know.”
“Will I see her?”
“Not now.”
“When?”
Fabio shook his head.
May you like
“That is not mine alone to promise.”
For once, Constance had no order that could force an answer.
