Chapter 7
Child protective services reviewed the DeLuca household.
Roman hated it.
He cooperated.
The agency did not care that he commanded rooms.
It cared about newborn safety.
Four children lived in a family environment involving organized-crime scrutiny, armed security, and now an attempted intrafamily custody scheme.
Investigators reviewed the nursery.
Household firearms.
Security staff.
Caregiver backgrounds.
Emergency procedures.
Vivienne’s access.
Bianca’s access.
The triplets remained with Roman and Elena.
There was no evidence either parent had endangered them.
Protective orders barred Vivienne from contact with all four children.
Bianca agreed voluntarily to no direct contact while the investigation continued.
Then Roman’s slap came back to him.
The christening footage showed the sequence clearly.
Vivienne lunged.
Roman handed Gabriel safely to Elena.
Vivienne stopped advancing.
Roman walked to her.
Then struck her.
His lawyer explained:
“The earlier lunge supports context.”
Roman answered:
“It doesn’t make the slap self-defense.”
“No.”
Prosecutors offered misdemeanor diversion because he had no relevant prior conviction, cooperated immediately, and the injury was limited.
Community service.
Anger-management counseling.
Medical restitution.
No conviction if he completed the program and committed no further offense.
Roman accepted.
Several men around him considered that humiliating.
One actually said:
“You’re Roman DeLuca.”
Roman looked at him.
“That is not a defense.”
The man never raised the subject again.
Roman also ordered a review of his own use of Vesta services.
The audit found legitimate security and household costs.
It also found $42,000 in expenses over four years that benefited Roman’s private residence without sufficient corporate allocation.
Landscaping around a secure drive.
Part of a wine-cellar security system.
Private travel added onto a company aircraft route.
Roman repaid $42,000 plus interest.
His lawyers recommended disputing approximately $11,000 of it.
He refused.
“If we want every line around my mother clean, mine stays in the same spreadsheet.”
That sentence reached Elena.
It mattered more to her than Roman expected.
May you like
Because the family problem had never been only criminal behavior.
It was the assumption that DeLucas examined other people while remaining exempt from examination themselves.
