[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal Driver—Then a Red Mitten Stopped Their Engagement Dinner

Luca did not send armed men to West Addison.

Instead, he called Grace, explained the message, and asked how to check on Nico without frightening him. The attorney advised Vanessa to speak directly with Elena first and to document anything Lorenzo had threatened. Luca offered a driver, but Vanessa looked toward Sal before he could finish.

"Could you take us?" she asked quietly.

Sal adjusted the cuff of his white shirt. "Of course."

The request would have seemed ordinary two days earlier. Now I watched it land between them with all the weight of their disagreement. Vanessa had tried to take this man's livelihood. Sal was willing to help her reach her son anyway.

I was preparing the afternoon service when Luca asked whether I could come. He said Elena might be more comfortable talking to another woman who had been present the previous evening. Vanessa could object if she wanted. She didn't.

We drove west in Luca's black sedan, past rows of houses and small shops, the city looking different from the windows of a car whose owner knew almost everyone in its rear seats. Luca sat beside Vanessa without reaching for her hand. I sat next to Sal in front.

The house on West Addison was smaller than I had pictured, with a narrow porch and a blue metal gate. A few toys were visible through the front window. Sal stopped before the house and switched off the engine.

"He was standing right there," he said, pointing toward the porch. "Beside the railing."

Vanessa stared at the steps. "He's inside now. Elena said he was having lunch."

We remained outside while she called. When the door opened, a dark-haired woman in her late fifties appeared. She looked from Vanessa to Luca with immediate concern, then stepped onto the porch and pulled the door nearly closed behind her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"We need to talk," Vanessa replied. "Without Nico hearing."

Elena brought us into the small front room and asked us to keep our voices down. Nico was in the back room with a book and could not hear the conversation from where he sat. I caught no glimpse of him, and Luca did not try to look past the doorway.

Elena's house was warm and carefully kept. A row of winter coats hung beside the entrance. Family photographs sat on a shelf, several turned toward the room. Vanessa stopped before one in which a little boy with dark curls held a paper star. Her face changed, but she didn't pick it up.

"Lorenzo called me," Elena said. "He said Vanessa has embarrassed him and that I should expect someone to come about Nico's schooling. What happened?"

Vanessa explained the engagement dinner in a few sentences. When she reached the part about Sal's dismissal, she looked at him.

"I owe you an apology. I was cruel. I thought if you left without seeing Luca, I could keep Nico out of my father's argument."

Sal folded his hands. "It wasn't right, Miss Bellini. But you're here to put something right now."

Elena listened while Luca described the family-law advice. She was relieved someone had finally suggested checking the actual documents instead of trusting Lorenzo's account.

"I never wanted to keep Nico from Vanessa," she said. "Not once. I took him because she was overwhelmed and alone. I expected him to be with me a few months. Then Lorenzo began paying the mortgage and told me we would all lose the house if I upset him."

"Have you ever seen an order saying Nico must leave Illinois?" Luca asked.

"No. And I've never agreed to send him away."

Vanessa sat on the edge of a chair. "My father told me you thought I wasn't ready to raise him."

Elena's face crumpled. "Oh, sweetheart. I thought you were waiting until you felt strong enough to ask."

The two women looked at one another, and I understood how years could disappear between people who had been hearing different versions of the same story.

Elena went to a drawer beneath the window and brought out a folder. Inside were receipts for house repairs, school papers and the documents she had been given when Nico first came to live with her. The top page bore the name of a court and a date from six years earlier. The language was dense, but one phrase stood out even to me: temporary guardianship.

"I've kept every paper," Elena said. "I didn't know which ones mattered."

Luca took photographs with her permission, making sure Nico's personal information stayed off the screen of anyone outside the room. He sent the images to Grace, who replied that she would need certified copies before reaching a conclusion.

"And the man from Lorenzo's office?" Vanessa asked.

Elena looked alarmed. "What man?"

"He said someone would come today."

"No one has."

Sal glanced toward the window. A gray sedan was slowing near the curb, but it drove past without stopping. None of us knew whether it had anything to do with the Bellinis. Luca told us not to turn ordinary traffic into proof of a threat.

For the first time that day, I saw him trying to be careful instead of merely powerful.

Elena returned the folder to the drawer. "If Lorenzo truly intends to move Nico, I want to know what he believes gives him the right. I'm his guardian, not his grandfather."

"Does Nico know any of this?" Vanessa asked.

"He knows you love him. That's all I have ever told him."

Vanessa wiped at her eyes. Beyond the closed doorway, something scraped softly across the floor, followed by Elena's gentle reminder that lunch was nearly ready. It was such an ordinary household sound that for a moment I forgot the mansion, the dinner guests and the red mitten.

Luca stood. "We shouldn't interrupt him. Let the lawyer read the papers."

Vanessa rose beside him. "I want to tell Nico myself what's changing. When I actually know."

Elena nodded. "Then that's what we'll do."

Back in the car, Sal waited until everyone was seated before turning the key. Vanessa looked at him through the mirror.

"Thank you for taking me Tuesday," she said. "And today."

"You're welcome."

Luca's phone buzzed. He read the message from Grace, then read it again.

"What is it?" I asked before I could stop myself.

He turned the screen toward Vanessa. Grace had located an entry in the court's public index. It listed Elena as Nico's temporary guardian. It did not list Lorenzo as a parent or guardian.