PAPERS AND BLADE
1083 Words
Luca's fist slammed down on the desk, the sound like a gunshot in the silence.
"They're going after custody."
The words echoed in the room, bouncing off mahogany walls and antique glass. I stood frozen, Ivy’s laughter faint in the background as she played in the next room unaware of the war unraveling in her name.
"Can they even do that?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Luca looked at me, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "If they can prove you’re an unfit mother, or that we lied about her paternity and concealed her existence to manipulate the estate..."
He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
I sat slowly, nausea rising. "They want to paint me as a fraud."
"No," he corrected. "They want to paint you as negligent. And me as complicit."
The knock came seconds later.
One of Luca's men entered, holding a thick manila envelope.
“It just arrived. Courier. No return address.”
Luca opened it, eyes scanning the document. Then he held it up, expression unreadable.
A legal petition for emergency custody of Ivy Hale.
Filed by Matteo DeRossi and Vivienne Lancaster.
My breath caught.
“They’re claiming parental concern for Ivy’s safety,” Luca said. “That your lifestyle constant travel, instability, unknown male figures puts her at risk.”
I stared at him. “Unknown male figures? That’s you.”
His lips twisted bitterly. “And they’re using it against us.”
There was more. A list of names “witnesses.” People willing to testify against me. Friends. Former coworkers.
And one name that shattered everything.
Claire Bishop.
My former best friend. Ivy’s godmother.
“She said she’d vouch for me,” I whispered, snatching the page. “She told me she’d support anything I needed. I trusted her.”
“She was always close to Vivienne,” Luca said darkly. “I should’ve seen it.”
My heart throbbed in my chest. “Claire knows everything. How hard I fought to keep Ivy safe. How many nights I went without food just to buy formula.”
“She also knows about the contract,” Luca added quietly.
I looked up at him.
“She could testify that our marriage wasn’t about love,” he said. “That you agreed to it for financial protection. That Ivy came first.”
“She’d twist it,” I said bitterly. “Make it sound like I used you.”
"Exactly what they want," he said.
I felt the walls closing in. They weren’t just trying to ruin us they were trying to take my daughter.
“I won’t let them have her,” I said, voice shaking with fury. “I don’t care what it takes.”
Luca nodded. “Then we start fighting back.”
That night, we called in his legal team two women in tailored suits and sharper expressions. One of them, Celia Moretti, barely blinked as she read through the petition.
“They want a court date within seven days,” she said. “Emergency hearing. High-profile judge. Matteo pulled strings.”
“Of course he did,” I muttered.
Celia looked up. “But we have leverage. First, we prove malicious intent. Matteo stands to inherit billions if your marriage fails. Second, we expose Vivienne’s past mental health records, restraining orders, rehab stints. She’s a PR nightmare waiting to happen.”
“She’ll deny everything,” Luca said.
“We don’t need a confession,” Celia replied. “We need reasonable doubt.”
She paused. “But there’s one thing you do need.”
Her gaze landed on me.
“A marriage that looks very real. Not rushed. Not transactional. Not cold.”
I went still.
“You’re telling me I need to… what? Start acting like a doting wife overnight?”
Celia folded her hands. “No. I’m saying you both need to become exactly what the world expects devoted. In love. Protective. A united front.”
My mouth went dry.
“And if we’re not?”
“Then Matteo gets exactly what he wants. And you lose your child.”
The next morning, the world changed again.
Paparazzi waited outside the gates. Headlines were brutal:
"Love or Lies? The DeRossi Heiress Scandal Deepens"
"Child Hidden for Years DeRossi Empire on the Brink"
And worse:
"Aurora Hale: Mother or Manipulator?"
I shut the laptop, heart thudding. “They’ve already decided I’m guilty.”
“We let them think that,” Luca said from across the room. “Then we burn them to the ground.”
He handed me a phone.
I stared at it. “What’s this?”
“Claire. Call her.”
I hesitated. “What good will that do?”
“She betrayed you. But maybe she hasn’t sold everything yet.”
I took the phone and walked out onto the terrace. My hands shook as I dialed.
She answered on the second ring.
“Rory.”
Her voice made me want to scream and sob at the same time.
“Why?” I asked.
A pause. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Then why?” I snapped. “You’re siding with them. You know what they’re doing.”
She sighed. “They came to me weeks ago. Asked questions. Threatened to dig into my record. My family. I thought… if I cooperated, they’d leave me alone.”
“And you didn’t think to warn me?” I hissed.
“I didn’t know it would go this far.”
My grip tightened. “They’re filing for custody, Claire.”
Silence.
“I didn’t sign off on that,” she whispered.
“But you gave them everything they needed.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I swear, I never wanted them to take Ivy.”
“You may not get a choice now.”
The call ended without a goodbye.
Later that night, Ivy curled up beside me in bed, her thumb in her mouth, her small hand wrapped around mine.
Luca stood in the doorway, watching us.
“I sent a warning to Matteo,” he said softly. “Let him know what we’ll do if he tries to use Ivy again.”
“What kind of warning?”
He didn’t answer. Just stepped forward and placed something on the nightstand.
A photograph.
Matteo. In a parking garage. Slipping an envelope into a lawyer’s car. Date-stamped. Time-stamped.
Evidence.
“He wants war?” Luca said. “He just declared it.”
- Writer
