Chương 5
“I do not know everything.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No,” Claire said.
“It is the truth.”
She took a breath.
“Elena asked me how expensive it would be to challenge custody if Daniel wanted full control.”
Stallone said nothing.
The silence forced her to continue.
“She wanted documentation showing Mia had behavioral problems.”
“Mia is three.”
“I know.”
“She wanted to use a three-year-old child as evidence.”
Claire did not answer.
She did not need to.
Stallone looked toward the hallway.
He could hear Mia laughing with Rosa.
The sound felt fragile.
“Why did you keep records?”
Claire hesitated.
“Because I knew something was wrong.”
“That is still not the whole reason.”
The woman on the phone became quiet.
Stallone had spent his life recognizing when someone was protecting information.
Finally, she spoke.
“My daughter was in that company too.”
“And?”
“Elena blamed her when the business failed.”
Stallone listened.
“She told people my daughter stole money.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
“But nobody believed us.”
Stallone understood that kind of damage.
A lie did not need to win completely.
Sometimes it only needed to make people uncertain.
“Where are the records?”
Claire swallowed.
“Some are gone.”
“Some?”
“I kept copies.”
“Why?”
“Because someday I thought someone would need them.”
Stallone looked down at the floor.
For years, he had been surrounded by people who wanted something from him.
Money.
Protection.
Influence.
Fear.
This woman wanted something simpler.
Distance.
“Meet me tomorrow,” he said.
“I cannot.”
“Then tell me where.”
Another pause.
“Not somewhere connected to you.”
Stallone almost smiled.
She was afraid of him.
Reasonably.
“Fine.”
The call ended.
When he turned around, Mia was standing in the doorway.
He had not heard her approach.
Children were quiet in ways adults forgot how to be.
“Who was that?”
“Someone helping.”
She looked concerned.
“Are they in trouble?”
Stallone crouched down.
“Maybe.”
“Can we help?”
The question was automatic.
That was the part that hurt.
Someone had treated her like a burden.
And yet her first instinct was to care about someone else.
“Yes,” he said.
“We can.”
That evening, Daniel appeared at the gate.
The security system alerted the house before he reached the door.
Stallone watched him on the monitor.
Daniel stood alone.
No lawyer.
No Elena.
No performance.
Just a tired man who looked older than he had two days earlier.
“Should I let him in?” Rosa asked.
Stallone looked toward Mia’s room.
“She is asleep.”
Rosa nodded.
“Then decide what kind of father he is before you decide what kind of grandfather you are.”
The sentence annoyed him because it sounded like something he needed to hear.
He opened the door.
Daniel stepped inside.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
The silence between them was not empty.
It was filled with years.
“You look terrible,” Stallone said.
Daniel gave a weak laugh.
“Nice to see you too.”
“Why are you here?”
Daniel looked away.
“I wanted to see Mia.”
“She is asleep.”
“I know.”
That surprised Stallone.
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I watched the footage.”
Stallone’s eyes narrowed.
“What footage?”
“The patio.”
The answer came quietly.
“Elena showed me.”
“And?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“I did not know she recorded it.”
A dangerous thought crossed Stallone’s mind.
“Why record it?”
Daniel did not answer.
Again.
The silence said enough.
“Daniel.”
His son looked up.
“I am asking you one time.”
“What?”
“Did you know she was trying to make Mia look unstable?”
Daniel’s face changed.
Not shock.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
That was worse.
Stallone stepped closer.
“You knew.”
“No.”
The denial came too quickly.
Then Daniel stopped.
His shoulders dropped.
“I knew she was angry.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“She said she was trying to protect us.”
“From what?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Stallone felt something colder than anger.
Disappointment.
“What did Elena promise you?”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“Nothing.”
“You have spent your whole life choosing comfort over responsibility.”
“That is unfair.”
“Is it?”
Daniel’s eyes became wet, but he refused to let the tears fall.
“She made me feel like I was failing.”
“You were.”
The words hurt because they were true.
Daniel nodded slowly.
“I know.”
It was the first honest thing he had said.
“I thought if I kept everyone calm, things would get better.”
“They do not get better when everyone stays quiet.”
Daniel sat down.
For a moment, he looked less like a businessman and more like the boy Stallone remembered from decades earlier.
A boy who used to run into his office after school.
A boy who once believed his father could fix anything.
“I do not know how to fix this,” Daniel whispered.
Stallone looked toward the staircase.
Neither man spoke for a while.
Outside, the security lights turned on as the night grew darker.
The house remained standing.
The family inside it did not.
Then Stallone’s phone buzzed.
A new message from Claire.
An address.
And one warning.
Do not come alone.
Stallone read it twice.
Because whoever was behind Elena’s plan was no longer hiding.
And now they knew someone had started looking back.
Stallone did not tell Daniel about the meeting.
Not because he wanted to hide information.
Because he was not sure whether Daniel could carry the weight of knowing it.
The man standing in front of him was not the enemy.
That was the problem.
Enemies were easier.
They announced themselves.
They prepared for battle.
They did not look at you with the same disappointment you felt toward yourself.
Daniel left after midnight.
He paused at the doorway before stepping outside.
“I do love her.”
Stallone looked at him.
“Mia.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
“Then start acting like it.”
Daniel stood there for a moment.
The words were simple.
The damage behind them was not.
He walked away without another response.
The next morning, Stallone drove alone to the address Claire had provided.
May you like
He left the bodyguards behind.
Not because he trusted the situation.
