The Family He Lost While Choosing Another

The next morning, Nico was still running a fever.

I should have kept him home, but the incident papers from the training hall had to be signed that day. Insurance, liability, internal reports, none of it could wait. So I bundled him into his coat and took him with me to the family law office.

He was quiet most of the drive.

When we were almost there, he asked, "Do you think Dad will be around?"

I kept my eyes on the road. "We're just here to finish the paperwork."

That answer was enough to tell him not to ask again.

The secretary took us upstairs, and the moment we stepped onto the floor, I saw Dante at the counter.

Claire was beside him.

Leo was leaning against the desk, swinging one leg, looking far too pleased with himself for that early in the morning.

There was a stack of papers spread out in front of them. The one on top caught my eye at once.

Elite junior program authorization.

I stopped walking.

That spot had been mentioned for Nico weeks ago. One of the trainers had pulled me aside after practice and said that, if he stayed on track, they would move him up by the end of the month.

Dante was signing it for Leo.

Nico saw him then, and for a second everything else seemed to fall away. The fever, the bandage on his shoulder, the way he had cried himself to sleep the night before. He stepped forward with the incident file clutched in both hands.

"Dad."

Dante looked up.

Before he could speak, Leo pulled the paper toward himself and grinned.

"So this is mine now?"

Nico stopped where he was.

"That spot was supposed to be mine."

Leo gave him a slow look, starting with the file in his hands and ending at the bandage under his coat.

"You couldn't even make it through one accident."

I moved before Nico could answer and put myself between them.

"He was in a fire yesterday," I said to Dante. "And this is what you're doing this morning?"

Dante didn't even glance at the file in Nico's hands.

"Leo's paperwork was already scheduled."

"So was Nico's," I said. "Or were you too busy to notice?"

Claire stepped in lightly, voice calm, almost gentle.

"Serena, no one is trying to hurt him. He's exhausted, he's injured, and he clearly shouldn't be here. Maybe pulling him from the program for a while is the best thing."

I turned to her.

"No one asked you."

She looked stung, but only for a second. Then she lowered her eyes and said, "I'm only trying to be realistic."

Nico had gone very still behind me. After a moment, he tugged at my sleeve.

When I looked down, his face was white.

"That place really was mine, wasn't it?" he asked.

I opened my mouth.

Dante answered first.

"If one accident is enough to break him, then he was never fit to be the Moretti heir."

The whole hallway seemed to go quiet after that.

Nico didn't cry. He didn't say anything at all. He just lowered his head and tightened his grip on the file until the papers bent under his fingers.

I looked at Dante for a long moment.

Then I walked to the counter, took the incident file from Nico's hands, and placed it in front of the secretary.

"Process these," I said. "And withdraw his elite-track placement."

She froze and looked at Dante.

I didn't.

"This is over," I said. "Nico is done with the Moretti elite program, and we're done."