Chapter 5 - The Deception
"They will never take my son," Lorenzo declared, his voice echoing through the grand library the following morning.
I stood by the window, nervously rocking Leo in my arms. Outside the estate gates, I could see three black sedans accompanied by two police cruisers.
"If they enter this house with a warrant, and you use force, the federal government will intervene," warned Antonio, Lorenzo’s high-powered mob lawyer. "The Morettis played a dirty trick. They knew you couldn't shoot federal agents without starting a war with the government."
Lorenzo paced the room, his eyes scanning the blueprints of his estate. "What is the legal loophole, Antonio?"
"Under state law," Antonio explained, adjusting his glasses, "a child cannot be removed from a home under emergency child welfare protocols if both legally recognized parents or a legal guardian living on the property refuse consent—unless there is immediate proof of physical abuse. However, since Leo’s mother is dead, you are a single father facing allegations of neglect."
Antonio paused, looking between Lorenzo and me.
"Unless you are married," Antonio dropped the bombshell. "If you are married to the woman nursing him, she becomes his legal stepmother on the spot. Social services cannot remove a nursing infant from his mother’s custody without a full six-month court hearing."
The room went completely silent.
I stared at Antonio, then at Lorenzo. "Married? A fake marriage?"
"It doesn't have to be fake in the eyes of the law," Lorenzo said, stopping his pacing. He turned his deep, intense gaze onto me. "Clara, if we do this, you become Mrs. Rossi. You will inherit my wealth, my reputation, and my enemies. It will tie you to me forever."
"And if I say no?" I asked.
"Then they take Leo to a state facility today," Lorenzo said, his voice laced with raw pain. "And the Morettis will make sure he never leaves that facility alive."
I looked down at Leo. He was staring up at me with big, bright blue eyes, blowing tiny bubbles, completely oblivious to the war surrounding him. He had become my world. I couldn't let them kill him.
"Get the priest," I said, raising my head proudly. "Do it now."
Fifteen minutes later, in the grand foyer of the Rossi estate, Father Matteo, the family’s trusted priest, performed a rapid, legally binding Catholic ceremony.
I wore my simple light blue dress. Lorenzo wore his black suit. There were no flowers, no music, only the sound of heavy boots outside the iron gates.
"By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife," Father Matteo blessed us quickly. "What God has joined, let no man put asunder."
"You may kiss the bride," the priest added.
Lorenzo turned to me. He reached out, pulled me gently by the waist, and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss wasn't fake. It was deep, possessive, and electric, sending a sharp wave of heat through my entire body.
When he pulled back, his eyes were blazing.
"Welcome to the family, Mrs. Rossi," he murmured.
Seconds later, the heavy front doors burst open. A team of state social workers flanked by armed police officers and smooth-talking lawyers stepped into the grand foyer.
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"Lorenzo Rossi!" the lead social worker announced, holding up a stack of paper. "We are here under emergency order to seize the infant child, Leo Rossi—"
"You are trespassing," Lorenzo interrupted coldly, stepping forward and pulling me and Leo into his side. "This is my wife, Clara Rossi. And this is our son. If you take one more step into my home, my lawyers will have you arrested for illegal entry and harassment of a nursing mother."
