Chapter 9 - Vittorio Had to Answer for the Table
The table flip became part of the investigation too.
No one was injured.
The children stood behind him.
But plates and glasses shattered.
Food flew across the room.
It was violent.
Later Ivy asked:
“Were you mad at the table?”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“No.”
“Then why did you break it?”
Because he wanted Vanessa to feel what destruction looked like.
Because seeing his children hungry had made something primitive rise inside him.
Because he wanted to overturn the entire system in one motion.
None of those were good explanations for a child.
So he gave her the honest one.
“I got too angry and did something dangerous.”
“But you didn’t hit Mom.”
“No.”
“Was flipping the table still bad?”
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“She was being worse.”
“Yes.”
“So both can be bad?”
“Yes.”
Ivy sighed.
“Grown-ups are complicated.”
“Very.”
Vittorio later paid for the property damage himself and gave a complete account to the family evaluator.
He refused to turn a dramatic act into proof of perfect fatherhood.
Protection was what came after.
Food.
Doctors.
Therapy.
Listening.
Records.
Consistency.
Flipping a table took two seconds.
May you like
Repair would take years.
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