Chapter 3 - THE VOICE OF A CHILD
Lorenzo stopped three feet away from the small girl. He stood at his full six-foot-three height, his broad frame casting a long shadow across the polished marble floor, but his dark eyes showed no malice—only a sharp, intense curiosity.
Sophie wiped her wet face with the ear of her stuffed rabbit, swallowed hard, and looked straight up into Lorenzo’s dark eyes.
"I’m not a thief," Sophie whispered, her small voice shaking, but carrying a brave, clear defiance that surprised every man standing in the hallway.
Lorenzo tilted his head slightly, his sharp brows pulling together. "Is that right?"
Sophie raised her tiny arm, her finger pointing six yards down the corridor where Elena was sprinting toward them, her laundry smock wet with dishwater, her face ghostly pale with absolute, suffocating terror.
"Mommy gives me her food because we don’t have enough," Sophie sobbed softly, her small chest shaking. "She doesn't eat at night so I can have the bread. I was just trying to help her."
The entire corridor fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
The guard holding the roll lowered his hand slightly, his face flushing with sudden, awkward embarrassment. The two lieutenants standing behind Lorenzo looked down at the marble floor, unable to meet the child’s tear-filled eyes.
Elena reached them, collapsing onto her knees against the hard marble floor beside her daughter. She pulled Sophie violently into her arms, burying the little girl's face against her laundry smock, her body trembling uncontrollably as she looked up at Lorenzo.
"Mr. Moretti... please," Elena begged, her voice cracking into a desperate, raspy sob. "Please don't hurt her. It was my fault. I... I brought her into the service wing because she had a fever this morning and I couldn't leave her in the car... Please fire me, but don't harm my baby!"
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Lorenzo stood completely motionless.
His dark, unblinking eyes moved slowly from the trembling, tear-streaked child up to the hollow, terrified face of the young mother kneeling at his boots.
