Chapter Ten
Rafael
I sit across from my daughter in the café, watching her stir her tea without drinking it.
Steam curls from the cup, and for a moment, the world feels reduced to this small table.
Bianca sits beside me, her fingers intertwined in her lap, watching Sabrina with the same quiet hope I've seen in her eyes since we found her.
Sabrina finally looks up at us.
“I'll go back with you,” she says, her voice quiet but firm. “On one condition.”
I lean forward slightly. “Which is?”
She doesn't hesitate.
“You adopt my little brother, Dario. I won't leave him behind.”
I glance at Bianca. The corner of her mouth lifts into a smile, and I can't hide the relief that settles through me.
“We already planned to,” I tell her. “He's going to be part of our family.”
Sabrina blinks, clearly surprised.
I almost reach across the table, but stop myself. She is still cautious around us, and the last thing I want is to make her feel pressured.
“I assume you know it was us parked outside the orphanage,” I say. “We saw you with him. It was obvious how much he means to you.”
She says nothing, but I catch the smallest flicker of relief in her expression.
“After we dropped off the DNA test at the lab, we stayed outside the orphanage. We didn't even know why at first. You were at your apartment, but something told us to wait. Then Dario came over and started talking to us as though we'd known each other for years.”
I glance at Bianca, remembering the moment.
“In that moment, we knew we couldn't take you away from him. He's part of your life, and now he's part of ours too. We want him just as much as we want you. So you don't need to ask us to adopt him. We've already decided.”
A small, uncertain smile appears on Sabrina's face.
It isn't much, but it's something.
For the first time in weeks, some of the weight I've been carrying begins to lift. We aren't a family yet – not really. There is too much history between us, too many years missing and too many things neither of us understands.
But we're moving in the right direction.
***
The headmistress's office smells of old paper and cheap coffee. It's too small for all of us, with Enzo leaning against the wall near the window while Dante and Matteo stand beside him. Bianca sits next to me, her back straight and her hands folded neatly in her lap.
Sabrina led us here before disappearing the moment the children spotted her.
I saw it through the glass panel in the door. A few excited voices, someone shouting her name, and then the boxes of pastries she'd brought were surrounded by small hands and bright smiles. Within seconds, Sabrina had disappeared among them as though that was exactly where she belonged.
The sight had tightened something in my chest.
The headmistress clears her throat. “Thank you for waiting. Sabrina said you wanted to discuss... arrangements.”
I don't like the word.
“My daughter has her own apartment,” I say evenly. “She's seventeen. I'd like an explanation.”
The headmistress avoids my eyes, adjusting a stack of papers on her desk that doesn't need adjusting.
“That was... a decision I had to make.”
Bianca stiffens beside me.
“You had to?”
“She was disappearing,” the woman explains. “Frequently. Overnight sometimes. She wouldn't tell anyone where she was going. She broke curfew repeatedly. We couldn't control her.”
Control.
The word sits badly with me.
“So you kicked her out?”
Her lips press together. “I had to ask her to leave. It was disruptive. We have other children to think about.”
I lean forward, keeping my voice controlled.
“You expelled a minor from the only legal place she had to live because she wouldn't account for every hour of her life.”
“She was difficult,” the headmistress snaps, finally looking at me. “Closed off. Defiant.”
“She was surviving,” I say. “And you abandoned her.”
The room falls silent.
Bianca's hand settles on my arm, grounding me. Matteo's jaw tightens, while Dante's expression darkens. Enzo doesn't say a word, but the look in his eyes tells me everything I need to know.
“You left my daughter to fend for herself,” I continue. “No guardian. No supervision. No protection. If something had happened to her, if she'd disappeared for good, how exactly would you have explained that?”
The headmistress swallows.
“She insisted she didn't need help.”
“She's a child,” I say sharply. “Children don't get to decide whether they deserve care.”
Silence stretches between us.
Bianca squeezes my hand.
“We're not here to argue,” she says calmly. “We're here to finalise the adoption process – for both Sabrina and Dario.”
The headmistress blinks.
“For Sabrina? And the other boy?”
“Yes.” I hold her gaze. “Sabrina is our biological daughter. Dario will become a legal part of our family. We've already fast-tracked everything: the court filings, guardianship paperwork and home inspections. Everything is ready to be finalised today.”
Her eyes widen.
“That's... very fast.”
“There's no reason to waste time. Sabrina has finally been found, and Dario will have a stable home with his sister and us. Neither of them will be abandoned or left unprotected again.”
The tension in the room eases slightly.
For the first time since finding Sabrina, I feel as though we're actually able to give her something instead of simply asking things from her.
A family.
A home.
Security.
Something she should have had seventeen years ago.
As we leave the office, the weight in my chest eases.
Everything is finally in place.
Both children can come with us.
I make myself a silent promise as we walk down the corridor.
Nothing – not anyone – will ever take them from us again.