Chapter 2 - The Petition at Nine.
By sunrise, the nursery no longer felt like a sanctuary.
The sealed envelope lay beside the empty bottle while Julian read the same page three times.
Bianca had filed an emergency petition claiming that he was emotionally unable to care for Leo after his wife's death.
The hearing was scheduled in forty-eight hours.
Sophia stood near the window, holding Leo while he slept.
She wanted to disappear into the background, but the petition named her twice.
It described her as inexperienced, impulsive, and hired without a verified reference.
"That isn't true," Sophia said.
Julian looked at Celeste.
"You verified her file." Celeste folded her hands.
"The agency sent documents that now appear incomplete." Sophia remembered delivering every certificate in person.
She also remembered Celeste locking them inside the office safe.
Bianca entered with family attorney Grant Hale, a polished man whose sympathy never reached his eyes.
Grant explained that the family trust controlled the mansion, Leo's medical fund, and a voting block in Rossi Holdings.
If Julian lost temporary guardianship, Bianca would control all three.
"This is not about money," Bianca said.
"It is about stability." Julian laughed once, bitterly.
"You filed papers while my son was struggling through the night." "I filed them because you spent the night crying outside his door." Sophia saw shame cross Julian's face.
She also saw Bianca notice it and press harder.
"A father can grieve," Sophia said.
The room turned toward her.
"A nanny is not part of this discussion," Grant replied.
"Then stop using my name in your petition." Sophia's voice remained level, but her pulse raced.
Grant handed her a copy of an agency letter stating that her placement had been revoked before she entered the Rossi home.
The signature looked real.
The date did not.
Sophia had been working in the nursery on the morning the letter claimed she attended an agency meeting downtown.
She told Julian there might be security footage.
Celeste said the interior camera system had been offline for maintenance.
That answer came too quickly.
Leo stirred, and Sophia carried him toward the feeding chair.
Bianca reached for the baby.
"I'll take him." Leo tensed at the sudden movement.
Sophia stepped back instinctively.
Bianca's face changed.
"You are keeping my nephew from his family." "I'm keeping his routine calm." Julian moved beside Sophia.
"Let her feed him." Bianca looked from Julian to the nanny and understood that the night had changed the balance of the house.
She told Grant to record the refusal as evidence.
During the second feeding, Leo accepted only half the bottle.
Sophia checked the label and caught a faint chemical scent beneath the milk.
She did not accuse anyone.
She sealed the bottle inside a clean storage bag and prepared another from an unopened container.
Leo drank normally.
From the doorway, Celeste watched every movement.
Later, Sophia found the sealed bottle missing.
In its place sat a dismissal letter bearing Julian's electronic signature.
Julian stared at it in disbelief.
"I never signed this." Grant checked his phone.
"The signature came from your account at 6:12 this morning." At 6:12, Julian had been standing beside Sophia, watching Leo finish his first bottle.
Someone inside the mansion was not merely preparing a case.
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Someone was writing the ending before the hearing began.
THE NANNY WHO GAVE HIM HOPE
