Across the estate lawn during the family barbecue, Javier Romano had Leo pinned face-down in the grass

The vibrant, bright colors of the courtyard seemed to blur as Javier aggressively pushed his way through the crowd of chatting guests. His heavy, casual shoes trampled over the perfectly cut grass. He was a man consumed by a toxic cocktail of inadequacy and rage, looking for the easiest target to vent his lifelong frustrations. That target happened to be a ten-year-old boy.

Leo Romano, Dante’s son, was kneeling on the grass, examining a small, bright green garden beetle. The boy wore a casual, crisp button-down shirt, neat trousers, and clean white sneakers. His fair, rosy skin was glowing with the warmth of the afternoon sun, a picture of absolute innocence. A few feet away, seven-year-old Mia Romano, wearing a beautiful yellow summer dress, a soft white cardigan, and sandals, was happily arranging a small pile of colorful pebbles.

Without a single word of warning, Javier descended upon the children.

He lunged forward, his hands grasping violently at the back of Leo’s casual shirt. With a brutal, unprovoked surge of force, Javier threw the ten-year-old boy directly into the dirt. Before Leo could even process the sudden assault, Javier dropped his heavy body weight downward, pinning the child face-down on the lawn. Javier pressed one heavy, unforgiving knee violently against the center of Leo’s small back, grinding the boy into the earth.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Leo screamed, his voice cracking with sudden, overwhelming terror. His small hands clawed desperately at the grass, trying to push himself up, but the forty-one-year-old man was far too heavy.

"Teaching you a lesson in respect, you spoiled little brat!" Javier hissed, his American accent thick with venom. "You walk around this estate like you own the place! You're nothing without your father's money!"

"Let him go!" Mia shrieked, her bright blue eyes wide with sheer panic.

The seven-year-old girl did not hesitate. Driven by pure, instinctual love for her older brother, Mia rushed forward. She grabbed Javier’s thick, muscular arm with both of her tiny hands, pulling with all her might to drag the grown man off Leo's back.

"Get off him! You're hurting him!" Mia cried out, her fair, rosy cheeks stained with instant tears.

Javier glared down at the little girl, his expression twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated malice. "Back off, you little pest!"

With a violent, callous sweep of his arm, Javier forcefully shoved the seven-year-old girl. The kinetic force sent Mia flying backward. She crashed hard onto the grass, tumbling over her own sandals, her summer dress bunching up around her knees as she let out a sharp gasp of pain.

"Mia!" Leo yelled, twisting his neck frantically to look at his sister. The heavy pressure of Javier's knee on his spine made it difficult to breathe. Panic entirely overtook the ten-year-old boy. He looked toward the crowded barbecue tables, his tear-filled eyes searching desperately for the only man in the world who could save him.

"Dad!" Leo screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing piercingly over the polite chatter of the guests. "Dad! Get him off me!"

The sudden, violent outcry shattered the peaceful atmosphere of the bright summer afternoon. Conversations among the white American guests died instantly. The clinking of glasses ceased. The wealthy capos and their elegantly dressed wives turned their heads in unison, their fair faces draining of color as they witnessed the unthinkable: a member of the family physically assaulting the children of the Boss.