Chapter 5 - HELENA’S DEBT
Helena had spent most of the night awake in the blue drawing room.
Sebastian found her sitting beneath a portrait of his father.
She looked at the painting instead of him.
“Vittorio hated that portrait.”
“So do I.”
“He said it made him look kind.”
Sebastian poured no drink.
“Why did Adrian tell me not to blame you first?”
Helena smiled faintly.
“Because he knew you.”
“That is becoming irritating.”
“It should.”
Sebastian sat opposite her.
“Tell me about the Black Table.”
“No.”
He stared.
Helena looked back.
“You cannot threaten every answer into existence.”
“I can try.”
“That is Vittorio speaking.”
Sebastian went silent.
She had chosen the right weapon.
Helena continued:
“My husband Paolo was supposed to lead the family after your grandfather died.”
Sebastian frowned.
“Paolo was never—”
“Considered?”
“Yes.”
“That is the story Vittorio told.”
Another history fracture.
Helena looked toward the portrait.
“Paolo held the fifth seat.”
Sebastian felt cold.
“The empty circle.”
“Yes.”
“What did it do?”
“Stopped the boss from becoming a king.”
Sebastian almost laughed.
“And my father?”
“Wanted to become one.”
Helena’s mouth tightened.
“Paolo opposed him.”
“What happened?”
“Your father arranged a hunting accident.”
Sebastian’s face hardened.
“Proof?”
“I held Paolo while he died.”
“That proves he died.”
“It does not prove who ordered it.”
She nodded.
“Correct.”
Sebastian noticed.
Helena was not asking him to accept hatred as fact.
That gave her story weight.
“Why do you believe Vittorio?”
“Because Rocco Vane told me.”
The name was old.
A family enforcer who disappeared thirty years earlier.
“Rocco is dead.”
Helena smiled.
“Your family says that about many inconvenient men.”
Sebastian said nothing.
Helena continued:
“After Paolo died, Vittorio dissolved the old Table publicly.”
“But secretly?”
“Kept the fifth seat.”
“For August?”
“No.”
Sebastian watched her.
“Who?”
“That is what Adrian was trying to learn.”
“Why did you help condemn him?”
Helena finally looked ashamed.
“Because I thought he had discovered Chad’s involvement in something else.”
“What?”
“Chad had been meeting men without permission.”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened.
“Which men?”
“People from the old fifth-seat network.”
“So you protected your son.”
“Yes.”
“At Adrian’s expense.”
“Yes.”
“And now you abuse Leo.”
Her eyes flashed.
“I never touched Leo.”
“You threatened to throw him away.”
“I wanted him out of the house.”
“Same defense.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“I believed somebody was coming for him.”
Sebastian paused.
“Who?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You could have told me.”
“You had already failed Adrian.”
The words landed hard.
Helena continued:
“You turned your brother out because five adults gave you a convenient story.”
“You think I trusted you with his son?”
Sebastian stood.
“You let Chad terrorize him.”
“I told Chad to frighten him into asking to leave.”
Sebastian’s face became lethal.
Helena did not retreat.
“I did not tell Chad to hurt him.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Sebastian leaned toward her.
“You were willing to damage a child to move him away from danger.”
Helena closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then you became the danger first.”
She accepted that.
When she looked up again, her face was wet.
Not enough for forgiveness.
Enough for truth.
“Paolo used to say fear was the fastest way to make children obey.”
Sebastian thought of Leo against the table.
“Apparently he taught you well.”
Helena nodded.
“So did Vittorio teach you.”
Neither could claim clean hands.
Sebastian sat again.
“Why did Chad want Adrian’s key?”
“Because someone told him Adrian was alive.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“Who?”
Helena looked toward the dark window.
“A man with half his face burned.”
Sebastian’s breathing changed.
“What did he call himself?”
“He didn’t.”
“What did he say?”
“That Adrian had survived.”
“And?”
“That if Chad wanted his father’s stolen seat back, he needed the key Adrian left with Leo.”
Sebastian stared.
“Chad believed him.”
“Chad believes anything that turns resentment into destiny.”
“Where did they meet?”
“The old Moretti wine cellar.”
The original estate.
Closed since Vittorio died.
Sebastian stood.
Helena grabbed his wrist.
He looked down.
“Don’t go angry.”
He almost laughed.
“You too?”
“I’m serious.”
Her grip tightened.
“The burned man knew something only Paolo knew.”
“What?”
Helena’s face darkened.
“The Moretti family does not have one fifth seat.”
Sebastian waited.
“It has two.”
“And the second?”
May you like
Helena whispered:
“Was built for the man who could destroy the family if the first five ever failed.”
