Chapter 11 - HELENA’S REVENGE
Helena survived.
That did not earn forgiveness.
Carmine had her wounds treated in the hunting house while guards searched the woods.
No pursuers.
No cars.
No obvious trail.
Whoever released Helena wanted her to reach Carmine.
Another message disguised as escape.
Carmine sat across from her beside the cold fireplace.
“You hurt my son.”
Helena closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“That does not disappear because someone hurt you.”
“I know.”
“I will not pretend your father made you do it.”
“I know.”
Carmine studied her.
It would have been easier if she defended herself.
Harder when she finally stopped.
“Why Leo?”
Helena looked at her hands.
“Because I hated your father.”
“He is dead.”
“I hated yours.”
Carmine waited.
“I hated you because you got to inherit everything my father lost.”
“That still doesn’t reach Leo.”
Her eyes filled.
“Then Leo was born.”
Carmine’s jaw tightened.
“You saw another Bellucci boy who would inherit after you.”
“Yes.”
“Three years old.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided he should pay for Vittorio.”
Helena shook her head.
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“When my father came back into my life.”
She explained.
Vittorio spoke of Giancarlo constantly.
The quarry.
The betrayal.
The years hiding.
He taught Helena to reinterpret every family memory as theft.
Every dinner at Carmine’s estate became an insult.
Every gift to Leo became proof that Carmine’s bloodline was celebrated while hers had been erased.
Hatred was rarely born complete.
It was trained.
Vittorio trained hers.
“He told me one day you would destroy yourself,” Helena said.
“How?”
“He said you loved power more than people.”
Carmine looked away.
“Was he wrong?”
Helena hesitated.
“No.”
The honesty hurt.
“But he was wrong about Leo.”
“How?”
“He said the boy wouldn’t matter until someone threatened him.”
Carmine remembered the past three weeks.
“Again. Was he wrong?”
Helena began crying.
“No.”
The room held the answer.
Carmine had failed before Helena became cruel.
That did not reduce her guilt.
It expanded his.
She continued.
“At first I only moved Leo downstairs because I wanted you to notice.”
“You could have called.”
“I wanted you to fail.”
Carmine absorbed it.
“Then he cried.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I became angry at him for making me feel guilty.”
There.
The ugliest confession.
“So you punished him more.”
“Yes.”
Carmine stared at the fireplace.
“You wanted revenge.”
“Yes.”
“Did it feel like victory when he knelt beside your car?”
Helena covered her face.
“No.”
“Good.”
She lowered her hands.
Carmine’s voice became cold.
“Because that memory is yours now.”
Helena looked at him.
“You will carry it longer than any punishment I give you.”
She swallowed.
“What are you going to do?”
Carmine leaned back.
“First, you tell me where Vittorio is.”
“I don’t know.”
Carmine said nothing.
She corrected herself.
“I know where he was supposed to be tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“Old Bellucci social club in Brooklyn.”
“Why?”
“He told me to bring Leo.”
Carmine stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Before you returned.”
“What did he want with my son?”
“He said Leo was the key to making you choose.”
“Choose what?”
“He never said.”
Carmine rose.
Helena grabbed his sleeve.
“Carmine.”
He looked down.
“I was never going to bring him.”
“You made him sleep downstairs.”
“I know.”
“You withheld food.”
“I know.”
“You dragged him through the same fear your father put into you.”
She released him.
“Yes.”
Carmine walked toward the door.
Helena called after him.
“Vittorio thinks Rosalie is with the Second House.”
Carmine stopped.
“What?”
“He doesn’t have her.”
“Thomas saw a photograph.”
“My father showed him.”
“Then he knew where she was.”
“No.”
Helena shook her head.
“The photograph was sent to him too.”
Carmine turned.
“By who?”
“Someone using Rosalie to control him.”
The truth shifted again.
Vittorio had spent years looking like the man holding Rosalie.
Maybe he was another person being pulled by the same string.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Helena laughed bitterly.
“Because he hates you.”
There it was.
Simple enough to coexist with fear.
Vittorio wanted Rosalie found.
But he also wanted Carmine punished.
People could hold two motives.
That made them harder to predict.
Helena looked toward the door.
“If you go to the social club, he’ll expect violence.”
Carmine nodded.
“Yes.”
“So what will you do?”
Carmine thought of Leo gripping his sleeve.
Rosalie’s recording.
If Leo is ever put in danger, look at who benefits when you leave him to chase revenge.
Carmine smiled faintly.
“I’m staying home.”
Helena frowned.
“What?”
“He expects Carmine Bellucci.”
Carmine looked at Anthony.
“Send word that I’m afraid.”
Anthony stared.
Carmine continued.
“Tell everyone I won’t leave the estate because Vittorio threatened my son.”
Helena slowly understood.
“You want him to think he broke you.”
“No.”
May you like
Carmine looked toward the window.
“I want whoever is watching Vittorio to think he succeeded.”
