Chapter 10
Helena slapped Marcus.
Hard.
He barely reacted.
Maybe he had spent a lifetime practicing.
“You ungrateful coward.”
Marcus laughed.
“Now I’m a coward?”
“You always were.”
“You told me Daniel would sleep.”
“And you believed me.”
His face collapsed.
Helena smiled cruelly.
“That is your problem. You mistake being my son for being intelligent.”
Victoria watched him absorb it.
Marcus had terrorized servants.
Threatened Noah.
Attacked Victoria.
No sympathy erased that.
But now she could see the machine that made him.
Not excuse.
Mechanism.
“What happened after Marcus left?” Victoria asked.
Helena looked at her.
“Daniel died.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He was already fading.”
“What did you do?”
Silence.
Clara held Noah tighter.
Victoria repeated:
“What did you do?”
Helena’s chin lifted.
“I let him make his choice.”
Marcus stared.
“What choice?”
She looked annoyed.
“He could have called for help.”
Victoria’s blood chilled.
“He was conscious?”
Helena said nothing.
Marcus whispered:
“Mom.”
Helena snapped:
“He was stubborn.”
“What did he say?”
Her mouth tightened.
Victoria knew there was a sentence Helena still heard at night.
“What did Daniel say?”
Helena finally answered.
“He told me Victoria would take everything.”
Victoria felt grief move through her like cold water.
“And?”
“I told him she wouldn’t.”
“What did he do?”
Helena’s eyes became wet.
Angry tears.
“He laughed.”
Marcus looked at her.
Victoria almost smiled through the pain.
Daniel.
Of course.
“What did he say?”
Helena whispered:
“He said I had spent my whole life confusing fear with loyalty.”
Silence.
The exact truth.
Helena’s face twisted.
“He was dying and still lecturing me.”
“So you left him.”
“He humiliated me.”
“You left him.”
“He chose you.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“He chose the organization.”
“No.”
Helena shouted:
“He chose you!”
The room became silent.
There.
Not business.
Jealousy.
Daniel trusted Victoria with the Bellacorte organization.
Helena never forgave either of them.
And Marcus had spent eleven months helping his mother punish everyone Daniel chose over her.
Then Clara whispered:
“There’s someone upstairs.”
A bodyguard checked his radio.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Four red-slash capos just entered the gala.”
Helena smiled.
Even exposed, she believed reinforcements were coming.
Victoria looked at her.
“Good.”
Helena frowned.
May you like
Victoria turned toward the stairs.
“Now they can hear it from you.”
