Chapter 15
The decision took fifteen minutes.
Helena lost every command privilege.
Marcus lost his capo position.
No police.
No courtroom.
No public spectacle beyond the people who needed to know.
Just the Bellacorte organization refusing to answer them anymore.
Helena laughed when Victoria announced it.
“You think silence makes you powerful?”
“No.”
“You think those men love you?”
“No.”
“Then what keeps them?”
Victoria looked around.
“Choice.”
Helena almost spat.
“Children’s fantasy.”
Victoria shook her head.
“Fear gets obedience.”
Pause.
“Choice gets loyalty.”
Marcus sat nearby.
No capo pin.
No authority.
He looked older without it.
Helena turned on him.
“This is your fault.”
He stared.
“You told me to move the portrait.”
“You moved it crooked.”
Silence.
Almost absurd.
Everything exposed because Marcus replaced a painting badly.
He laughed.
“You really blame me?”
“You failed.”
“You used me.”
“I raised you.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Helena’s eyes narrowed.
Marcus continued.
“You told me Daniel made us weak.”
“He did.”
“You told me Victoria stole my place.”
“She did.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You never planned to give me one.”
Helena said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Victoria did not comfort him.
He had threatened Clara.
Mocked Noah.
Attacked her.
Being manipulated did not erase what he chose to do.
She looked at Marcus.
“You stay away from Clara and Noah.”
He lowered his eyes.
“And Helena?”
One capo asked.
Victoria looked at Daniel’s sister.
“East guest house.”
Helena laughed.
“Exile inside my own estate?”
Victoria corrected her.
“Daniel’s estate.”
Helena’s face hardened.
Then Victoria added:
“Now mine to protect.”
Helena stood.
“You’ll regret humiliating me for servants.”
Noah heard.
Again.
Victoria looked toward him.
Then back.
“This started because you believed his humiliation didn’t count.”
Silence.
“You shoved him onto marble because his mother sews clothes.”
Nothing.
“You locked Clara away because you thought nobody powerful would care.”
Helena’s mouth tightened.
Victoria stepped closer.
“You built your plan on the assumption that people below you were invisible.”
Pause.
May you like
“Noah saw the crooked portrait.”
And that was all it took to destroy a conspiracy years in the making.
