Chapter 5
Maria became important for a reason that made her uncomfortable.
She had broken Helena’s rules.
Repeatedly.
When Leo was denied dessert, Maria gave him fruit in the laundry room.
When Helena told the kitchen not to feed him until he finished a task, Maria made sandwiches.
When she found him asleep near the garage, she carried him upstairs.
That explained why Helena had grown increasingly hostile toward her.
Maria thought the conflict was personal.
It was not.
Julia found two drafts of termination paperwork prepared by Helena’s assistant.
Both described Maria as insubordinate.
One accused her of undermining parental discipline.
Carmine looked at Maria.
“You were going to be fired.”
“I assumed she’d try eventually.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Maria gave him a long look.
Then answered carefully.
“Because every time staff raised something about Mrs. Bellucci, we were told family matters weren’t our concern.”
Carmine said nothing.
“Not by you directly,” Maria added.
“That doesn’t help.”
“No.”
He appreciated that she did not try to make him feel better.
The deeper review of Helena’s instructions showed another pattern.
She had been gradually removing people who interrupted the situations she wanted documented.
Leo’s regular nanny was reassigned twice.
Maria’s lunch breaks were moved.
One sympathetic bodyguard was transferred to the front gate.
The timing created windows when Helena controlled Leo’s immediate environment.
Carmine asked Julia:
“Is this enough to prove she was trying to make me lose custody?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we still don’t know that was the goal.”
Claire spoke from the other side of the table.
“What else would it be?”
Julia did not speculate.
That discipline was becoming irritatingly contagious.
Then Carmine’s security chief discovered a physical detail.
Helena’s luxury car had a professionally installed parking camera system.
Not a secret system.
A normal feature.
The garage damage photographs showed it had been active during several of Leo’s punishments.
Julia obtained the footage through Helena’s attorney after putting everyone on notice to preserve relevant records.
Most of it showed nothing useful.
Cars.
Staff.
Garage doors.
Then one clip captured Helena standing several yards away speaking on the phone while Leo scrubbed the vehicle.
The audio was faint and incomplete.
Julia refused to treat unclear fragments like perfect evidence.
But one sentence was audible.
Helena said:
“Friday will look worse.”
May you like
Then she glanced directly toward Leo.
Friday was his next custody exchange.
