Chapter 7
Police trace the call.
A motel near the state line.
By the time they arrive, Helena is gone.
But the room is not empty.
There are food containers.
A burned pile of papers in the sink.
A torn blouse.
And a handwritten address.
Not Carmine’s estate.
Not Bellini headquarters.
The address belongs to Martin Cole.
The former company lawyer who signed Danielle’s termination letter.
Ruiz visits him that evening.
Carmine is not allowed inside.
He waits in the car with Samuel.
Twenty-seven minutes later, Ruiz returns.
Her expression is grim.
“He admits helping Adrian conceal the old foundation inquiry.”
Carmine looks at her.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Adrian told him disclosure would collapse investor confidence while Sofia was dying.”
“That’s his excuse?”
“There’s more.”
Of course there is.
“Martin says Sofia contacted him privately.”
Carmine’s chest tightens.
“When?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
“What did she ask?”
“She wanted independent counsel for Leo’s trust.”
Samuel looks at Carmine.
“That explains the amendment.”
Ruiz nods.
“Martin referred her to Evelyn Shaw.”
“Then why help Adrian?”
“He claims he thought the foundation issue was smaller than Sofia believed.”
Carmine laughs bitterly.
“And when did he realize it wasn’t?”
“After her death.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing.”
That answer disgusts Carmine more than he expects.
Nothing.
People build disasters out of nothing.
Not speaking.
Not checking.
Not reading.
Not asking.
Carmine has done plenty of nothing himself.
Ruiz continues.
“Martin says Adrian came to him the morning after Sofia died.”
Carmine looks up.
“Why?”
“He wanted to know whether Sofia had executed any amendments.”
“And?”
“Martin lied.”
Samuel raises his eyebrows.
“He told Adrian there were none?”
“Yes.”
Carmine almost smiles.
“Why?”
“Guilt, according to him.”
“Did Adrian believe him?”
“Apparently not entirely.”
That explains the years of searching.
The sunroom.
Helena’s obsession.
The hidden phone beneath Sofia’s piano bench.
They were looking for whatever Sofia left behind.
That night, Carmine sits on Leo’s bed.
Leo is drawing.
“What’s that?”
“A dragon.”
“It has six legs.”
“It’s rich.”
Carmine smiles.
“What does being rich have to do with legs?”
“It can buy more.”
For the first time in days, Carmine laughs.
Leo smiles proudly.
Then his expression changes.
“Are you going to marry someone else?”
Carmine is not ready for that question.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“I don’t know about ever.”
Leo looks worried.
Carmine puts down the drawing.
“But nobody is coming into this house unless you feel safe with them.”
Leo considers that.
“Helena was nice before.”
“I know.”
“She made cookies.”
“I remember.”
“She bought me the robot.”
“Yes.”
“Why did she change?”
Carmine thinks carefully.
“Maybe she didn’t change.”
Leo looks confused.
“Sometimes people show us only the parts they want us to see.”
“Like costumes?”
“Exactly.”
Leo nods.
“Her costume was nice.”
“Yes.”
Then Leo whispers:
“Did she marry you because of money?”
Carmine looks toward the window.
“I think money was part of it.”
“And Uncle Adrian?”
“He wanted control.”
“Of your company?”
“Yes.”
Leo frowns.
“Why didn’t he just ask?”
Carmine laughs softly.
“That would have been easier.”
At 11:30 p.m., Daniel knocks.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We have movement.”
Carmine steps into the hallway.
“Adrian?”
“His corporate card was used.”
“Where?”
“At a private airfield.”
Carmine’s stomach tightens.
“Plane?”
“Attempted charter.”
“Attempted?”
“The payment was declined because accounts are frozen.”
“Is he still there?”
“No.”
“Camera?”
Daniel shows footage.
Adrian arrives alone.
He argues with an employee.
Leaves.
No Helena.
Police are notified.
Then another message comes.
An email to Carmine’s private account.
From Adrian.
Subject: YOU OWE ME.
Carmine opens it.
One sentence.
You took the company, the family, and the life that should have been mine.
Carmine stares.
Samuel reads over his shoulder.
“That’s motive dressed as self-pity.”
Another email arrives.
You were always the golden son.
Then another.
Grandfather chose you because Sofia made you respectable.
Carmine feels something old stir.
Adrian had always joked about Carmine being the favorite.
Carmine never took it seriously.
Another email.
She found the money because she couldn’t leave things alone.
Carmine goes still.
He replies before Samuel can stop him.
What happened the night before she died?
Three dots never appear.
Email.
Not messaging.
He waits.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Then a reply.
Ask your precious doctor.
Carmine looks at Samuel.
“Dr. Pike?”
“Maybe.”
Ruiz is called.
Within an hour, police obtain Dr. Pike’s location.
He is at his clinic.
They bring him in for questioning.
At 2:00 a.m., Ruiz calls.
“Pike admits visiting Sofia’s hospital room.”
Carmine stands.
“When?”
“The night Adrian visited.”
“Why?”
“He says Adrian asked him to provide a private psychiatric consult.”
Carmine’s blood goes cold.
“For Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“She had cancer.”
“I know.”
“Why psychiatric?”
“Adrian allegedly wanted documentation that Sofia was confused.”
Carmine understands immediately.
“So he could challenge anything she signed.”
“Yes.”
“Did Pike evaluate her?”
“He says briefly.”
“What did Sofia say?”
“According to Pike, she told him to get out.”
Despite everything, Carmine almost smiles.
That sounds like Sofia.
“Did he falsify anything?”
“Possibly.”
“How possibly?”
“We found a note in archived records describing Sofia as exhibiting paranoia and impaired judgment.”
“She was investigating actual theft.”
“Yes.”
“So her ‘paranoia’ was correct.”
“It appears that way.”
Carmine grips his phone.
“Did Adrian kill her?”
Ruiz is quiet.
“Nothing we have shows that.”
“Then why did Helena say she knows what happened?”
“We’re still finding out.”
By morning, the scandal breaks publicly.
Bellini Development issues a statement confirming an investigation into former CFO Adrian Bellini.
Shares fall.
News vans camp outside headquarters.
Carmine receives calls from investors, directors, reporters, family members he has not spoken to in years.
He ignores most of them.
Then his aunt Bianca calls.
Adrian’s mother.
Carmine answers.
“How could you?”
He closes his eyes.
“Good morning, Aunt Bianca.”
“You sent police after my son.”
“Your son stole from a charity.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I have records.”
“Records can lie.”
“He tried to send my child to an institution to gain voting control.”
Silence.
Then:
“Helena told me Leo needed help.”
Carmine stands straighter.
“You spoke to Helena?”
“Of course. She’s family.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
His pulse spikes.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Don’t speak to me like that.”
“Aunt Bianca.”
His voice drops.
“If you are helping either of them hide, you may be helping people who threatened an eight-year-old.”
Bianca becomes defensive.
“Adrian would never hurt a child.”
“He called Leo a voting block.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“He helped fabricate medical records.”
“You always think the worst of him.”
Carmine almost laughs.
“No. That was my mistake.”
Bianca hangs up.
Police visit her house.
She denies knowing where Adrian is.
At noon, Leo asks to visit Sofia’s grave.
Carmine agrees.
Daniel dislikes the idea.
“Public cemetery. Too exposed.”
“We’ll secure it.”
They arrive with two vehicles.
Leo carries yellow flowers.
He kneels beside the headstone.
“Hi, Mommy.”
Carmine looks away to give him privacy.
Then Leo says:
“Daddy found your letter.”
Carmine’s throat tightens.
Leo places the flowers down.
“You were right. He picked me.”
Carmine cannot breathe for a second.
Then Daniel’s voice snaps through the quiet.
“Sir.”
Carmine turns.
A man stands fifty yards away near a line of trees.
Baseball cap.
Dark jacket.
Daniel moves instantly.
The man runs.
Two guards chase him.
Carmine grabs Leo and puts him behind the stone monument.
“Daddy!”
“It’s okay.”
A vehicle starts beyond the trees.
Tires squeal.
Daniel shouts into his radio.
The car speeds away.
One guard returns carrying something.
A camera.
Telephoto lens.
“Photographer?” Carmine asks.
Daniel checks.
“No memory card.”
Then another guard finds an envelope taped beneath a nearby bench.
Carmine’s name is written on it.
Inside is a printed photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
Leo kneeling at Sofia’s grave.
On the back, handwritten:
You can’t guard him forever.
Carmine’s face goes cold.
Leo sees it.
“What does it say?”
Carmine tears the photo in half.
“Nothing that matters.”
But it matters.
Very much.
Police inspect the cemetery footage.
The fleeing man wore a cap too low for identification.
The vehicle plates were stolen.
That evening, Carmine moves Leo temporarily to a secure family property.
Not the main estate.
A smaller home two hours away.
Only five people know the location.
Carmine.
Daniel.
Samuel.
Rosa.
Detective Ruiz.
At 8:40 p.m., a car approaches the private gate.
Security stops it.
Inside is Helena.
Alone.
Hands raised.
Crying.
She steps out slowly.
“I want to talk to Carmine.”
Daniel calls him.
Carmine walks outside but stays behind the security barrier.
Helena looks terrible.
No makeup.
Wrinkled clothes.
Bruise on her arm.
“Where’s Adrian?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took the picture at the cemetery?”
Her face changes.
“What picture?”
Carmine believes that reaction.
Maybe.
“I need protection,” she says.
“Then speak to police.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
“But first you need to know what Adrian did.”
Carmine folds his arms.
“Talk.”
Helena grips the gate.
“He didn’t kill Sofia.”
Carmine waits.
“He wanted everyone to think she was mentally unstable.”
“I know.”
Helena looks shocked.
“You know about Pike?”
“Yes.”
She whispers a curse.
Then:
“There’s something you don’t know.”
“What?”
“The night before Sofia died, Adrian didn’t go to the hospital to hurt her.”
“Then why?”
“To get something.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
Carmine’s heart begins pounding.
“What recording?”
May you like
Helena stares at him.
“Sofia recorded him confessing.”
