Chapter 13 - THE PAYMENT AFTER THE FUNERAL
Firefighters found Helena unconscious in a stairwell.
Alive.
Under guard.
Carmine did not go to the hospital.
He went to Anthony.
"Why did you pay her?"
"To leave."
"Why?"
"Because Dad told me to."
"After Elena died?"
"Yes."
Carmine's anger shook his voice.
"Stop protecting dead men."
Then he told the truth.
The night before Elena's crash, she had confronted Vincent.
Anthony was there.
So was Helena.
Elena threatened to go to federal investigators.
Vincent demanded the files.
Elena refused.
Helena grabbed her purse.
Anthony stepped between them.
"Then what?"
"Elena left."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Who followed her?"
Anthony's face broke.
"Dad."
"No."
"He told me to stay."
"Did Helena go?"
"She left ten minutes later."
"Then?"
"Next morning, Elena crashed."
"And after the funeral?"
"Dad gave me cash. Told me to pay Helena and make her disappear."
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand."
"So she came back years later and dated me."
Anthony whispered, "I warned her not to."
"You warned her?"
"I didn't know how to tell you."
"You could have started with the truth."
Carmine did not care.
Then Reyes called.
Helena was awake.
And asking for immunity.
"For what?" Carmine asked.
Reyes said, "She claims she has proof Vincent ordered Elena's brakes sabotaged."
His father.
The man whose portrait still hung in the boardroom.
The man whose name was on hospitals and scholarships.
The man Carmine had spent half his life trying to impress.
Reyes continued.
"But Helena says she won't release the evidence unless you agree to one condition."
"What?"
"She wants protection from prosecution in Leo's kidnapping."
Carmine's voice went cold.
"No."
"She says the evidence dies with her."
Then at the smoke over the skyline.
"Tell her she can keep her bargain."
"You're willing to lose proof about Elena?"
"No."
May you like
Carmine picked up Elena's flash drive.
"I'm betting my wife was smarter than Helena thinks."
