Chapter 3 - WHAT HELENA SAID ABOUT HIS MOTHER
Carmine did not remember crossing the room.
One second he was beside Leo.
The next he was standing inches from Helena.
"What did you tell him?"
Helena lifted her chin.
"Nothing he shouldn't know."
"His mother died in a car accident."
"Exactly. She drove too fast."
"Police said the brakes failed."
"Same result."
Leo started crying.
Not loudly.
That made it worse.
Carmine picked him up.
"Go to Rosa."
Rosa, the longtime housekeeper, waited in the hall with both hands over her mouth.
Leo wrapped his arms around her.
Carmine watched them disappear toward the kitchen.
Then he faced Helena.
"Guest house. Now."
"You can't throw me out because the boy is emotional."
"I can throw you out because I own the property."
Carmine had never used money against her before.
He hated that he had to.
Helena grabbed her purse.
"You'll regret humiliating me."
"Maybe."
She walked away in hard, furious steps.
At the staircase, she turned.
"You want to know what really happened to that car?"
"The scratch?"
"Ask your security cameras."
Then she left.
Carmine went downstairs.
Marcus, head of security, pulled up the garage feed.
The camera covered the entire east bay.
They rewound six hours.
Leo never touched the Bentley.
At 2:17 p.m., Helena entered alone carrying shopping bags.
She backed another SUV out.
The open rear door scraped the Bentley.
Got out.
Looked at the scratch.
Then stared directly at the security camera.
Carmine felt his stomach tighten.
"She knew the camera was there."
On screen, Helena walked toward the lens.
The video froze.
Then skipped ahead seventeen minutes.
No footage.
When it returned, Leo was kneeling beside the car with a bucket.
"Why is there a gap?"
"Someone logged into the system."
"Who?"
Marcus typed.
The administrator access appeared.
One name.
HELENA VALE.
Then another alert opened automatically.
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The same account had accessed cameras in Leo's bedroom hallway.
Forty-three times in the last month.
