Chapter 10 - The Camera Helena Wanted
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Anthony explained the rest.
Helena knew Carmine’s weakness.
Not money.
Not reputation.
Leo.
Since Leo’s mother, Sofia, died eighteen months earlier, Carmine had become intensely protective.
Helena mocked him privately for it.
“He doesn’t think when that boy cries,” she once told Anthony.
So she built a situation designed to produce rage.
A three-year-old.
Soaked.
Hungry.
Kneeling beside an expensive car.
If Carmine walked in—
He would explode.
Helena had positioned her phone inside a cabinet facing the garage.
Recording.
Carmine remembered seeing her glance toward the cameras.
He thought she feared them.
She feared one set.
But wanted another.
Investigators recovered her phone.
The video showed everything.
Carmine entering.
Stopping.
Crossing the floor.
Moving Helena away from Leo.
Taking the Bentley key.
Dropping it into water.
But Helena’s original plan expected more.
She wanted screaming.
Threats.
A violent assault.
Something she could edit.
Carmine had been furious.
But he had stayed controlled enough that the recording hurt Helena more than him.
Anthony said she had a prepared affidavit.
CARMINE BELLUCCI — VOLATILE CONDUCT AROUND MINOR CHILD.
Jonathan read it in disbelief.
It claimed Carmine had become “emotionally unstable since bereavement.”
It argued temporary household supervision should transfer to Helena.
Not legal custody of Leo.
Not yet.
But enough authority to oversee staff, schedules, caregivers, and household expenditures.
Which meant—
More financial control.
And access to Leo.
Carmine’s hands curled.
“She wanted my son under her supervision.”
Jonathan nodded.
“On paper.”
Helena had planned to turn Carmine’s protective instincts into evidence against him.
Then use the resulting authority to continue her fraud.
Carmine thought of Leo whispering:
She said you’d send me away.
Helena had been preparing the child too.
Teaching him that his father’s anger meant abandonment.
If Leo became frightened of Carmine—
Even temporarily—
Helena could point to the child’s own fear.
The cruelty was more strategic than Carmine first understood.
He returned home that evening.
Leo was asleep.
Carmine sat beside the bed.
A toy car rested under the blanket.
He carefully removed it.
Leo woke.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
“Did I make trouble?”
Carmine felt pain hit his chest.
“No.”
“Helena said I make trouble.”
Carmine sat down.
“Helena was wrong.”
Leo stared at him.
“Am I bad?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
Carmine took his tiny hand.
“I promise.”
Leo closed his eyes again.
Carmine remained there until he slept.
Then Jonathan called.
Police had searched Anthony Vale’s office.
They found thousands of pages.
But one file mattered immediately.
Its label:
SOFIA BELLUCCI ESTATE.
Carmine went completely still.
His late wife’s name had never had anything to do with Mansion Service Management.
Or so he thought.
May you like
👉 Helena’s scheme had started long before the Bentley, long before Leo’s punishments—and the next file was connected directly to the wife Carmine had buried eighteen months earlier.
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