Chapter 3 - The Repair Bill Written Too Early
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Carmine read the incident report twice.
“Who gets this?”
Frank answered.
“Mansion Service Management.”
Helena’s division.
“What happens after submission?”
“Depending on the damage, either the internal maintenance fund pays or insurance gets involved.”
Carmine frowned.
“For a family vehicle?”
“When it happens on estate property, yes.”
“How much?”
Frank pointed.
“Forty-six thousand eight hundred.”
Carmine looked toward the Bentley.
The scratch was ugly.
But not forty-six-thousand-dollars ugly.
He called Marco DeLuca, the family’s longtime mechanic.
Marco arrived twenty minutes later.
He inspected the door.
“Maybe five grand.”
Helena, standing several feet away with her attorney, scoffed.
“It needs imported paint.”
Marco laughed.
“It needs paint, not a new identity.”
Carmine almost smiled.
Then Marco looked closer.
“This damage wasn’t even deep.”
He pointed.
“Most of that will buff.”
Carmine held up Helena’s estimate.
“Forty-six-eight.”
Marco whistled.
“For that money, I’ll buff the whole mansion.”
Helena’s attorney interrupted.
“My client does not personally set repair estimates.”
Carmine looked at Helena.
“Who does?”
She folded her arms.
“Approved vendors.”
“Which vendor?”
Silence.
Carmine checked the report.
BELMONT RESTORATION SERVICES.
He had never heard of it.
Frank had.
“They handle a lot of mansion work.”
“How much?”
Frank looked uncomfortable.
“A lot.”
Carmine turned.
“What does that mean?”
Frank opened the service system.
Belmont had submitted 137 invoices in eighteen months.
Damaged marble.
Broken fixtures.
Vehicle repairs.
Water damage.
Furniture restoration.
Landscape incidents.
Almost every claim involved someone being assigned responsibility.
A housekeeper.
A driver.
A groundskeeper.
Two junior Bellucci relatives.
One teenage nephew.
And now Leo.
Carmine’s face hardened.
“Who approves payment?”
Frank said nothing.
Carmine already knew.
Helena.
He opened the Bentley invoice.
Pre-authorization had been issued at 9:42 a.m.
Thirty-two minutes before the cart struck the car.
Carmine slowly turned toward Helena.
“You approved a repair before there was damage.”
Her lawyer stood.
“This interview is over.”
Carmine ignored him.
Helena remained still.
Then Leo’s former nanny, Teresa, appeared at the garage entrance.
Carmine hadn’t seen her in three weeks.
Helena had told him Teresa resigned suddenly.
Teresa looked terrified.
“What are you doing here?”
She held out an envelope.
“I didn’t resign.”
Carmine stared at her.
“What?”
Teresa looked at Helena.
“She fired me.”
“Why?”
Teresa’s eyes filled.
“Because I saw her making Leo clean the wine cellar floor at midnight.”
The garage went silent.
Helena snapped—
“She’s lying.”
Teresa shook her head.
“I took pictures.”
May you like
👉 The Bentley was not the first punishment—and the nanny Helena secretly fired had photographic proof that Leo had been forced to “work off” other debts Carmine never knew existed.
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