Chapter 4 - The Nanny Who Never Resigned
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Teresa’s hands shook as she opened her phone.
The first photograph was taken twelve days earlier.
Leo sat on the wine-cellar floor holding a towel.
His pajamas were wet.
A broken bottle stood several feet away.
Carmine stared.
“Did Leo break that?”
“No.”
Teresa shook her head.
“A server dropped it.”
“Then why was Leo cleaning it?”
“Helena said he distracted her.”
The second photograph showed Leo collecting napkins from the dining room.
The third showed him wiping mud from a stone hallway.
Each time, Helena stood nearby.
Watching.
Not helping.
Carmine felt rage rise.
He forced it down.
Leo did not need a father who exploded.
He needed one who finished this.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Teresa started crying.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night she fired me.”
“I never got a call.”
“I called your office.”
Carmine looked toward Helena.
His assistant normally forwarded family matters immediately.
Teresa continued.
“Helena answered.”
Of course.
Carmine had been traveling frequently for family business.
Helena managed the household during his absences.
He thought he was giving his cousin responsibility.
Instead, he had given her access.
Teresa said Helena threatened her severance.
Her immigration sponsorship was secure and legal, but Helena told her she could make “paperwork difficult.”
“She said nobody would believe me against a Bellucci.”
Carmine’s expression changed.
“I’m a Bellucci.”
Teresa nodded.
“That’s why I came back.”
She had watched a news clip from the estate Christmas charity event that morning.
Leo appeared briefly.
He looked exhausted.
That image convinced her she could not stay silent.
Carmine looked at the photos again.
“How many times?”
“I saw four.”
“And how many didn’t you see?”
Teresa lowered her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Then she handed Carmine the envelope.
Inside was her termination document.
Reason:
UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY MATTERS.
Signed:
HELENA BELLUCCI.
But attached behind it was something else.
A payment ledger Teresa had accidentally received with her final paperwork.
Belmont Restoration Services.
Monthly totals.
$81,000.
$64,500.
$103,200.
$92,750.
Carmine turned pages.
Almost one million dollars in seventeen months.
“That’s not possible.”
Teresa whispered—
“I think Helena knew I saw this.”
Carmine called the family accountant.
“Freeze every payment to Belmont.”
Helena finally lost control.
“You cannot do that!”
Carmine looked at her.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You didn’t object when I took your Bentley.”
He held up the ledger.
“But this scares you.”
Helena’s face went pale.
The accountant called back seven minutes later.
Belmont Restoration Services had only one registered owner.
A man named Anthony Vale.
Carmine knew him.
Helena’s former fiancé.
A man she claimed she had not spoken to in six years.
May you like
👉 Helena’s fake repair company was tied directly to someone from her own past—and Leo’s “punishments” were beginning to look like cover for a much larger theft.
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