Chapter 6
By morning, the house did not feel like my house.
It felt like a crime scene wearing marble.
Police tape marked the storage door. Officers moved through the corridors with cameras. Dr. Moretti returned with a child psychologist named Dr. Elena March, a gentle woman with silver glasses and a voice so calm Leo stopped hiding behind my leg after ten minutes.
I hated every minute of it.
Not because I feared the truth.
Because every question proved how long my son had been alone with it.
Leo sat on the playroom rug holding his bear while Dr. March showed him picture cards.
I sat near the window where he could see me.
He kept checking.
Every few seconds.
Papa still there?
Yes.
Papa still there.
The first time I looked away to answer Luca’s message, Leo panicked and ran to me.
After that, I put my phone face down.
Nothing mattered more than being visible.
Dr. March noticed.
“He needs predictable safety,” she said softly during a break.
“Tell me what to do.”
She seemed surprised.
Maybe men like me were not known for asking that.
“Keep routines simple. Tell him before you leave a room. Do not force him to discuss what happened. Let him choose small things. Food. Clothes. Toys. Rebuild control.”
I nodded.
“I can do that.”
“And you will need help too.”
“I’m fine.”
She looked at me with quiet firmness.
“No, Mr. Bellucci. You are functioning. That is not the same thing.”
I had no answer.
Leo came running back with two toy cars.
“Papa, red or blue?”
“Your choice.”
He frowned in deep thought.
“Blue for me. Red for you.”
“Good choice.”
He pushed the red car into my hand.
For fifteen minutes, we drove cars across the rug while lawyers waited outside and police wanted signatures.
Let them wait.
My son laughed once when my car crashed into a pillow.
It was small.
Almost frightened.
But it was laughter.
I held onto it like a prayer.
At noon, Luca entered with a face I knew too well.
“Boss.”
I looked at Leo.
“I’m going to stand by the door with Uncle Luca. You can see me the whole time.”
Leo glanced at Dr. March.
She nodded.
“Okay,” he said.
I stepped only a few feet away.
Luca kept his voice low.
“We traced the trust withdrawals.”
“Tell me.”
“Helena created a shell foundation. Children’s charity.”
I almost laughed.
Almost.
“How much?”
“Two point eight million over eight months.”
My vision narrowed.
“Who approved transfers?”
“That’s the problem. Your signature is on several documents.”
“I signed nothing.”
“I know.”
“Who notarized?”
“Victor Salvi.”
That name landed badly.
Victor had been Sofia’s cousin.
A quiet accountant.
I had kept him employed because Sofia loved her family.
“You’re sure?”
Luca handed me copies.
The notary stamp was clear.
Victor Salvi.
I looked toward Leo.
He was lining blocks by color.
Sofia’s blood had helped steal from Sofia’s son.
My hand tightened around the papers.
“Bring Victor.”
“He is missing.”
Of course he was.
“Find him.”
“Already in motion.”
A crash sounded from the rug.
Leo had knocked over the blocks. He looked at me instantly, terrified.
“I’m sorry!”
I crossed the room calmly and knelt.
“It was an accident.”
His breathing was fast.
“I can fix it.”
“You can, if you want. Or we can leave it messy.”
He blinked.
“Messy?”
“Yes.”
He looked around like the walls might object.
Then he whispered, “Helena hates messy.”
“Helena is not here.”
He stared at the fallen blocks.
Then, very slowly, he knocked over another tower.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
I smiled.
He knocked over three more.
Then he laughed again.
This time, louder.
Dr. March’s eyes softened.
I let the blocks scatter everywhere.
By evening, the scandal reached the press.
Not the worst parts.
Not yet.
But enough.
BELLUCCI WIFE ARRESTED AT FAMILY ESTATE.
SOCIALITE HELENA GRECO BELLUCCI FACES CHILD ENDANGERMENT INVESTIGATION.
HEIRESS ACCUSED OF ABUSING MAFIA BOSS’S YOUNG SON.
I hated that word attached to my family.
Mafia.
I had spent years moving our business toward legitimacy. Hotels. Shipping. Construction. Restaurants. Old ghosts still followed me.
Helena’s lawyer used them immediately.
By eight o’clock, a statement appeared online.
Mrs. Bellucci denies all allegations and fears this is part of a coercive strategy by her dangerous husband to control her assets and reputation.
Dangerous husband.
Assets.
Reputation.
Not one word about Leo.
Marco read it aloud in my office and nearly crushed the phone in his hand.
“Let me handle the lawyer,” he said.
“No.”
“Boss.”
“No.”
I walked to the window. Rain pressed against the glass. The same rain that had fallen the night Sofia went into labor with Leo.
She had grabbed my hand in the hospital and said, “Promise me he will know gentleness.”
I had promised.
Then I had let Helena into his home.
Guilt is a blade that does not need anyone else to hold it.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man breathed once.
Then a trembling voice said, “Carmine?”
Victor Salvi.
Luca looked up sharply.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I didn’t know what she was doing.”
“You forged my name.”
“She said the money was for Leo’s therapy. She said you approved it.”
“Do not insult me.”
He began crying.
“I owed people money. She knew. She said if I signed, she’d clear the debt. I thought it was just moving family funds. I swear, I didn’t know about the boy.”
“The boy is your cousin’s child.”
Silence.
Then a broken whisper.
“I know.”
“Where are you?”
“I can give you everything. Emails. Recordings. She planned to leave you after moving enough money. She said she would claim you were violent.”
My eyes lifted to Luca.
Helena was not reacting.
She had planned.
“Where are you, Victor?”
He gave an address near Joliet.
“I’m scared.”
“You should be.”
“I’ll testify.”
“Yes,” I said. “You will.”
“And Carmine?”
“What?”
“She has someone inside your house.”
I went very still.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Someone who told her when you were away. Someone who helped delete footage.”
The office door opened.
Rosa stood there, face white.
“Signore.”
My pulse changed.
“What happened?”
She held up a small black device.
“I found this under Leo’s bed.”
Luca took it.
His expression darkened.
“A recorder.”
My house.
My son’s room.
Someone had been listening to him cry.
Victor’s voice shook through the phone.
“Carmine? Are you there?”
I looked at the device in Luca’s hand.
“Yes,” I said.
May you like
And for the first time since I found Leo in the garage, I felt something worse than anger.
I felt betrayal close enough to breathe inside my walls.
