Chapter 2 - THE MARK ON HIS WRIST
Carmine couldn't move.
Leo's hand was still wrapped around his fingers.
“Daddy…”
The word had been whispered.
But it felt louder than a gunshot.
Helena stood frozen in the doorway.
For the first time since Carmine had known her, she had no immediate answer.
No clever explanation.
No controlled smile.
Nothing.
Carmine looked at her.
“Why did he call me that?”
Helena finally recovered.
“He's confused.”
“Confused?”
“Yes.”
“About who his father is?”
“He's a child.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Helena stepped into the room.
“Leo has always been emotionally unstable.”
Carmine's eyes narrowed.
“Don't call him unstable.”
“He doesn't understand boundaries.”
“Enough.”
The word cracked through the room.
Leo flinched.
Carmine immediately lowered his voice.
“I'm sorry.”
The boy stared at him.
Carmine crouched.
“I'm not angry at you.”
Leo nodded.
Then his sleeve slipped slightly.
Carmine saw something beneath it.
A dark mark.
He reached gently toward the boy's wrist.
Leo immediately pulled his arm away.
Carmine stopped.
“What's there?”
“Nothing.”
“Leo.”
The boy looked at Helena.
That was enough.
Carmine stood.
“Show me your wrist.”
Leo didn't move.
“Leo.”
Slowly, the boy extended his arm.
Carmine pushed the sleeve upward.
His jaw tightened.
There were bruises around the wrist.
Not one.
Several.
Some old.
Some fresh.
The marks looked like fingers.
Carmine stared.
“Who did this?”
Leo remained silent.
Carmine looked toward Helena.
She immediately spoke.
“He bruises easily.”
Carmine didn't look away from the wrist.
“From what?”
“He's clumsy.”
“Clumsy enough to leave fingerprints?”
Helena's face hardened.
“You're exaggerating.”
Carmine lifted his eyes.
“I'm not.”
One of the bodyguards entered the doorway.
“Sir?”
Carmine didn't turn.
“Get the doctor.”
Helena stepped forward.
“No.”
Carmine finally looked at her.
“What?”
“We don't need a doctor.”
“I didn't ask your opinion.”
“You're making this bigger than it is.”
Carmine took one step toward her.
“Someone put their hands around my son's wrist.”
Helena froze.
“My son?”
Carmine's expression was unreadable.
“I haven't decided what he is yet.”
Helena's face changed.
But Carmine continued.
“I'm going to find out.”
The bodyguard left.
Helena's voice became quieter.
“You're making a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
“You'll regret this.”
“Maybe.”
“You don't know what you're doing.”
Carmine stared directly into her eyes.
“No.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“But I know what I'm going to do next.”
He turned to Leo.
“Come with me.”
Leo hesitated.
Carmine held out his hand.
After several seconds, Leo took it.
They walked downstairs.
Helena followed.
At the bottom of the staircase, Carmine stopped.
“Stay here.”
Helena folded her arms.
“You can't order me around.”
“I just did.”
He took Leo into the library.
The doors closed.
Carmine sat across from the boy.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Carmine asked:
“Who hurt your wrist?”
Leo stared at his knees.
“Did Helena do it?”
Leo didn't answer.
“Did one of the servants?”
Nothing.
“Did somebody outside this house?”
Still nothing.
Carmine leaned back.
He realized interrogation wasn't going to work.
So he tried something else.
“Are you hungry?”
Leo looked up.
The question seemed to surprise him.
“A little.”
Carmine picked up the phone.
“Bring food.”
Leo immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“She'll be angry.”
“Let her be angry.”
Leo's eyes widened.
Carmine gave him a small smile.
“You're allowed to eat.”
A few minutes later, food arrived.
Leo stared at the plate.
He didn't touch it.
Carmine watched.
“Go ahead.”
Leo picked up a piece of bread.
Then stopped.
“Can I?”
Carmine frowned.
“Can you what?”
“Eat all of it?”
Something inside Carmine broke.
“Yes.”
“All?”
“All of it.”
Leo ate.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Carmine said nothing.
He simply watched.
The child ate as though someone might take the food away.
Halfway through the meal, Carmine noticed Leo's sleeve again.
“Why do you hide your wrists?”
Leo stopped chewing.
“Because Helena says ugly things make people ask questions.”
Carmine's stomach tightened.
“What ugly things?”
Leo looked toward the door.
“About Mommy.”
Carmine's heart skipped.
“What about your mother?”
“She said Mommy was a liar.”
“And?”
“She said Mommy left because she didn't love me.”
Carmine's face went cold.
“Your mother didn't leave you.”
Leo looked at him.
“You know her?”
Carmine didn't answer immediately.
He wasn't sure.
But something about the boy's face was becoming painfully familiar.
The shape of his eyes.
The way he frowned when thinking.
Even the tiny scar near his eyebrow.
Carmine had seen it before.
Not on Leo.
On a photograph.
A photograph from eight years ago.
He stood abruptly.
“Stay here.”
Leo looked frightened.
“Where are you going?”
“To get something.”
Carmine left the library.
He walked directly to his office.
He opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
The edges were worn.
The image had faded with time.
A young woman stood beside him.
She was smiling.
Carmine wasn't.
He had been younger then.
Angrier.
Reckless.
He stared at the woman.
Elena.
The woman he had loved.
The woman everyone had told him had disappeared voluntarily.
The woman who had supposedly abandoned him without explanation.
Carmine turned the photograph over.
On the back was a date.
Eight years ago.
And beneath it, four words he had written himself:
Come back to me.
She never had.
Or at least, that's what he had believed.
Carmine looked at the photograph again.
Then at the hallway.
Then back at the photograph.
“No…”
He whispered.
A memory came rushing back.
Elena had once told him something.
Something he had dismissed because they were fighting.
“If anything happens to me, Carmine, don't let them take my child.”
He had thought she was talking about someone else's child.
He had never asked.
Because two days later, she disappeared.
Carmine returned to the library.
Leo was still eating.
Carmine sat down.
“Leo.”
The boy looked up.
“Do you know Elena?”
Leo's fork stopped.
He stared at Carmine.
“How do you know Mommy's name?”
Carmine's blood ran cold.
“She's your mother?”
Leo nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Leo's eyes filled with tears.
“Dead.”
Carmine stared.
“Who told you?”
“Helena.”
Carmine's hand tightened into a fist.
“Did you see her die?”
Leo shook his head.
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Helena said she died when I was little.”
Carmine stared at the boy.
Something wasn't right.
He could feel it.
“Did you ever see a picture of your mother?”
Leo nodded.
“Where?”
“In the box.”
“What box?”
Leo pointed toward the hallway.
“The one Helena doesn't let me open.”
Carmine stood.
“Where is it?”
Leo hesitated.
“Upstairs.”
“Take me there.”
They left the library.
Helena was waiting near the staircase.
Her face was calm again.
Too calm.
“Where are you taking him?”
Carmine ignored her.
Leo led him upstairs.
They reached the end of the corridor.
A small storage room stood behind a locked door.
Leo pointed.
“That's it.”
Carmine turned toward Helena.
“Open it.”
She didn't move.
“Helena.”
“No.”
Carmine's expression hardened.
“Open the door.”
“I said no.”
The bodyguard behind Carmine stepped forward.
“Sir?”
Carmine nodded once.
The lock was opened.
The door swung inward.
Dust filled the air.
Boxes were stacked along the walls.
Carmine looked around.
Leo walked directly toward one box.
He crouched.
His fingers trembled.
“This one.”
Carmine opened it.
Inside were children's clothes.
A baby blanket.
Several photographs.
And a small silver pendant.
Carmine picked up the pendant.
He recognized it immediately.
His breath caught.
It was Elena's.
She had worn it every day.
He turned toward Helena.
“Where did you get this?”
Helena said nothing.
Carmine held up the pendant.
“Where?”
Helena's face had gone white.
Leo looked between them.
Then he quietly said:
“Mommy said Daddy gave her that.”
Carmine's eyes slowly moved to Leo.
“Daddy?”
Leo nodded.
“She said you gave it to her before I was born.”
Carmine couldn't breathe.
He looked down at the pendant.
Then at the child.
Then at Helena.
For eight years, he had believed Elena abandoned him.
For eight years, he had believed he had no child.
And now a little boy was standing in front of him wearing the same eyes he saw every morning in his own mirror.
Carmine turned toward Helena.
“You knew.”
She said nothing.
“You knew who he was.”
Still nothing.
“You knew Elena didn't abandon me.”
Helena's eyes filled with fear.
Carmine stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
Helena backed away.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“I was protecting this family.”
“No.”
Carmine's voice was ice.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Helena shook her head.
“You have no idea what Elena was planning.”
“Tell me.”
“I can't.”
“You will.”
“I can't!”
Her voice cracked.
Leo jumped.
Carmine immediately moved in front of the boy.
Helena stared at him.
Then she whispered:
“Because if I tell you where Elena is…”
She stopped.
Carmine's face went still.
“Where Elena is?”
Helena realized her mistake.
Her eyes widened.
Carmine stepped forward.
“You just said 'where.'”
Silence.
“You didn't say 'was.'”
Helena backed away.
Carmine's voice dropped to a whisper.
“Is Elena alive?”
Helena said nothing.
Carmine looked at Leo.
The boy was staring at him with frightened eyes.
Then Carmine looked back at Helena.
“Where is his mother?”
Helena's lips trembled.
And before she could answer, a phone began ringing from inside the locked storage room.
Everyone froze.
The sound came from one of the boxes.
Carmine slowly walked toward it.
The phone continued ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
He opened the box.
Inside was an old cell phone.
The screen displayed one name.
ELENA.
Carmine stared at it.
Then the call connected by itself.
A woman's trembling voice came through the speaker.
“Carmine…”
His blood turned cold.
“Who is this?”
There was a long pause.
Then the woman whispered:
“Take Leo and get out of that house.”
The call ended.
Carmine looked at Helena.
She was crying now.
And for the first time, Carmine understood.
The truth wasn't buried.
May you like
It had been kept alive.
And someone had just risked everything to warn him.
