Chapter 5 - The Child Helena Feared)
Damiano said nothing for almost ten seconds.
Then he pulled Marina into his arms.
Not dramatically.
Not possessively.
He simply held her as though the floor had shifted beneath them both.
"How long have you known?"
"Nine days."
His breath caught.
"Nine?"
"I wanted to tell you in person."
"You should have."
"I know."
"No. I mean I wish I'd been here."
She looked up at him.
"You were working."
The words were gentle.
They still hurt.
Damiano closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the joy in his face was still there.
But so was horror.
He looked at Helena.
"You knew."
Helena did not answer.
"You had her followed."
Silence.
"The doctor's office."
Helena folded her arms.
"I suspected."
"How?"
"She stopped drinking wine."
Marina stared at her.
Helena continued.
"She became nauseated at breakfast. She was tired. It wasn't difficult."
"So you hired someone to follow her."
"I wanted confirmation."
"Why?"
Helena's face hardened.
"Because someone in this family has to think beyond emotion."
Damiano moved Marina slightly behind him.
"What does my child have to do with Gabriel?"
"Everything."
"Explain."
Helena looked tired for the first time.
Not physically.
As if a structure she had maintained for decades was finally collapsing.
"When your father died, the official will left controlling ownership to you."
"Because the amended will disappeared."
"Yes."
"And?"
"But there was a provision in the family trust."
Damiano's expression shifted.
"What provision?"
Helena looked toward the black suitcase.
"Your grandfather created it. If the recognized Ricci bloodline through Vittorio ever became legally disputed, certain shares would be frozen until direct heirs were established."
Damiano frowned.
"I am a direct heir."
"Yes. So is Gabriel."
"If the will is restored."
"If the will is restored."
Marina understood before Damiano did.
"And our baby?"
Helena looked at her.
"Would strengthen Damiano's line."
"Strengthen?"
"If Gabriel challenged the estate, courts would consider descendants, trusts, intended succession, several things. A child makes Damiano's side harder to destabilize."
Damiano stared at Helena.
"You're telling me you abused my pregnant wife because you were worried about litigation?"
Helena laughed without humor.
"No."
The room chilled.
Marina's skin prickled.
Damiano's voice dropped.
"Then why?"
"Because Marina has changed you."
Damiano stared.
"You used to listen to me."
"That's why?"
"You think that's a small thing?"
"Yes."
Helena stepped closer.
"I built the life you inherited. Your father chased guilt and women and redemption. I held the company together when he disappeared into private crises. I protected your reputation. I protected your education. I protected your future."
"By stealing my brother's inheritance?"
"By protecting yours."
"By forging my approvals?"
Helena's expression flickered.
Marco noticed.
Damiano did too.
"Those transfers," he said. "You did them."
Helena said nothing.
"Simon Vale wasn't blackmailing you, was he?"
She looked away.
"Then what were you paying him for?"
Marco's phone rang.
He stepped aside.
Damiano continued staring at his mother.
Marina felt dizzy.
Not only from exhaustion.
From realizing how many events of the past year might have been connected.
The housekeeper dismissed.
The staff reduced.
The constant pressure.
Helena's comments about Marina's inability to handle the Ricci lifestyle.
Her repeated suggestions that Damiano would be happier with someone more disciplined.
The strange anonymous messages Marina had received two months earlier.
Damiano doesn't tell you everything.
Ask who he visited in Boston.
You are temporary.
Marina had deleted them because she assumed they were from a gossip account or business rival.
Now she wondered.
"Did you send messages to me?"
Helena looked at her.
"What messages?"
"Telling me Damiano was unfaithful."
Damiano turned.
"What?"
Marina explained.
His face tightened.
Helena almost smiled.
That was answer enough.
"You wanted her to leave me," Damiano said.
"I wanted you to see clearly."
"By lying to her?"
"She would never survive this family."
"She survived you."
Helena's smile vanished.
Marco returned.
"We found James Colton."
"The attorney from the recording?"
"Yes."
"Alive?"
"Yes. Retired. Lives in Connecticut."
"Call him."
"We did."
Damiano waited.
Marco's expression was strange.
"What?"
"He won't discuss anything by phone."
"Why?"
"He said he has been waiting eighteen years for someone named Marina to contact him."
Everyone froze.
Marina stared.
"Me?"
Marco nodded.
"Marina Ricci."
"That makes no sense."
Helena's face had gone utterly still.
Damiano saw it.
"Mother."
Helena slowly sat down.
Marina's voice shook.
"Why would an attorney my husband's father used eighteen years ago know my name?"
Helena closed her eyes.
Damiano's phone vibrated.
A text from an unknown number.
He opened it.
There was only one sentence.
ASK MARINA WHAT HER MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME WAS.
Damiano looked at Marina.
She frowned.
"Why?"
He showed her.
Marina stared at the message.
"My mother's maiden name?"
"Yes."
"Vale."
No one spoke.
Marina looked around the room.
"My mother's name was Catherine Vale."
Damiano's eyes moved to the black suitcase.
Gabriel Vale.
Elena Vale.
Marina's voice became barely audible.
"Gabriel is my uncle."
Helena opened her eyes.
And Marina understood why Helena had targeted her from the beginning.
May you like
Marina had not simply married into the Ricci family.
She had unknowingly brought the Vale bloodline back into the house.
