Chapter 12 - The HeadlinesBy morning, Camryn Jenkins had become a headline.
THE MAID, THE MAFIA BOSS, AND THE CHILD WITNESS.
TRIBECA TODDLER BREAKS SILENCE IN DELUCA FAMILY SCANDAL.
POOR CLEANING GIRL AT CENTER OF BILLION-DOLLAR CRIME DYNASTY COLLAPSE.
The photos were worse.
Camryn outside the chapel, hair loose, uniform stained, face pale.
Matteo beside her, one hand hovering near her back but not touching.
Denise on a stretcher.
Mara Bellini in handcuffs at first, then released.
Vincent DeLuca surrounded by federal agents.
And Leo’s name everywhere.
That enraged Camryn more than anything.
She stood in Matteo’s office wearing borrowed sweatpants and one of the staff’s plain sweaters, scrolling through articles with shaking hands while Leo slept in the next room.
“They used his name,” she said.
Matteo stood at the window, phone pressed to his ear, issuing legal orders in a voice so cold it could frost glass.
“Every outlet,” he said. “Immediate injunction. Any image of my son comes down in ten minutes or I sue until their grandchildren inherit debt.”
Camryn looked up.
He ended the call.
“You can do that?”
“Yes.”
“Legally?”
He paused.
Then said, “Mostly.”
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“This will hurt him.”
Matteo’s expression softened only slightly. “I know.”
“No, you don’t.” Her voice cracked. “You grew up with a name that made people afraid. I grew up with one nobody remembered. But this? This kind of attention? They’ll turn him into content. A poor traumatized little boy becoming everyone’s morning coffee drama.”
Matteo looked at her for a long time.
“You’re right.”
Camryn blinked.
She had expected argument.
Not agreement.
Matteo moved to the desk and pressed a button.
“Rocco, no staff phones near Leo’s rooms. Anyone leaking information leaves with legal consequences, not broken bones.”
Camryn caught the correction.
Not broken bones.
He had said it for her.
Or because of her.
Maybe both.
Rocco answered through the speaker. “Understood.”
At noon, Serafina requested an audience.
Not a visit.
An audience.
Camryn nearly laughed at the wording until she saw Matteo’s face.
“She knows something,” he said.
Serafina entered wearing black again, but something about her had changed. The pearls were gone. Her hair was less perfect. She looked older than the night before.
She stopped when she saw Camryn.
“I asked to see my son.”
Matteo did not move from behind his desk. “Camryn stays.”
Serafina’s mouth tightened, but she did not object.
That frightened Camryn more than cruelty would have.
Serafina sat.
For several seconds, she stared at her gloved hands.
Then she said, “Vincent came to me after Isabella died.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“He told me grief had damaged Leo beyond repair. He said doctors agreed. He said if people learned the child had been in the car, they would use him against you.”
Camryn’s stomach twisted.
Serafina’s voice became smaller. “He convinced me silence protected the family.”
Matteo said nothing.
Serafina looked up, eyes shining but proud. “I believed him because I wanted to.”
There it was.
Not innocence.
Choice.
“I thought Isabella had made you weak,” Serafina continued. “She spoke of leaving the business, making things legitimate, raising Leo away from the old rules. I thought she was stealing you from your blood.”
Matteo’s voice was low. “She was trying to save me.”
“Yes.”
The word broke.
Serafina turned to Camryn.
“I was cruel to your mother.”
Camryn’s body went still.
“I was cruel to you,” Serafina added.
Camryn did not help her.
Some apologies deserved to stand alone without rescue.
Serafina swallowed. “Denise was pregnant. I knew. I told myself sending her away protected her. But I did not protect her kindly.”
“No,” Camryn said. “You didn’t.”
Matteo watched his mother absorb the words.
Serafina nodded once.
“I cannot undo it.”
“No.”
“But I can tell the truth now.”
She opened her handbag and removed a sealed envelope.
Matteo stared at it.
“What is that?”
“Isabella gave it to me three days before she died. I never opened it.”
Camryn frowned. “Why?”
Serafina’s face twisted.
“Because I was afraid she was right.”
Matteo took the envelope.
His name was written on the front in Isabella’s hand.
He opened it slowly.
Inside was a letter.
And a key.
Matteo read in silence.
The longer he read, the paler he became.
Camryn’s pulse quickened.
“What does it say?”
He handed it to her.
Matteo,
If I disappear, Vincent will move first through money, then through fear, then through Leo.
The evidence in the blue room is only one part. The rest is in the place you swore you would never return to.
Your father’s house.
Trust Denise if she lives.
Trust the Bellini bloodline if it finds its way back to you.
And if a stranger reaches Leo before you do, ask yourself why your son trusted someone your world had not taught to lie.
Camryn read the final line twice.
The Bellini bloodline.
Her father.
Mara.
Her.
Matteo closed his hand around the key.
Serafina whispered, “Your father’s house has been sealed for twenty years.”
Matteo looked toward the nursery.
Leo was awake now, standing in the doorway with sleepy eyes, clutching his blanket.
He pointed at the key.
“Grandpa house,” he said.
Serafina covered her mouth.
Matteo stared at his son.
“How do you know that?”
May you like
Leo looked at Camryn.
Then whispered, “Mama hide.”
