Chapter 3 - The Night Marcus Finally Chose a Side
The ballroom emptied faster than any birthday party Vittorio had ever seen.
Guests found coats. Parents collected children. Staff began clearing untouched cake from tables while pretending not to look toward Marcus and Helena.
Vittorio took Elsie through a service hallway so she would not have to pass the remaining guests.
Marcus caught up near the valet doors.
“Dad.”
Vittorio kept walking.
“Dad, stop.”
He did.
Elsie rested her head against his shoulder.
Marcus stood three feet away, hands hanging uselessly at his sides.
“She can stay with you tonight.”
“That was already the plan.”
“You can’t just take her indefinitely.”
“I know.”
Marcus looked relieved that his father understood the distinction.
That relief irritated Vittorio.
“I’m not stealing your child, Marcus. I’m keeping her away from Helena for one night because you just admitted you won’t.”
Marcus winced.
“I didn’t admit that.”
“You signed it.”
“I thought it was symbolic.”
Vittorio stared at him.
“What does that even mean?”
Marcus looked toward the parking lot.
“Helena said Elsie needed consistency. She said every time I stepped in, it made things worse.”
“Did you believe her?”
“At first.”
“And today?”
Marcus had no answer.
Vittorio shifted Elsie higher against his shoulder.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Marcus swallowed.
“The building transfers.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know.”
That sounded like a lie, but not a complete one.
Vittorio could see fear in his son now. Not fear of being punished.
Fear of discovering how much he had agreed to without understanding it.
“Who prepared the transfer?”
“Helena’s attorney.”
“Who handles Rachel’s trust?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Mara Levin.”
Vittorio knew the name. Rachel had hired Mara when she first became sick.
“Call her.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It’s after six.”
“Then leave a message.”
Helena came through the ballroom doors behind them.
“You will do no such thing.”
Marcus turned.
She stopped several yards away.
Her composure had returned, but her voice was sharper.
“The transfer has been reviewed.”
“By who?” Vittorio asked.
“The people whose responsibility it is.”
“Mara?”
Helena did not answer.
That interested him.
Marcus pulled out his phone.
Helena’s voice dropped.
“If you start this, I’m not covering another payment for you.”
Vittorio looked at his son.
Marcus’s thumb stopped over the screen.
There it was.
Money.
Not abstract property.
Not future wealth.
Current money.
“What payments?” Vittorio asked.
Marcus looked humiliated.
Helena smiled without warmth.
“Ask him.”
Vittorio waited.
Finally Marcus said, “I owe her.”
“How much?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How much?”
Marcus stared at the pavement.
“Seventy-two thousand.”
Vittorio felt Elsie shift against him.
He lowered his voice.
“For what?”
“Some of it was Rachel’s medical bills. Some was the business. Some was after.”
Vittorio remembered Marcus refusing help eighteen months earlier. He had said he wanted to handle his own finances.
Apparently he had.
Just not alone.
Helena folded her arms.
“The Wrenfield transfer clears his debt and gives him breathing room. Your son is not robbing anyone.”
“It’s Elsie’s asset.”
“She’s three. She doesn’t need a rental building.”
Vittorio stared at Helena.
There was the belief underneath everything.
Not that Elsie did not own the property.
That ownership meant less because she was a child.
Marcus made the call.
He got Mara Levin’s voicemail.
“My name is Marcus Bell,” he said. “I need to talk to you before the Wrenfield closing tomorrow. It’s urgent.”
Helena watched him leave the message.
When he ended the call, she said one sentence.
“You have no idea what you just reopened.”
Vittorio looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked just as confused as he felt.
May you like
That was when Vittorio understood something worse than deliberate betrayal might be possible.
Marcus might not know the full arrangement he had helped create.
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