Chapter 2 - The Company Named After Leo
Helena followed Carmine into the mansion.
“Stop walking away from me.”
He kept Leo in his arms.
The boy had both hands locked around his father’s collar.
“Carmine.”
Nothing.
She stepped in front of him.
“What company?”
“Move.”
“Answer me.”
Leo flinched at her voice.
That was enough.
Carmine’s expression changed.
“Don’t raise your voice around him.”
Helena laughed.
“Oh, now you’re pretending to be Father of the Year?”
One bodyguard appeared behind them.
“Mr. DeLuca?”
Carmine turned.
“Bring Ms. Sloan into the study.”
Helena frowned.
“Who is Ms. Sloan?”
“My attorney.”
That finally scared her.
Not the punch.
Not the keys.
The attorney.
Twenty minutes later, Rebecca Sloan sat behind the study desk with a stack of documents.
Carmine placed Leo with his nanny in the adjoining room.
Then closed the door.
Helena crossed her arms.
“I’m listening.”
Rebecca slid one document forward.
“DeLuca Heritage Holdings.”
Helena glanced at it.
“So?”
“Mr. Vittorio DeLuca created it seven years ago.”
Carmine’s father.
Dead eighteen months.
The man Helena had always described as “old-fashioned” whenever he refused to put her name on anything.
Rebecca continued.
“The company owns several family assets.”
“Such as?”
“The garage vehicles. Two vacation properties. Certain investment accounts. And twenty-three percent of DeLuca Development.”
Helena slowly sat down.
“How much?”
Rebecca ignored the question.
“The controlling beneficial interest passes under Vittorio’s trust structure.”
“To Carmine.”
“No.”
Helena looked at him.
“Then to who?”
Rebecca answered:
“Leo.”
The room went silent.
Helena laughed.
Actually laughed.
“He’s a baby.”
“Yes.”
“He can’t own a company.”
Rebecca corrected her.
“He can be the beneficiary of a trust that controls one.”
Helena turned to Carmine.
“You knew?”
“Some of it.”
“When?”
“Dad told me before he died that Leo was protected.”
“You never told me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Carmine’s jaw tightened.
“Because Dad didn’t trust you.”
That hit.
Helena stood.
“He hated me.”
“No.”
“He did.”
“He thought you loved access more than family.”
She slapped both hands on the desk.
“That’s a lie.”
Rebecca calmly opened another file.
Vittorio had written a letter.
Not emotional.
Not vague.
Specific.
If Carmine marries again, no spouse is to receive automatic control over assets reserved for Leo.
Helena stared.
“He wrote that about me?”
“He wrote it before your wedding,” Carmine said.
Her face went cold.
“So you married me knowing your father thought I was a gold digger.”
“I married you believing he was wrong.”
Silence.
That hurt more than accusation.
Then Rebecca said:
“There is another issue.”
Helena looked at her.
“What?”
“Someone filed documents last month attempting to transfer the sedan from DeLuca Heritage Holdings into Helena DeLuca’s personal ownership.”
Carmine turned.
“What?”
Helena’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Rebecca saw it.
“So did I,” she said.
Carmine stared at his wife.
“Did you file something?”
“No.”
Rebecca slid over a copy.
The application contained Carmine’s electronic signature.
He stared.
“I never signed this.”
Helena shrugged.
“Then somebody in your office did.”
Rebecca answered:
“No. It originated from your home network.”
The study went silent.
Then she placed another page beside it.
The same account had also attempted to change who would control Leo’s trust if Carmine became incapacitated.
The proposed successor?
Helena.
Carmine slowly looked up.
May you like
Helena’s lips parted.
No sound came out.
