Chapter 6
Helena’s answer was reputation.
I did not believe her.
“An unmarried Mafia boss with a child is not exactly unprecedented.”
She glared.
“You were building alliances.”
“I was running an organization.”
“Exactly.”
She spoke as if that proved her point.
“You needed discipline. Stability. A wife from the right family.”
There it was.
“Not Nora.”
Her eyes moved toward her.
“Nora was temporary.”
Nora flinched.
I saw it.
Helena did too.
She continued anyway.
“She was supposed to leave your life quietly.”
I felt my voice drop.
“She gave birth to my daughter.”
“That does not make her suitable.”
“Sophie is not a job application.”
“You always become sentimental when children are involved.”
I almost smiled.
“There are worse weaknesses.”
Helena shook her head.
“You don’t understand what your father built.”
Again.
My father.
The dead man everyone used whenever they wanted history to argue for them.
“What did he build that Sophie threatened?”
Silence.
I stepped closer.
“Because this is not about Nora.”
Helena said nothing.
“You could have paid Nora and kept us apart if all you cared about was appearances.”
Nothing.
“But you stole Sophie’s money.”
Her face changed.
There.
“Why?”
Nora looked at her.
I followed her eyes.
Then understood.
“The money bought something.”
Helena’s jaw tightened.
Not jewelry.
Not a house.
Influence.
I pulled the internal account records.
The diverted support had been split monthly.
Payments to private family retainers.
Gifts to older capos.
Discretionary funds tied to Helena’s social foundation.
Three years of my daughter’s support converted into loyalty around my mother.
I stared at the numbers.
“You built your own network with Sophie’s money.”
Helena lifted her chin.
“I maintained stability.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“You made people dependent on you.”
The lie about my death had hidden my daughter.
The stolen money had financed the people helping Helena stay powerful.
May you like
Sophie had not merely been erased.
She had been paying for it.
