Chapter 9 - The File With Carmine's Name
Carmine had expected corruption.
He had not expected childhood.
Nina obtained the old Ames files through a court order tied to Leo’s falsified records.
One box carried Carmine’s name.
AGE SIX.
AGE EIGHT.
AGE ELEVEN.
AGE FOURTEEN.
Inside were school reports, photographs, psychological evaluations, and notes written by men who had watched Carmine grow up from a distance.
One sentence appeared again and again.
SUBJECT SHOWS HIGH LOYALTY RESPONSE TO PATERNAL APPROVAL.
Another:
SEPARATION FROM MOTHER INCREASES COMPLIANCE.
Carmine closed the folder.
He could not breathe for a moment.
His childhood suddenly looked less like discipline and more like an experiment.
Teresa sat across from him.
“I tried to stop it.”
“Did you?”
“I threatened your father.”
“Did you leave?”
“No.”
“Then you did not stop it.”
She accepted that without arguing.
Leo wandered into the study carrying two cups of hot chocolate.
“One for you,” he said.
Carmine took it.
Leo looked at the boxes.
“Are those my papers?”
“No. Mine.”
Leo blinked.
“You had bad-kid papers too?”
Carmine swallowed.
“Yes.”
Leo thought about that.
“Were you bad?”
“No.”
“Then maybe papers can lie.”
Carmine looked at him.
“Yes.”
That was the first time Carmine understood why Alessia had waited until Leo was seven.
Not because seven was legally important.
Because she knew Carmine would finally see himself in his son.
Nina’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and went still.
“What?” Carmine asked.
“We have movement at Salvatore’s house.”
“Police?”
“No. Movers.”
Salvatore was leaving.
Carmine stood.
Marco entered at the same time.
“Sir, we also lost one exterior camera.”
“Which one?”
“North gate.”
Leo’s cup slipped from his hands.
Hot chocolate splashed across the rug.
“I’m sorry.”
Carmine crouched.
“It’s okay.”
Leo’s face had gone pale.
“What is it?”
“The north gate is where Helena takes me when Uncle Sal comes.”
Carmine looked at Marco.
Then the estate alarm sounded.
A vehicle had entered through the north service road using an active family access code.
The code belonged to Teresa.
Teresa stared at Carmine.
“I did not give anyone that code.”
A second alert appeared.
Leo’s bedroom window had opened.
Carmine ran.
He reached the hallway in seconds.
The room was empty.
The curtains moved in the cold air.
On the bed sat the red key.
Beside it was a note.
BRING THE BELLADONNA DRIVE TO THE OLD RAILYARD.
COME ALONE OR THE BOY BECOMES ANOTHER FILE.
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