Chapter 4: What Leo Heard
Carmine found him standing just inside the door, the cloth still balled up in both hands.
He didn't say anything about it.
He just put one hand on Leo's shoulder and steered him gently toward the kitchen.
"Sit down.
I'll make eggs."
Leo climbed onto the stool at the kitchen island.
He set the cloth on the counter beside him and watched his father move around the kitchen.
"Daddy."
"Yeah."
"Is Helena going to make me leave?"
Carmine cracked two eggs into the pan.
He didn't answer immediately.
"No," he said.
"She said last week that this isn't my house."
"She's wrong."
"She said my mom left because she didn't want me."
The pan handle bent slightly under Carmine's grip.
He loosened it before he turned around.
"Look at me."
Leo looked up.
"Your mother left because she and I couldn't make things work.
That had nothing to do with you.
Do you understand me?"
"Helena said—"
"I know what Helena said." He kept his voice even.
"Helena is wrong.
About that and about a lot of things."
Leo looked down at the cloth on the counter.
"She makes me clean things when you're not home."
"What kind of things?"
"The cars.
The garage floor.
Last week she made me scrub the outdoor tiles because she said I tracked mud inside." He paused.
"I didn't track mud inside.
I checked my shoes."
Carmine set the spatula down on the counter.
"How long has this been happening?"
Leo shrugged one shoulder the way children do when they've been carrying something too long to remember when it started.
"Since the summer, I think."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She said you'd be angry at me for making problems."
Carmine sat down on the stool across from his son.
The eggs were still in the pan.
He'd deal with them in a moment.
"Leo.
I need you to listen to me very carefully." He waited until the boy met his eyes.
"You are never in trouble for telling me the truth.
Not once.
Not ever.
Do you understand?"
Leo nodded slowly.
"Say it back to me."
"I'm not in trouble for telling the truth."
"That's right."
He got up and went back to the eggs.
He plated them, added toast, set the plate in front of Leo, and poured him a glass of milk.
Leo ate quietly for a moment.
Then he said: "There's something else."
Carmine sat back down.
"Tell me."
"A man came to the house.
Two weeks ago, when you were in Rome." Leo kept his eyes on his plate.
"Helena told me to go to my room and stay there.
But I heard them talking in the study."
"What did they say?"
"I couldn't hear most of it.
But the man said a name." Leo looked up.
"He said your name, Daddy.
And then he said something about papers.
And Helena said — she said, 'He won't find out until it's too late.'"
The kitchen was very still.
Carmine looked at his son for a long moment.
"Would you recognize the man if you saw him again?"
"I think so.
He had a scar.
Here." Leo touched the edge of his own jaw.
"And he smelled like cigarettes."
Carmine's phone buzzed on the counter.
He glanced at the screen.
It was a message from his attorney: *Call me.
May you like
Now.
It's about the estate deed.*
