Chapter 14 - HELENA’S APOLOGY TO LEOThe first version:
I’m sorry you were frightened.
Rejected.
Second:
I’m sorry I disciplined you too harshly.
Still wrong.
Then months later:
Leo, I locked you alone in a dark room because I wanted you to stop crying and asking for your father.
Accurate.
I withheld food to make you obey me.
Yes.
I made you clean my car on your knees even though you had not damaged it.
There.
I treated your normal needs like they were problems because I resented the place you had in Carmine’s life.
Hard.
Then:
None of that was your fault.
Good.
Even if you had scratched the car, spilled food, cried all night, or screamed at me, I still would not have had the right to frighten or hurt you.
That mattered.
Leo was too young to read it.
May you like
Carmine kept it sealed.
Years later, Leo could choose.
