Chapter 11
Bianca arrived at the Bellandi townhouse the following afternoon.
She came alone.
Rocco had allowed it because Mia was staying with Michael’s wife for several hours.
Bianca walked into the living room as if she still lived there.
Her wedding ring remained on her hand.
“You finally talked to Grant.”
“Yes.”
“He blamed me.”
“He told me what he did.”
Bianca smiled faintly.
“And you believe him?”
“I believe the dates.”
Her smile disappeared.
Rocco placed Michael’s timeline on the table.
Bianca did not touch it.
“You built the client list.”
Silence.
“You introduced them.”
Silence.
“You decided what they paid.”
Bianca finally sat down.
“You kept me outside everything.”
“That was my decision.”
“I was your wife.”
“You were my wife. Not my employee.”
“You expected me to host dinners, smile at men, raise your daughter, and pretend I didn’t understand what happened around me.”
Rocco’s eyes hardened.
“So you used my name.”
“I created something.”
“You sold promises you couldn’t keep.”
“They would have been kept eventually.”
“By whom?”
Bianca hesitated.
There it was.
She had assumed Rocco would be forced to honor the promises once enough people believed he had made them.
Rocco understood the elegance of it.
By the time he discovered the scheme, refusing those obligations would damage his reputation.
Accepting them would legitimize Bianca’s operation.
Either way, she became necessary.
“Why Mia?”
Bianca looked toward the staircase.
“She heard too much.”
“She’s three.”
“She repeats everything.”
Rocco’s voice dropped.
“So you left her standing in a garage for nine hours.”
Bianca’s expression finally cracked.
“I needed her to understand me.”
Rocco stood.
“No.”
He looked at the woman he had married.
“You needed a three-year-old to fear you.”
Bianca reached for him.
May you like
Rocco stepped back.
For the first time, she understood that the marriage had ended before she entered the room.
