Chapter 7
Bianca returned the next morning.
I had not summoned her.
She came anyway.
No ring.
No makeup.
No defense left.
I handed her Elias’s letter.
She read it.
Started crying before the end.
“Where did you drive him?”
She sat down.
“Canada.”
Not exact location.
A private family property near the border.
Conrad arranged it.
Nathan approved.
Bianca rode with them.
Elias was told he could live comfortably under another identity if he stayed silent.
He refused.
Then what?
He escaped.
Three weeks later.
Vanished.
Not from them only.
From everyone.
Bianca did not know where.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked at me.
“Because my father said Elias would destroy you.”
Of course.
Same lie.
Brothers must compete.
Older son means claimant.
Claimant means threat.
No evidence required.
Then:
“Did you believe it?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
She cried harder.
“No.”
There.
When did belief change?
At the lake house.
She talked to Elias.
He asked about me.
Not command.
Not money.
Me.
What I was like.
Whether I hated our father.
Whether I had children.
Whether I laughed like Alexander.
Human questions.
Not succession.
Bianca realized the monster story was false.
Still stayed silent.
That was her guilt.
Not believing her father initially.
Continuing once she knew.
“Why?”
“Because I loved my father.”
Simple.
“And later?”
“Because I loved you.”
More painful.
Truth risked losing both men at different times.
So she preserved herself through silence.
Then the gala happened.
She brought the silver pillbox because Nathan had told her Rose’s medication needed “checking.”
She should have refused.
Instead habit took over.
Family instruction.
Secrecy.
Control.
Mila recognized the pattern.
Same box.
Same fear.
Same woman.
Five years later, history almost repeated with my mother.
I looked at Bianca.
“You learned nothing.”
She closed her eyes.
May you like
“No.”
For once, agreement was worse than argument.
