Chapter 6
Bianca did not deny taking the jewelry.
She denied stealing it.
“Sofia gave me some things.”
Alessandro’s eyes lifted slowly.
“When?”
Bianca’s confidence returned.
“Before she died.”
Rosalie stared at her.
Alessandro said nothing.
Bianca took that silence as permission.
“Sofia and I were friends.”
That was true.
They had known each other through charity events.
Bianca visited the hospital twice.
Alessandro remembered.
At the time, he thought it kind.
“She told me she didn't want everything locked away like a shrine.”
“Which things?”
Bianca named a bracelet.
Two earrings.
A silk scarf.
The hairbrush.
Alessandro’s hand tightened around it.
“She gave you her hairbrush?”
Bianca hesitated.
That hesitation changed the answer.
Rosalie spoke.
“I packed Mrs. Rizzano’s belongings after the funeral.”
Bianca looked at her.
“The hairbrush was in the master bathroom.”
Alessandro’s eyes hardened.
“And the jewelry?”
“In the bedroom safe.”
Silence.
Bianca’s breathing became audible.
Matteo entered behind them.
He looked at the brush.
His face changed.
Alessandro saw it.
“You knew?”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
Alessandro walked toward him.
Matteo stepped back once.
That single step told everyone who currently held power.
Rosalie handed Alessandro photographs of the items found inside Bianca’s bridal luggage.
Sofia’s pearl earrings.
Sofia’s bracelet.
An old perfume bottle.
Three handwritten recipe cards.
A framed photograph of Sofia holding baby Livia.
Alessandro stared at the photograph longest.
“Why?”
Bianca’s eyes filled.
For the first time, her arrogance cracked into something more complicated.
“Because she had everything.”
Alessandro looked up.
Bianca’s jaw trembled.
“You.”
Her voice lowered.
“A child who worshipped her. A house where everyone still talks about her. Staff who compare me to her without saying it.”
Rosalie’s lips parted.
Bianca looked at her.
“You think I don't see the way you look at me?”
Rosalie said nothing.
Bianca turned back to Alessandro.
“I was marrying a widower who never stopped being married.”
Alessandro’s expression did not change.
“That explains jealousy.”
He lifted Sofia’s hairbrush.
“It does not explain this.”
Bianca’s hand tightened at her side.
Then she whispered:
“I wanted to understand what made her impossible to replace.”
Alessandro’s gaze became colder.
“You thought wearing her things would tell you?”
Bianca looked away.
Then Livia appeared in the doorway holding Rosalie’s hand.
She saw the framed photograph.
“Mommy.”
Everyone froze.
Livia walked toward Bianca’s open luggage.
Then she pointed inside.
“Daddy…”
Alessandro crouched.
“What?”
May you like
Livia looked confused.
“Why does Bianca have Mommy’s phone?”
