Chapter 5
I had delayed the wedding three times.
Everyone knew that.
Publicly, I blamed business.
Privately, the truth was simpler.
Lucy did not like Bianca.
I kept telling myself children needed time.
Bianca kept telling me grief made Lucy possessive.
Marcus supported her.
“Kids reject change,” he said once.
I believed him.
Now I understood what “change” looked like when I was not present.
A dog bowl.
Food used as leverage.
A dead mother insulted for refusing to disappear.
I looked at Marcus.
“You pushed me to set a date.”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“Bianca wanted certainty.”
“For what?”
Silence.
“Marcus.”
He swallowed.
“She was worried about Sofia’s trust.”
My expression changed.
“What trust?”
His face told me he knew he had gone too far.
Lucy played with one of my cuff buttons.
She did not understand.
Good.
I looked at Emma.
“Take her to the garden room.”
Lucy tightened around me.
“No.”
I looked down.
“I’ll be right here.”
She shook her head.
“No Bianca.”
“She won’t come near you.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
She studied my face.
Then allowed Emma to take her.
The door closed.
I turned back to Marcus.
“What trust?”
He exhaled.
“Sofia left property in Lucy’s name.”
I stared.
“I know.”
“Not all of it.”
Silence.
I knew about the house.
A vineyard share.
Several family heirlooms.
“What don’t I know?”
Marcus looked at the table.
“Sofia kept an interest in Romano shipping.”
My jaw tightened.
“How much?”
“Enough that when Lucy turns eighteen, she controls a voting block.”
Interesting.
Sofia had never told me.
Maybe she planned to.
Maybe she knew death was closer than I did.
“What does Bianca care?”
Marcus looked miserable.
“If you marry her and something happens to you…”
I stood.
He stopped.
“Finish.”
“She believed she could manage Lucy’s interests until adulthood.”
I stared.
Bianca was not trying to become Lucy’s mother because she wanted the child’s love.
She wanted legal proximity to power.
But this was not a legal story.
In our world, control happened long before paper mattered.
If Lucy learned to call Bianca mother, obey her, fear losing food, and doubt Sofia—
the rest became easy.
May you like
Bianca was not breaking my daughter’s behavior.
She was training an heir.
