Chapter 3
Bianca did not return to the Vitale estate when the hospital discharged her.
She did not go home with Victor either.
She chose a furnished apartment owned by one of Lorenzo’s legitimate companies near her obstetrician’s hospital.
Then she made Lorenzo transfer the lease to an independent management company before she moved in.
He stared at her.
“You think I’m going to hold the apartment over you?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because I need somewhere that belongs to me while I figure this out.”
Lorenzo almost argued.
Then stopped.
“Fine.”
It was harder for him than the word suggested.
Bianca had grown up protected by a father whose version of love often involved owning the building around the person he loved.
Tonight she wanted locks he did not control.
He gave her that.
Victor requested contact through attorneys.
Bianca declined.
Marcella sent flowers.
Bianca sent them back.
Then a member of the estate staff called.
Her name was Dana Collins.
She supervised the upstairs household rooms.
“I think you need to know what Mrs. Hale asked us to do.”
Bianca put the call on speaker with her attorney present.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did she ask?”
“To move some things after the baby arrived.”
“What things?”
Dana hesitated.
“Yours.”
Bianca’s face changed.
“From where?”
“The nursery suite.”
Bianca and Victor had planned to use a large bedroom connected to the nursery during the first months after birth.
Marcella had instructed staff that Bianca would not need the room after delivery.
“Where was I supposed to sleep?”
Dana sounded uncomfortable.
“There was no replacement room.”
Bianca went still.
“What about the nursery?”
“It stayed.”
“And the baby’s things?”
“They stayed too.”
There was the first concrete confirmation of Marcella’s wording.
After that baby comes, you leave.
She had not meant the estate family generally.
She had meant Bianca.
Dana continued.
“I thought you knew.”
“Why?”
“Mrs. Hale said it was part of the postpartum arrangement.”
“What arrangement?”
“She said you were going somewhere to recover.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Bianca looked toward her attorney.
“Did she say the baby was going with me?”
Dana became quiet.
“No.”
The call ended.
Lorenzo was told later.
His first instinct was immediate.
“I want Marcella’s house searched.”
Bianca’s attorney shook her head.
“You don’t get to order searches.”
Lorenzo looked irritated.
The attorney did not care.
“If there is lawful cause, investigators can obtain what they need.”
Lorenzo leaned back.
Slowly.
He was learning.
Not gracefully.
But learning.
Bianca looked down at her stomach as the baby shifted.
Victor and Marcella had spent weeks telling people she was dizzy.
Forgetful.
Overwhelmed.
Now staff were being told she would leave after birth while the nursery remained ready.
May you like
It no longer felt like random cruelty.
It felt like preparation.
