Chapter 9 - Bianca in WhiteBianca Moretti arrived at the recovery center wearing winter white and a smile made for cameras.
She came through the front gate in a silver Bentley with no appointment, no visible fear, and two attorneys who looked expensive enough to bill by the heartbeat.
Marcus met her outside.
Dominic watched from the upstairs window.
Elena stood behind him.
“That is Bianca?”
“Yes.”
“She looks like she eats people politely.”
“She does.”
Bianca tilted her face toward the camera above the gate and waved.
Elena’s stomach turned.
“She knows we are watching.”
Dominic nodded.
“She wants us to.”
“Why come here?”
“To deny what we have not accused her of yet.”
Bianca was escorted into the conference room ten minutes later after every bag, coat, pen, and phone had been checked. She made a show of looking around the accessible hallways.
“How touching,” she said. “You built yourself a kingdom with ramps.”
Dominic sat at the head of the table.
Elena stood beside the window, refusing to sit like someone summoned.
Bianca’s eyes moved to her.
“Elena Ramirez,” she said warmly. “The woman who made Dominic briefly sentimental.”
Elena smiled without warmth.
“And you are the woman he still did not marry.”
Marcus coughed once.
Dominic looked down to hide an expression.
Bianca’s smile sharpened.
“I see motherhood did not soften you.”
“It clarified me.”
Bianca removed her gloves slowly.
“I heard rumors,” she said. “Ridiculous rumors. Two little boys with Caruso eyes appearing on the RiverWalk like a miracle. I thought, surely Dominic would have told his old friends he had heirs.”
Dominic’s voice was flat.
“You are not a friend.”
“No. I was almost family.”
“You were a transaction Victor wanted.”
“And you chose love.” She glanced at Elena. “How romantic. How costly.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Did you pay a man to break into my sons’ bedroom?”
Bianca’s attorneys shifted.
Bianca only smiled.
“What an ugly accusation.”
“Answer it.”
“I did not pay anyone to break into anything.”
Dominic watched her closely.
The wording mattered.
“Elena asked whether you paid a man,” he said.
Bianca’s gaze slid to him.
“I heard her.”
“Answer the question she asked.”
“I am not in the habit of discussing business with angry mothers.”
Elena moved so fast one attorney flinched.
Dominic caught her wrist—not restraining hard, just grounding.
Bianca noticed.
Pain flickered across her face and vanished.
“There it is,” Bianca said softly. “Still.”
Dominic released Elena immediately.
“What do you want?”
Bianca leaned back.
“Stability.”
“You came to the wrong place.”
“The Moretti family believes the emergence of your sons creates uncertainty. Victor believes blood matters. Others believe a paralyzed man with young heirs becomes vulnerable. I believe vulnerable men make reckless decisions.”
Dominic’s voice cooled.
“And your solution?”
“Public clarity. A statement denying the children are yours.”
Elena went still.
Dominic’s face did not change.
Bianca continued. “Send them away. Quietly. Fund their life if your conscience requires it. But remove them from the board.”
“The board?” Elena said.
Bianca looked at her as if she were slow.
“Caruso Maritime’s succession structure includes bloodline contingencies.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“That document was sealed.”
“Nothing stays sealed when enough people care.”
Elena turned to Dominic.
“What is she talking about?”
Dominic did not answer quickly enough.
Bianca smiled.
“Oh, he did not tell you. If Dominic dies without a legal heir, Victor gains controlling authority over the family trust tied to several legitimate holdings. But if sons exist…”
Elena’s face changed.
Dominic said, “They are minors. It means nothing now.”
“It means everything,” Bianca said. “It means men with guns, lawyers, and old grudges now see toddlers as keys to a vault.”
Elena’s voice shook with fury.
“You people are sick.”
Bianca’s expression hardened for the first time.
“No. We are honest about inheritance. Your mistake was believing you could give birth to Caruso sons and raise them like ordinary boys.”
Dominic’s hand curled.
Bianca stood.
“My offer is simple. Deny them, Dominic. Publicly. Let the world think Elena invented a fairy tale for money.”
Elena’s face drained.
Dominic’s voice became deadly soft.
“Finish that sentence carefully.”
Bianca leaned toward him.
“Or someone else will claim them first.”
Marcus moved.
Dominic raised a hand.
Bianca smiled again.
“I brought a gift.”
One attorney placed a small velvet box on the table.
Marcus opened it.
Inside lay an emerald ring.
Elena stopped breathing.
Dominic stared at it.
The ring he had given her.
The ring she had sold to survive.
Bianca said, “Family treasures always find their way home.”
Elena looked as if the past had reached across the table and grabbed her throat.
Dominic’s face went white with rage.
“Where did you get it?”
Bianca pulled on her gloves.
“From the person who bought it. Eventually.”
“That ring belongs to Elena.”
“It belonged to the Carusos before her.”
Dominic took the box and rolled toward Elena.
He held it up.
“Take it.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“It is yours.”
“No, Dominic.”
“Not as a proposal. Not as a claim. As something you sold because I abandoned you.”
Her eyes filled.
Bianca watched with open fascination.
Elena took the box with trembling hands.
Then she turned and threw it through the conference room window.
The glass cracked but held, reinforced.
The emerald struck, bounced, and landed on the floor.
Everyone froze.
Elena faced Bianca.
“I survived without it once,” she said. “I can survive without it again.”
Dominic looked at Elena as if he had never seen anything braver.
Bianca’s smile disappeared.
For the first time, she understood.
May you like
Elena Ramirez was not leverage.
She was war.
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