Chapter 12 - WHAT EACH OF THEM WANTED
The meeting took place in Rachel Stein’s downtown Chicago office.
No bodyguards inside.
No raised voices.
No one had anything to hide behind except lawyers and glass walls.
Bianca sat across from Vittorio wearing black.
Her engagement ring was gone.
Marcus’s bruises had faded.
The contempt had not.
Marcus began with numbers.
He said he had carried Romano Freight through Elena’s illness while Vittorio barely attended meetings.
He said he had protected contracts, relationships, and people Vittorio did not want to deal with.
“You disappeared into that hospital,” Marcus said. “Somebody had to keep things moving.”
“So you paid yourself?”
“I used money to cover obligations.”
“Your obligations.”
Marcus looked away.
There was the first honest thing he had done.
Bianca spoke next.
“I wanted a family.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
“You put my daughter on the floor beside a dog bowl.”
“I lost control.”
“No. You waited for me to walk in.”
Bianca glanced at Marcus.
That tiny movement mattered.
Vittorio saw Rachel notice it too.
Bianca’s lawyer interrupted.
Vittorio continued quietly.
“You spent months telling me Lucy was difficult.”
“She hated me.”
“She was five.”
“You always chose her.”
The words came out before Bianca could stop them.
Her lawyer touched her arm.
Bianca pulled away.
“I knew I would always be second.”
For the first time, Vittorio understood her without forgiving her.
She had not wanted Lucy harmed because Lucy was bad.
She wanted Lucy diminished because she could not compete with a dead mother and a living child.
Marcus leaned forward.
“You want confession? Fine. We wanted leverage.”
Bianca turned sharply.
“Marcus.”
He ignored her.
“You were going to sell the division. I needed time. Bianca needed you to stop changing the life she was marrying into.”
“Did you plan the breakfast?”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“Prove it.”
There it was.
Not denial.
A challenge.
Rachel closed her notebook.
The meeting was over.
In the hallway Bianca caught Vittorio’s sleeve.
For one second she looked less elegant than exhausted.
“Marcus told me it would only scare her.”
Vittorio looked at her hand until she released him.
“Then help prove it.”
Bianca’s face changed.
She glanced back toward the conference room.
“I can’t.”
May you like
Vittorio understood.
Even now, she was still more afraid of losing Marcus than of what she had done to Lucy.
