Chapter 13 - Bianca's Blood
Bianca stared at the marriage certificate for a long time.
Then she laughed once.
"Of course."
"You knew?" I asked.
"I knew my mother had an affair with somebody powerful. I didn't know it was Vittorio."
Lorenzo looked physically ill.
Bianca's mother, Sofia Romano, had died when Bianca was twelve. Vittorio's secret marriage to her had happened months before his supposed death.
If valid, it created a legal disaster involving trusts, inheritance rights, and ownership shares Vittorio had hidden through shell companies.
It also explained why Bianca had been selected as one of Lorenzo's potential brides.
Vittorio wanted her inside the family without revealing why.
"He was going to marry us?" Bianca whispered.
Rosa went white. "He wouldn't care. Not if it protected control."
Bianca walked to the sink and threw up.
The missing ledger pages were worse.
Dad had traced a separate $18 million trust created for Bianca. Silas had diverted it. Vittorio had used the money to finance Black Harbor.
My father had not only discovered the laundering operation.
He had discovered Vittorio's secret family.
No wonder they wanted him dead.
Natalie finally got a location on Ethan's phone: an abandoned hangar near Waukegan, close to the private airfield.
"We move now," she said.
Lorenzo shook his head. "They'll kill Mrs. Carter the second they see agents."
"And if you walk in alone, they'll kill you too."
I looked at the documents.
"They need me."
Everyone turned.
"Vittorio thinks I have the only certified copy of the marriage record and the ledger pages. He won't shoot me before he gets them."
Lorenzo's answer was immediate. "No."
"That's getting repetitive."
"Good. Learn it."
"My mother is there because of me. Ethan targeted me because of my father. I am not sitting in another locked room while men decide what's safest for me."
His face tightened.
I stepped closer. "You gave me a key because you understood I needed a choice. Don't take that away now."
That landed.
He hated it.
But it landed.
At 3:18 a.m., I entered the hangar wearing a wire under my coat.
Ethan stood beside my mother.
She was tied to a chair but awake.
Silas Trent was near the plane.
And beside him stood a tall gray-haired man with Lorenzo's eyes.
Vittorio smiled at me.
"Welcome, Amelia."
May you like
Then he looked past my shoulder.
"You can come in too, Lorenzo. I know you're there."
