Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO RAISED HIM
Bianca Costello lived in a limestone mansion near Lake Forest.
She was Vittorio’s younger sister and Salvatore’s older sister.
After Luca’s mother died, Bianca became the closest thing he had to a parent.
She taught him to read contracts.
She corrected his posture at formal dinners.
She warned him never to confuse affection with loyalty.
Luca had ignored the warning because he believed it could never apply to her.
Bianca arrived at the estate before he summoned her.
She walked into the study wearing a cream suit and carrying a silver-handled cane.
At seventy-one, she still moved with controlled elegance.
She saw Elena first.
Then Maya.
The smallest movement passed across her face.
“So the child finally found her way home.”
Elena stepped in front of Maya.
“You knew about her.”
Bianca placed her gloves on the desk.
“I knew Elena was pregnant.”
“Did you tell Luca?”
“No.”
Luca watched the woman who had raised him sit across from his wheelchair.
“Why?”
“Because you were already dying.”
“I was not dying.”
“We believed you would.”
“Who is we?”
Bianca’s gaze shifted toward the windows.
“Your father began the project.”
“He wanted to stop you for several weeks.”
“When Vittorio died, Salvatore found the laboratory.”
“He decided temporary weakness could become permanent control.”
“And you?” Luca asked.
Bianca did not answer immediately.
She looked at Maya.
“I protected the family.”
“By poisoning me?”
“By preventing a war.”
Luca had planned to dissolve several alliances and remove men who profited from violence.
Salvatore believed those men would retaliate.
Bianca argued that a wheelchair-bound leader could remain the public symbol while others preserved the empire.
“You were respected,” she said.
“You were alive.”
“You ruled without exposing yourself.”
“I ruled through reports written by the men who crippled me.”
Bianca’s expression tightened.
“The city remained stable.”
“Samuel Reyes discovered the laboratory.”
“He intended to sell the evidence.”
Tommy stepped out from behind the study door.
Elena had told him to stay upstairs.
He had disobeyed.
“My dad wasn’t a thief.”
Bianca studied him.
“You look like Samuel.”
“Did you kill him?”
Bianca’s composure faltered.
“I did not order his death.”
“Did you stop it?”
She said nothing.
Tommy’s eyes filled, but he refused to cry.
Luca wheeled between him and Bianca.
“You knew Samuel had a son.”
“I arranged payments.”
“We never got money,” Tommy said.
Bianca looked genuinely surprised.
The payments had gone through Salvatore.
He had stolen the money intended for Tommy’s care.
For the first time, Bianca appeared to understand that the system she protected had not obeyed her rules.
Luca leaned toward her.
“Where is Salvatore?”
May you like
Bianca’s hands tightened around her cane.
“He is coming for Maya.”
