Chapter 3 - The Night of the Storm
Bianca fought them.
She screamed, kicked, and knocked over a table, but she was eight months pregnant and terrified of falling. The two women restrained her arms while Vivienne cut the first section of her hair.
Long dark strands dropped onto the carpet.
Bianca stopped struggling when one woman pressed too close to her stomach.
“Please,” Bianca whispered. “Don’t hurt my baby.”
Vivienne cut another section.
“You brought this upon yourself.”
When it was over, Bianca could barely recognize the woman in the mirror. Her hair had been cut unevenly, almost to the scalp. Red marks covered her wrists where she had been held.
Vivienne ordered the women to take Bianca’s shoes and coat.
Then she marched her downstairs.
Family members had gathered in the entrance hall. Uncle Dominic stood near the fireplace. Adrian watched from beside the staircase. Guards lined the walls.
No one asked what was happening.
Vivienne opened the front doors.
Freezing rain swept into the mansion.
Bianca stared at her.
“You cannot be serious.”
Vivienne leaned closer. “Leave the estate. Leave New York. Raise your daughter somewhere Roman will never find you.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then perhaps the cold will persuade you.”
Bianca looked around the hall.
“Someone call Roman.”
No one moved.
She turned to Dominic. “You have daughters.”
His gaze dropped.
She looked at Adrian. “You told Roman you considered him a brother.”
Adrian stepped backward.
That was when Bianca understood.
They were not merely afraid of Vivienne.
They were involved.
Two guards escorted Bianca outside. They did not strike her, but they blocked every path back into the house.
The doors closed.
Bianca stood alone in the rain.
She wrapped her arms around her belly and tried to remain upright.
Inside, the Kane family waited for her to break.
What they did not know was that Bianca had learned something during her years managing Bellafonte.
Powerful people often believed the person with the loudest voice controlled the room.
They were wrong.
The person who understood the system controlled the room.
Three weeks earlier, Bianca had discovered that the estate’s cameras occasionally went offline for exactly seventeen minutes. She had reported the issue to Roman.
Roman installed a separate backup system without informing the household staff.
Every entrance, hallway, and exterior path was being recorded to a secure server accessible only by Roman and Bianca.
Vivienne had destroyed the visible cameras.
She had not touched the hidden ones.
Bianca just needed Roman to return.
When his sedan appeared, relief nearly dropped her to her knees.
Roman stepped out.
He saw her.
The gates closed.
Within minutes, the estate changed.
Roman’s personal security team took control of every exit. The household guards were disarmed and separated. Phones were collected. Cars were blocked.
Roman carried Bianca into the mansion and placed her on a sofa near the fireplace.
Dr. Samuel Reed, the family physician, arrived from one of the following vehicles. He checked Bianca’s temperature, blood pressure, and the baby’s heartbeat.
“The heartbeat is strong,” he said. “But she needs to be taken to the hospital immediately. She is too cold, and the stress could trigger early labor.”
Roman’s shoulders loosened slightly.
Bianca caught his sleeve.
“The backup cameras.”
Roman looked at her.
“They recorded everything,” she whispered.
He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No. First, protect the recording.”
“Bianca—”
“They planned this. Your mother wasn’t alone.”
Roman turned toward the entrance hall.
Vivienne stood beneath the chandelier, surrounded by the relatives who had watched Bianca in the rain.
Roman handed Bianca to Dr. Reed and slowly approached his mother.
“Tell me who helped you.”
Vivienne folded her arms. “You are behaving emotionally.”
“You held down my pregnant wife.”
“She is manipulating you.”
“You cut her hair.”
“She needed humility.”
“You threw her into a storm.”
“To protect this family.”
Roman’s voice became quieter.
“From my unborn daughter?”
Vivienne did not answer.
Dominic stepped forward. “Roman, we can settle this privately.”
Roman looked at his uncle.
“You disabled the communications.”
Dominic’s face went pale.
Roman had not guessed.
He had known.
On the drive back, his security team had discovered that the warehouse emergency was fabricated. Someone had created it to lure him away from the estate.
Roman turned to Adrian.
“You changed the guard schedule.”
Adrian’s mouth opened, but no words came.
Bianca spoke from across the room.
“The recordings will show everything.”
For the first time, Vivienne looked afraid.
Roman glanced toward his head of security.
“Send copies to three separate attorneys. Then contact Detective Marlowe.”
Vivienne stepped forward. “You would call the police against your own mother?”
May you like
Roman looked at Bianca’s shaking body.
“You stopped being my mother when you endangered my child.”
