Chapter 4 - The Evidence Room
Bianca spent two nights in the hospital.
The baby was safe, but doctors warned that another severe shock could trigger early labor. Roman remained beside her, sleeping in a chair and refusing every call that did not concern her safety.
On the second morning, Bianca woke to find him staring through the window.
“You should sleep,” she said.
“So should you.”
“I have been.”
Roman turned toward her.
There was guilt in his face, but Bianca refused to let him look away.
“You didn’t do this.”
“I brought you into that house.”
“You trusted people who shared your name.”
“I should have known.”
“No. You should have listened when I told you your mother’s attacks were escalating.”
Roman absorbed the words without defending himself.
“You’re right.”
Bianca had expected an argument. His agreement surprised her.
Roman returned to the bed.
“I thought distance and warnings would control her. I was protecting the idea of my family instead of protecting the family I chose.”
Bianca’s eyes filled, but she kept her voice steady.
“What happens now?”
“Whatever you decide.”
She studied him.
“Even if I ask you to walk away from the Kane empire?”
“Yes.”
“What if walking away leaves your mother in control?”
Roman understood the question beneath the question.
Bianca did not want to run.
She wanted Vivienne’s power dismantled so thoroughly that she could never hurt another person.
Three days later, Bianca entered a secure conference room in Roman’s Manhattan office. She wore a soft headscarf and one of Roman’s coats.
Roman sat beside her. Across the table were attorneys, financial investigators, and Detective Marlowe.
The backup recordings played on a large screen.
They showed Vivienne entering Bianca’s bedroom with the scissors.
They showed the two women restraining her.
They showed Dominic ordering the communication system disabled.
They showed Adrian instructing guards not to interfere.
They showed Bianca being pushed into the storm while family members watched.
No one in the room spoke when the recording ended.
Detective Marlowe closed his notebook.
“We have enough to make arrests.”
Roman’s attorney, Evelyn Shaw, opened a second folder.
“The criminal case is only part of the situation.”
She placed documents on the table.
During the investigation, Evelyn had uncovered transfers from Kane companies into accounts controlled by Vivienne and Dominic. They had been secretly selling access to shipping routes, construction bids, and private client information.
The warehouse emergency used to lure Roman away had exposed the network.
Vivienne had not attacked Bianca only because she hated her.
She feared her.
Months earlier, Bianca had noticed irregular expenses while reviewing household budgets. She had asked Roman why the estate was paying maintenance fees to companies with no employees.
Vivienne learned about the question.
She decided Bianca had to disappear before she uncovered more.
Roman stared at the financial records.
“They were stealing from the organization.”
“Millions,” Evelyn said. “Possibly more.”
Bianca turned to Roman. “Your mother believed the baby would make my position permanent. She thought you would eventually give me access to everything.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“She was right.”
Bianca blinked.
Roman slid a document across the table.
Before the attack, he had begun reorganizing his legitimate companies. He had intended to name Bianca as chief operating officer after the baby’s birth.
Vivienne had discovered the plan.
Her obsession with the Kane heir had never truly been about tradition.
It was about control.
Detective Marlowe stood.
“Mrs. Kane, once we begin, this will become public.”
Bianca placed both hands on the table.
“Begin.”
That afternoon, officers entered the Kane estate.
Vivienne was arrested in the same entrance hall where she had forced Bianca into the rain. Dominic was taken from his office. Adrian attempted to leave through a service tunnel, but Roman’s men were waiting.
The two women who had restrained Bianca were found at a Kane-owned apartment in Brooklyn. They agreed to cooperate after learning the entire incident had been recorded.
News spread across New York by evening.
For decades, Vivienne Kane had survived by ensuring that victims remained frightened and witnesses remained silent.
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This time, the victim had evidence.
And the witnesses were finally more afraid of the truth than they were of her.
