Chapter 13 - Bianca's ConfessionBianca confessed everything.
She had been nineteen.
My mother discovered the identity scheme.
Richard ordered Bianca to retrieve the ledger.
Bianca refused.
They fought.
My mother threatened to expose everyone.
Then Victor arrived.
The situation became violent.
Bianca tried to stop them.
She pushed my mother.
My mother fell.
Bianca thought she had killed her.
She panicked.
Richard used the accident.
He convinced Bianca that she would be charged with murder.
So she obeyed.
She helped hide the evidence.
Then Evelyn arrived.
Evelyn saw the aftermath.
Richard ordered her imprisoned.
Bianca resisted.
But Victor threatened me.
That was how the years passed.
Every attempt to help Evelyn was sabotaged.
Every attempt to tell me the truth ended with another threat.
Bianca had become trapped inside the family machine she once helped create.
But there was another secret.
She had known my mother survived.
She had secretly sent her money.
She had also helped arrange Evelyn's survival.
“She could have freed me,” Evelyn said.
“I tried.”
“You never tried hard enough.”
Bianca started crying.
“I was afraid.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“I was afraid too.”
Those words hit harder than any accusation.
Bianca had spent years thinking fear excused silence.
Evelyn reminded her it did not.
But the worst confession came next.
Bianca admitted she had orchestrated my hatred of Evelyn.
Every anonymous message.
Every supposed sighting.
Every rumor.
She wanted me to believe Evelyn had chosen another man.
Because she knew grief could be controlled.
Anger could be controlled.
But hope was dangerous.
“I needed you to stop searching.”
I stared at her.
“You made me hate my own wife.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because if you found her, Victor would kill you.”
I couldn't forgive her.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
Then my mother arrived.
Not at the estate.
At the police station.
She looked older.
Smaller.
But alive.
I stood in front of her.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Then she touched my face.
“You look like him.”
“Which one?”
She started crying.
“Both.”
She told us why she disappeared.
She had uncovered the network.
She knew Richard and Victor had created false identities to control inheritance.
She knew I was Victor's son.
She knew Adrian had died as a child.
And she knew Richard had replaced my identity.
But she hadn't known Evelyn was going to be imprisoned.
That was her greatest regret.
She gave Evelyn the final piece of evidence.
A handwritten list.
Names.
Judges.
Bankers.
Police.
Businessmen.
And one final name.
The current CEO of our company.
My best friend.
Thomas.
I stared.
“That can't be.”
My mother nodded.
“He's been working for them since before you met Evelyn.”
Everything I trusted was collapsing.
Thomas had handled my legal documents.
Thomas had advised me to sign.
Thomas had represented the company.
Thomas had been beside me at Evelyn's funeral.
He knew everything.
Then the police phone rang.
Reed answered.
His face changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“Thomas just entered the estate.”
“Why?”
“He's asking for Bianca.”
I stood.
“Take me there.”
We arrived at the estate.
The fire was almost extinguished.
Thomas stood in the courtyard.
He was holding a gun.
Bianca was his target.
“Nathan,” he said.
I stared at him.
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
“Did you know Evelyn was alive?”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother survived?”
“Yes.”
“And you knew who I really was?”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you help them?”
He looked at Bianca.
“Because I wasn't working for your father.”
He raised the gun.
“I was working for Victor.”
May you like
Then he pointed at me.
“And Victor wants his son back.”
