Chapter 6
Bianca finally agreed to a formal interview with prosecutors through counsel.
She admitted more than Roman expected.
Less than Vivienne had apparently wanted.
“I knew Mom wanted one of the babies placed with me.”
“Did Roman agree?”
“No.”
“Did Elena?”
“Not directly.”
“Did you believe they had privately agreed?”
“At first.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom showed me the signed prenatal acknowledgment.”
The forged one.
Bianca said she recognized Elena’s signature.
Had no reason initially to suspect copying.
Then the agency refused to proceed without direct parental confirmation.
That should have ended it.
It did not.
Bianca kept the home study active.
Why?
She cried before answering.
“Because I wanted it to be true.”
There it was.
Not sophisticated.
Human.
Ugly.
She admitted preparing a nursery again.
Buying formula.
Hiring a nanny consultant.
Choosing a pediatrician.
She also admitted knowing about the trust deadline.
“Did the nine-percent voting block matter to you?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Bianca looked ashamed.
“Less than my mother thinks.”
“Did you want to preserve it?”
“Yes.”
“Would you have adopted an unrelated child simply to preserve it?”
“No.”
“Why Gabriel?”
She covered her face.
“Because Mom kept saying he was already family.”
Blood.
The phrase returned.
Vivienne had constructed a moral shortcut.
No child would leave the DeLuca bloodline.
Roman would still be uncle.
Elena would still see him.
Bianca would finally become a mother.
The family voting structure would remain balanced.
Everyone wins.
Except the infant who had parents already.
Except Elena.
Except Roman.
Except Dominic and Gabriel’s siblings.
Then prosecutors asked the question Bianca feared.
“What did you know about the identification bands?”
“Nothing.”
“Did you ask your mother to tamper with one?”
“No.”
“Did you know she printed duplicates?”
“No.”
Forensic evidence supported her.
No label files on Bianca’s devices.
No hospital-portal access.
No message discussing band changes.
That mattered.
Then came the christening.
“Why didn’t you give Gabriel back immediately?”
Bianca stared at the table.
“I froze.”
“Six seconds?”
“Yes.”
“Vivienne said ‘Bianca gets one.’”
“I know.”
“What did you think was happening?”
Bianca’s voice broke.
“For one horrible second, I thought she was finally making it real.”
Roman later read that sentence in the interview summary.
He sat in silence for a long time.
Bianca had not engineered the hospital identity fraud.
May you like
But when presented with his son like an object being awarded, some part of her had wanted to accept.
That was not something Roman could dismiss as his mother’s manipulation.
