Chapter 6 - Bianca’s Offer
Bianca called the following morning.
Not Adrian.
Sophie.
“I need to see you.”
Sophie nearly hung up.
Then Bianca said:
“Victor will kill me if he thinks I told you anything.”
They met in a crowded hotel café.
Adrian sat three tables away.
Bianca noticed him immediately.
“I said alone.”
“You framed me for theft.”
Sophie sat down.
“You don’t get to set conditions.”
Bianca looked exhausted.
No makeup.
Dark glasses.
Nothing like the woman from the mansion.
“Victor owns my father.”
“How?”
“My father borrowed millions after Harrington Holdings collapsed.”
“From Victor?”
“Through companies Victor controlled.”
Sophie leaned forward.
“Why frame me?”
Bianca swallowed.
“Because Marcus saw you in Charles’s study.”
“You knew about the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“What did you think I found?”
“The key.”
Sophie stared.
“That was enough to destroy me?”
“You don’t understand.”
Bianca removed a flash drive.
“Victor has spent twenty years eliminating people who threaten him.”
“Did he kill Charles?”
Bianca looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“Did he kill Grace?”
“I don’t know.”
Sophie slammed her palm softly against the table.
“Then what do you know?”
Bianca pushed the drive toward her.
“Victor is preparing to take control of the Blackwood Foundation.”
Adrian approached.
“How?”
Bianca sighed.
“Three days from now, the board votes on a restructuring agreement.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know what’s inside it.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“My lawyers reviewed it.”
“Marcus wrote it.”
Silence.
Bianca continued.
“The agreement transfers emergency voting authority to Victor if you’re removed as chairman.”
“Removed for what reason?”
“Financial misconduct.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“He stole money and plans to accuse me.”
“Yes.”
Sophie understood immediately.
“The necklace.”
Bianca looked at her.
“You were supposed to be arrested.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“And?”
“Marcus had prepared statements claiming Sophie stole confidential documents from the mansion.”
Sophie felt sick.
“The ledger.”
“Yes.”
“They were going to say I stole it.”
“And gave it to Adrian.”
Adrian stared.
“Which would make it look like I fabricated evidence against Victor.”
Bianca nodded.
“They needed Sophie discredited before the ledger resurfaced.”
Sophie’s voice went cold.
“So you slapped me because—”
“I was terrified.”
“That does not excuse it.”
“I know.”
For once, Bianca did not argue.
She pushed the flash drive closer.
“My father kept copies of transfers Victor ordered.”
Adrian reached for it.
Bianca pulled it back.
“I want protection.”
“You’re bargaining?”
“I’m trying to survive.”
Sophie stared at her.
Then Bianca said something unexpected.
“Your mother tried to save my mother too.”
Sophie froze.
“What?”
“Grace met my mother three weeks before Charles died.”
“Why?”
“My mother knew Victor was using my father’s company.”
Bianca’s eyes filled.
“She wanted out.”
“What happened?”
“She died in a car accident.”
Sophie stared.
Bianca whispered:
“Grace didn’t believe it was an accident.”
A man suddenly appeared outside the café window.
Dark coat.
Watching them.
Bianca saw him.
Her face changed.
“Oh God.”
She stood.
Adrian turned.
The man walked away.
Bianca grabbed Sophie’s hand.
“Listen to me.”
“What?”
“If Victor knows I gave you this, he’ll know where to look next.”
“For what?”
Bianca pressed the flash drive into Sophie’s palm.
“The Harrington files.”
Sophie remembered Charles’s letter.
The proof is incomplete without the Harrington files.
“Where are they?”
Bianca looked terrified.
May you like
“My mother hid them somewhere inside Blackwood Manor.”
Then she fled.
