Chapter 7 - The Missing Case
Police were called.
Not because Robert wanted revenge.
Because Bianca had taken financial documents, used forged signatures, and transferred money.
Robert gave his statement.
Then he did something harder.
He told the officer exactly what had happened in the bridal room.
Including the punch.
The officer looked at him.
"You understand that will also be documented."
"Yes."
Rosalie glanced at Robert.
He didn't flinch.
He wasn't going to build justice for Livia on a lie.
Bianca had hurt his daughter.
He had struck Bianca.
Both facts could exist.
By evening, the mansion no longer looked like a wedding venue.
Flowers were being removed.
Food was donated.
Guests had gone home.
The white aisle runner remained downstairs like an abandoned road.
Livia sat on Robert's bed wearing pajamas.
Rosalie had trimmed the rest of her hair into a short, uneven bob so the shaved patch looked less isolated.
Livia stared into the mirror.
"Am I ugly?"
Robert's chest tightened.
He sat beside her.
"No."
"Bianca said girls with ugly hair don't get pictures."
Robert turned the mirror away.
"Then Bianca doesn't get to decide what beautiful is."
Livia looked at him.
"Do you still love her?"
Robert answered carefully.
"I loved who I thought she was."
"Is that different?"
"Very."
Livia thought about that.
Then nodded.
A knock came at the door.
Daniel entered.
"We found something."
Robert tucked the blanket around Livia and stepped into the hall.
Daniel held a laptop.
"Bianca didn't just create one LLC."
He showed Robert a list.
Three companies.
All established during the previous eight months.
One had received wedding vendor payments.
One had received household transfers.
The third was connected to a property purchase.
Robert frowned.
"Where?"
"Connecticut."
Daniel opened a photograph.
A luxury house.
$2.1 million.
Robert stared.
"I've never seen this."
"Your name isn't on it."
"Bianca's?"
"No."
Daniel enlarged the ownership record.
The company was controlled by a man named Ethan Cole.
Robert didn't recognize it.
Rosalie did.
She had come up behind them.
"Ethan?"
Robert turned.
"You know him?"
Rosalie's face tightened.
"He was at the engagement party."
"As what?"
"Bianca introduced him as her cousin."
Daniel looked at the screen.
"He's not her cousin."
"How do you know?"
"Because I ran the company records."
He opened another document.
Bianca DeLuca and Ethan Cole had shared an apartment lease in Boston five years earlier.
Robert stared.
Daniel spoke quietly.
"And there's more."
A marriage license appeared.
Massachusetts.
Seven years earlier.
Bride: Bianca DeLuca.
Groom: Ethan Cole.
Rosalie gasped.
Robert stopped breathing.
"She's married?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Divorced four years ago."
Robert stared at the date.
Four years.
Then something occurred to him.
"When did she meet me?"
"Three years and eight months ago."
The answer landed like a stone.
Only four months after her divorce.
Daniel closed the laptop.
"The property was purchased six weeks ago."
Robert's voice turned quiet.
"Who lives there?"
Daniel looked at him.
"We don't know yet."
Then Robert's phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
A photo.
Bianca.
Standing beside Ethan outside the Connecticut house.
The picture had been taken that afternoon.
Below it were five words.
May you like
Ask her about the second child.
👉 Robert had been trying to understand Bianca's financial scheme—but one anonymous message suggested her biggest secret wasn't money at all.
