Chapter 3 - Bianca’s Message
That evening, a nurse delivered flowers to my hospital room.
Not white roses.
Blue hydrangeas.
My favorite.
There was no sender name on the card.
Only a handwritten message.
Serena,
You deserve to know the truth before Lucian tells you his version.
Meet me tomorrow at noon.
No guards. No Lucian.
— Bianca
Elena read the note over my shoulder.
“Absolutely not.”
“I need to know what she knows.”
“You have a newborn child.”
“I know.”
“That is exactly why you should not meet the woman whose family just broke into your home.”
I stared at the blue flowers.
Bianca had known my favorite color.
Which meant she had been watching me for longer than I realized.
Or Lucian had told her.
Either possibility made my chest hurt.
The next morning, Lucian returned to the hospital with a private-security team outside the floor.
He looked exhausted.
His coat was wrinkled. His eyes were red. He had clearly not slept.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Then I remembered that I had not slept either.
Not because I was busy running an empire.
Because I was feeding our son and checking every shadow near the hospital door.
“I got flowers,” I said.
Lucian stopped.
“What kind?”
“Blue hydrangeas.”
His face went cold.
“Where is the card?”
I handed it to him.
He read it once.
Then again.
“No,” he said.
I lifted my chin. “No what?”
“You are not meeting her.”
“You do not get to decide that.”
“She is dangerous.”
“So are you.”
Lucian’s eyes met mine.
“That is fair.”
The admission caught me off guard.
But his voice remained firm.
“Bianca’s father is capable of using anyone. Even her.”
“And is Bianca capable of using anyone?”
He did not answer.
I laughed bitterly.
“You never answer when it matters.”
Lucian moved closer to the bed but stopped when I looked toward Nico.
“I did not go to Sicily because I wanted Bianca,” he said quietly.
“Then why did you?”
“Because her father has proof that one of my men helped arrange the attack on our penthouse.”
My breath caught.
“What attack?”
“The one that happened last night.”
I stared at him.
“You said someone searched the nursery.”
“They did.”
“You did not say it was your own man.”
“I did not know then.”
“But you know now?”
“Marco identified him from the security footage.”
Lucian’s face was controlled, but his hands had curled into fists at his sides.
“The guard was transferred from Bianca’s father’s organization six months ago. He had access to the service entrance and nursery camera feeds.”
“And he left the rose.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lucian looked down at Nico.
“To make sure I understood that they know about him.”
Fear moved through me again.
Not only fear of Bianca.
Fear of how little I knew about the life I had married into.
I had spent seven years telling myself I was separate from Lucian’s darkness. I lived in a beautiful penthouse. I attended charity events. I smiled for cameras. I did not ask about the men who entered through private elevators or the calls Lucian took in locked rooms.
But Nico had changed that.
I could no longer be separate.
No child should have to inherit danger because their parents were too afraid to face the truth.
“I will meet Bianca,” I said.
Lucian stared at me.
“No.”
“I will meet her somewhere public. Elena will be nearby. My attorney will know where I am.”
Lucian’s jaw tightened.
“You do not understand what you are doing.”
“No,” I said. “I understand exactly what I am doing. I am refusing to let men like you decide what I am allowed to know.”
For a long moment, he looked as though he might argue.
Then he looked at Nico.
His voice changed.
“If you go, I will not stop you.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“That is new.”
“I will have people nearby.”
“Not in sight.”
“Not in sight.”
“And you do not follow me.”
His eyes darkened.
May you like
“I will not follow you.”
That was the first promise Lucian had made since Nico was born that sounded like a choice instead of an order.
