Chapter 19 - WHAT BIANCA KNEW ABOUT THE BAND
One remaining issue bothered Elena.
Bianca had admitted Vivienne asked how bands worked.
Had Bianca ever seen the duplicate?
The answer came during deposition.
“Yes.”
My body tightened.
“When?”
“Two days before christening.”
Bianca had gone to Vivienne’s townhouse.
Saw a small hospital bracelet on the vanity.
Asked:
“Why do you have that?”
Vivienne said:
“Souvenir.”
Bianca accepted the answer.
Why?
Because families normalize odd things when admitting suspicion would create conflict.
Then:
“Did you read the name?”
“No.”
“Barcode?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Roman?”
“No.”
That hurt.
Then Bianca said:
“I thought it was one of the triplets’ old ankle bands.”
Reasonable.
Still.
Then:
“If you had known it belonged to another newborn?”
“I would have called Roman.”
I believed her.
Elena did too.
But belief did not remove consequence.
Bianca had another chance to ask a direct question and chose comfort.
That was her recurring failure.
Not criminal conspiracy.
Avoidance.
She started counseling.
Not court ordered.
Because she wanted to understand why wanting motherhood-adjacent closeness made her tolerate manipulation.
Good.
No need make infertility her identity.
May you like
She did not need a baby to become whole.
She needed to stop treating another woman’s baby as proof she mattered.
