Chapter 13 - THE FIANCÉE'S CONFESSIONBianca had spent the morning in her father's office, staring at a document she wished she had never received.
It was an internal email from Miles, dated six months earlier.
The message discussed a charitable transfer and instructed a subordinate to classify it as an administrative advance until the next reporting period.
The final sentence was chillingly casual.
No one checks the clinics once the gala photographs are published.
Bianca read it again.
She had attended three fundraising events that year. She had stood beside Miles while he announced donations, smiled for photographs, and praised his commitment to children's healthcare.
She had never asked whether the money actually reached the intended recipients.
Now she understood why.
She had preferred the image of generosity to the inconvenience of verification.
Richard entered the office.
"Have you decided what you're going to do?"
Bianca looked up.
"I want to cooperate with the investigation."
"Then you need to tell them everything you know."
"I don't know much."
"That's not the same as knowing nothing."
She looked down at her hands.
"There were conversations at home. Miles would take calls late at night. Sometimes he asked me to sign documents for his charitable foundation because he said it would save time."
Richard's expression tightened.
"Did you sign anything?"
"Two acknowledgments. I believed they were routine."
"Where are they?"
"At home, in my desk."
Richard called his attorney.
"Arrange for the documents to be preserved and reviewed. Do not alter anything."
Bianca stood.
"I also need to speak to Iris."
Her father looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because I owe her an apology."
"An apology won't erase what happened."
"I know."
She took a breath.
"But silence won't erase it either."
That afternoon, Bianca arrived at the Vance Foundation's office.
Iris agreed to meet her in a conference room with counsel present.
For several seconds, Bianca struggled to speak.
"I came to apologize."
Iris waited.
Bianca's eyes filled.
"What I did at the gala was cruel. I wanted people to laugh with me because I was afraid of looking ordinary. I saw someone I believed couldn't challenge me, and I treated her like she wasn't a person."
Iris remained silent.
"I know you may never forgive me."
"You're right."
Bianca flinched.
"But I can still tell the truth," Iris continued. "What you do next matters more than whether I forgive you."
Bianca nodded.
"I have documents that may help establish the financial transfers. I want to cooperate."
"Then provide them to the investigators. Don't send them to me privately. Don't edit them. Don't choose only the pages that make you look innocent."
"I won't."
Iris studied her.
"Why now?"
Bianca looked down.
"Because I saw the emails. Because children lost funding. And because I'm frightened of what happens if I keep protecting him."
"Fear can be a reason to tell the truth. It can't be the only reason."
Bianca nodded again.
"I understand."
She handed the documents to her attorney.
As the meeting ended, she stopped near the door.
"There's something else. Miles met with Nadia Mercer this morning. I learned about it from someone at his office."
Iris's expression sharpened.
"Did you see the meeting?"
"No. But Miles called me afterward and asked whether I still had copies of the charity agreements."
"Why?"
"He said he needed to protect himself."
Bianca hesitated.
"He also said something strange. He asked whether Julian had ever mentioned Charles Corrigan's death."
Iris went still.
Charles Corrigan had died two years earlier following a sudden medical emergency.
The death had been publicly described as natural.
"Why would Miles ask about that?"
Bianca shook her head.
"I don't know. But he sounded terrified."
After Bianca left, Iris called Julian.
When she mentioned Charles, he fell silent.
Finally, he said, "Iris, there's something about Charles Corrigan that I should have told you."
May you like
"What?"
"His final investment transaction was with my father."
Related Stories
