Bianca lifted her gaze to Dante, searching his face as though she could see straight through to whatever was left of his conscience. Her eyes were bleak with despair, but her voice held steady, grief and resolve wound tight together.
"Absolutely not. I will never give up my career."
"If you won't help me clear my name, then I'll find the evidence myself."
Even if she had to leave, she would leave with her reputation intact.
She turned without waiting for his reaction and walked toward the door.
She didn't make it two steps past the threshold before she saw Viviana Caruso.
Viviana stood in the hallway holding a box of pastries from the bakery on Mulberry Street, her gaze sliding over Bianca with undisguised satisfaction, her tone bright with the kind of cheer designed to cut.
"Oh, Counselor Bellandi, you're still here? I came to see Dante. I wanted to thank him personally for renewing the retainer with our firm this year."
The words drove into Bianca's chest like a cluster of needles, each one small enough to ignore on its own, unbearable together. She turned to Dante.
"You already signed a new pact with the firm? Why didn't I know about this?"
Viviana pressed a hand to her lips in exaggerated surprise.
"You really didn't know? It just happened. The Vitale Family's aide signed the renewal with the firm a few minutes ago."
"But it doesn't matter whether you knew or not. Dante specifically requested that I replace you as their lead counsel. The Vitale Family's affairs have nothing to do with you anymore."
Bianca's heartbeat faltered. She stared at Dante, unable to process what she was hearing.
"Is what she's saying true?"
Dante pulled Viviana behind him, shielding her as though Bianca were the threat.
"Bianca, Viviana isn't like you. She needs this retainer to establish herself at the firm."
"You have plenty of cases. You won't miss this one. Besides..."
His gaze flicked over her face, his tone flat, almost clinical.
"Your situation still isn't resolved. If the Family keeps you on as counsel, it reflects poorly on us."
The signet ring on his thumb was perfectly still. He wasn't weighing the decision. He'd already made it.
Bianca studied his face and realized, for the first time, that the boy she remembered no longer existed behind those eyes.
Perhaps this had always been who he was. Perhaps the Dante Vitale she thought she knew had never been real.
She still remembered the day they first met. She had been proud and solitary by nature, and her classmates had made her pay for it.
They spread rumors with gleeful abandon: her money came from a sugar daddy, her designer bags were gifts from a patron, even the awards she'd won in competitions were bought with her body.
She became the entire school's favorite target.
Back then, Bianca believed the truth would speak for itself. She refused to dignify the lies with a response.
But the rumors only grew. Those people started showing up at her classroom door to hurl insults to her face.
Not a single classmate spoke up for her. Even her teachers believed the accusations and wanted to suspend her pending an investigation.
It was Dante who stepped forward.
He didn't just vouch for her. He went out of his way to obtain a recording of the very people who had set her up.
In that moment, Dante Vitale had been nothing short of a god in her eyes.
And now he was standing with the people smearing her name, helping them do it.
Worse, he knew she'd been framed, and he was using the frame-up as his excuse to hand everything she'd built to the woman who had orchestrated it.
Bianca's breathing turned ragged. She felt as though the ground had been pulled from beneath her, her body swaying, barely upright. She dug her nails into her palms hard enough to leave marks, forcing herself not to show a shred of weakness in front of Viviana.
She was about to argue her case when her phone rang. It was Vincent Rinaldi.
"Bianca, what the hell did you do?!"
"Vittorio Marino's sealed files have been leaked. All of them. Do you have any idea what this is going to do to the case?"
"Marino says you were the only person who had access to those books. His people are here at the office right now demanding answers. Get back here. Now."
The color drained from Bianca's face. She didn't spare Dante or Viviana another glance before rushing out.
Viviana watched her retreating figure, a mocking smile curling at the corner of her lips. Her fingertips drifted to her pearl earring, adjusting it with a delicate turn.
"Dante, you promised you'd help me. Right?"
Dante looked at the expectation shining on Viviana's face and nodded without thinking.
Bianca barely made it through the firm's doors before Vittorio Marino was in her face, jabbing a finger at her. The knuckle of his right index finger cracked once before the first word left his mouth.
"You still haven't explained those photos, and now our files have been leaked? Counselor Bellandi, are you trying to destroy us?!"
"We trusted you with those sealed books because we believed in you. Is this how you repay our trust?!"
"Is this your idea of professional ethics? Did you cut a deal with opposing counsel to take us down?!"
"I'm telling you right now, if this isn't resolved, I will make sure you never work in this city again!"
Bianca swallowed everything churning inside her and kept her voice level.
"Mr. Marino, I give you my word. I will get to the bottom of this."
"But please believe me. I did not leak those files. Give me time, and I will find out who did..."
Before she could finish, a voice cut through the room.
"No need to investigate. I know exactly who leaked them."
Bianca turned and found Viviana standing right behind her, a laptop cradled in her arms.
"Counselor Bellandi, I've always looked up to you as a role model in the profession. I never imagined you were this kind of person. Colluding with opposing counsel for personal gain, deliberately leaking Marino's sealed files."
"You don't deserve to call yourself a lawyer."
Bianca locked eyes with her, her brow drawn tight.
"Viviana, if you're going to make accusations, you'd better have proof."
"I have never colluded with opposing counsel, and I have never leaked those files."
Viviana let out a cold scoff.
"Of course you'd deny it. But lucky for us, I have a witness."
The words had barely left her mouth when the door swung open and Dante walked in. The back room at Rinaldi & Associates went quiet the way rooms did when a Don entered. Two associates near the window straightened without being told. Dante crossed the room to stand before everyone.
"I can testify. Those sealed files were leaked by Bianca."
