Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MASK
Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MASK
Julian stepped out of the shadows.
Rainwater dripped from the shoulders of his dark overcoat onto the marble patio.
His eyes never left Bianca.
For one endless second, nobody moved.
His seventy-eight-year-old mother still clung desperately to the edge of the infinity pool, coughing violently as freezing water poured from her lavender nightgown.
Bianca slowly straightened.
The expression of cruelty vanished so quickly that it almost looked rehearsed.
"Julian..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "Thank God you're home."
She rushed toward him with tears already forming in her eyes.
"Your mother slipped into the pool. I was trying to save her."
Julian didn't answer.
Instead, he calmly walked past Bianca.
He removed his jacket.
Knelt beside the pool.
And gently pulled Martha into his arms.
His mother was shaking so hard that she could barely breathe.
"It's okay," Julian whispered.
"I'm here."
Martha grabbed his sleeve with surprising strength.
"Don't..."
She struggled for air.
"Don't believe..."
Her lips turned blue before she could finish.
Julian lifted her into his arms.
Despite her age, she suddenly looked impossibly small.
Like a frightened child.
He carried her into the mansion without looking back.
Bianca remained frozen beside the pool.
Only after the glass doors closed behind them did she finally breathe again.
...
Twenty minutes later...
Dr. Leonard Hayes, the family's longtime physician, finished examining Martha in her bedroom.
"Mild hypothermia."
He removed his stethoscope.
"Fortunately she wasn't submerged much longer."
Julian nodded.
"And mentally?"
The doctor hesitated.
"Perfectly clear."
Bianca, standing quietly near the fireplace, interrupted immediately.
"Doctor..."
"You told us last month that she was showing early signs of dementia."
The doctor frowned.
"I said she occasionally forgot appointments."
"That is very different."
Julian slowly turned toward Bianca.
"You told me Dr. Hayes believed Mother was entering advanced cognitive decline."
Bianca forced an embarrassed smile.
"I must have misunderstood."
Dr. Hayes looked genuinely confused.
"I never said anything remotely like that."
Silence swallowed the room.
Bianca felt it.
She recovered quickly.
"I've been under so much wedding stress."
"I probably exaggerated."
Julian simply nodded.
But inside...
The first crack had appeared.
...
Later that evening...
Martha finally fell asleep.
Julian closed her bedroom door quietly.
When he turned around...
His attorney, Richard Collins, was already waiting in the library.
Richard had served Julian's family for almost thirty years.
He rarely looked nervous.
Tonight...
He did.
"You called."
Julian poured two glasses of whiskey.
"I want every document Bianca has ever signed."
Richard blinked.
"What happened?"
Julian repeated every word he had heard beside the pool.
Richard listened without interrupting.
When Julian finished...
The old attorney remained silent for nearly a minute.
Finally he spoke.
"There is something I never told you."
Julian looked up.
"Three months ago..."
"Your mother secretly asked me to investigate Bianca."
Julian frowned.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your mother withdrew the request the next day."
"She claimed she had imagined everything."
Richard leaned forward.
"But before she canceled..."
"I had already hired someone."
Julian's heartbeat slowed.
"What did he find?"
Richard opened a thick brown envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Airline tickets.
Property deeds.
None of them made any sense.
Until Julian reached the final picture.
It showed Bianca.
Standing beside an elderly man.
Holding his arm.
Smiling warmly.
Julian stared.
"Who is he?"
Richard answered quietly.
"Harold Kensington."
"The billionaire real estate developer."
Julian recognized the name immediately.
Harold had died eighteen months earlier.
Official cause...
Heart failure.
Richard slid another document across the table.
"It wasn't his natural death."
Julian slowly looked up.
"What?"
"The investigation was closed."
"But several nurses privately believed otherwise."
Julian felt cold.
"What are you saying?"
Richard lowered his voice.
"Bianca was engaged to Harold."
Julian froze.
"What?"
"They planned to marry."
"Six weeks before the wedding..."
"Harold suddenly changed his will."
"He left nearly everything to Bianca."
Julian's stomach tightened.
"And then?"
"He died."
...
The room became painfully quiet.
Julian looked again at Bianca's smiling face beside Harold.
The smile...
It was identical.
The same smile she wore beside his mother tonight.
The same smile she wore every morning while bringing Martha tea.
The same smile she wore whenever someone called her kind.
Suddenly...
It looked terrifying.
Richard continued.
"There was never enough evidence."
"But Harold's children spent years trying to prove Bianca manipulated him."
"They lost."
Julian whispered...
"And now she's engaged to me."
Richard nodded.
"And you own almost three times Harold's fortune."
...
Upstairs...
Bianca stood outside Martha's bedroom.
Listening.
The door was slightly open.
She couldn't hear everything.
Only fragments.
"...investigation..."
"...Harold..."
"...will..."
"...photographs..."
Her heartbeat exploded.
Richard had found something.
She hurried silently back toward her bedroom.
Once inside...
She locked the door.
Opened the bottom drawer of her dresser.
Removed a hidden burner phone.
And dialed a number from memory.
The call connected instantly.
A man's voice answered.
"I told you never to call this number."
"They know."
Silence.
"What do they know?"
"I don't know."
"But Richard Collins has files."
Another pause.
Then the man's voice became frighteningly calm.
"Destroy them."
"I can't."
"They're in Julian's library."
"Then create another emergency."
Bianca stared at the phone.
"I almost drowned his mother tonight."
"Not enough."
The man answered.
"If Martha speaks..."
"Everything collapses."
Bianca whispered...
"What if Julian no longer trusts me?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"Then make sure he trusts no one else."
Click.
The line went dead.
...
Meanwhile...
Julian couldn't sleep.
At two-thirty in the morning...
He walked downstairs for water.
As he passed the security office...
He noticed something strange.
One monitor was black.
Another replayed footage automatically.
Julian frowned.
"Why isn't this live?"
The night security guard looked confused.
"It should be."
He opened the system.
Then his face lost all color.
"Sir..."
"The backyard recording from tonight..."
"It's gone."
Julian stared.
"What do you mean gone?"
"The file has been deleted."
"Completely."
Julian slowly looked toward the dark hallway leading upstairs.
Someone inside the mansion...
Had erased the evidence.
The only question was...
Who had access?
The answer appeared on the monitor seconds later.
Access Log
11:42 PM
Administrative Override
User:
B. Laurent
Julian closed his eyes.
He no longer wondered whether Bianca was lying.
He wondered...
How many people had already died before she met him?
Outside...
A cold wind swept across the silent estate.
Somewhere beyond the gates...
A black sedan sat parked beneath dead oak trees.
Inside...
A middle-aged man watched the mansion through binoculars.
He smiled faintly.
Then spoke into a satellite phone.
"Phase One has failed."
A woman's voice answered.
"Then begin Phase Two."
The man nodded.
"This time..."
"Neither Julian..."
May you like
"Nor his mother..."
"Will survive."
