He Framed Me and Took My Career,I Took His Empire

Bianca's voice was ice-cold.

"Then I'll have no choice but to call the police."

Viviana laughed, sliding the bracelet off her wrist as she did.

"Oh, right. How could I forget? You're the famous Counselor Bellandi. Getting a little bracelet back can't be that hard for you."

"But then again..."

She glanced at Bianca, then slowly extended the hand holding the bracelet out over the swimming pool.

"What if this bracelet just... disappeared? Calling the police wouldn't do you much good then, would it?"

Bianca's eyes locked onto Viviana's hand, every muscle in her face pulled taut.

"You wouldn't dare."

Viviana's expression twisted with malice.

"Wouldn't I? It's just a bracelet. Your own husband gave it to me. Even if I accidentally broke it, what are they going to do, throw me in jail?"

Her fingers began to loosen.

Bianca lunged forward and grabbed her arm.

"Don't!"

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just give me the bracelet back!"

It was the last thing she had of her grandmother's. She would not stand by and watch it be destroyed.

Viviana's smile widened, bright and vicious.

"That's more like it. When you're begging someone, you should act like it."

"Now get on your knees. Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll give it back."

Bianca stared at her, stunned. She hadn't imagined Viviana would stoop to this.

When Bianca didn't move, Viviana raised the bracelet over the water again.

"I'll count to three. If you're not on your knees, it goes in."

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"I'll kneel!"

Bianca clenched her jaw, stripped herself of every shred of dignity, and sank to her knees on the cold tile. The noise of the party beyond the terrace wall carried on, laughter and clinking glass, while a woman born into one of Astoria's oldest bloodlines knelt at the feet of a house attorney who had slept her way to the table.

Viviana burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, I never thought I'd see the day. The great Counselor Bellandi, so proud, so untouchable, kneeling at my feet like a dog."

"Bianca, I told you a long time ago. I'd take everything from you. Do you believe me now?"

"Your husband, your career, all mine. And now your dignity is under my heel. What do you have left to be proud of?"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll crawl away from Dante and never come back. Otherwise, I'll make things so much worse."

Grief, humiliation, and fury crashed through Bianca all at once. She forced herself to hold still, to not fight back.

"Fine. Now can I have the bracelet?"

Viviana held the bracelet out to Bianca with a careless flick of her wrist.

Bianca's eyes lit up. She reached for it.

The next second, Viviana yanked her hand back and flung the bracelet into the pool.

It hit the water with a small splash, sending ripples fanning outward. The emeralds caught the underwater light for one brief second before sinking.

Bianca froze for half a heartbeat, then threw herself in after it.

She'd forgotten she couldn't swim.

Viviana watched Bianca thrashing in the water and turned to leave.

But a shout rang out from somewhere behind her. Her eyes darted, calculating, and she jumped in after her.

The freezing water swallowed Bianca inch by inch. Just as her lungs were about to give out, someone hauled her to the surface.

She barely had time to gasp before Dante's palm cracked across her face.

"Bianca, you've gone too far! You know Viviana can't swim, and you pushed her in? Are you trying to kill her?!"

Viviana sobbed in Dante's arms, her voice thin and trembling.

"Dante, please don't blame Counselor Bellandi. It's my fault. I shouldn't have shown my face around her and upset her..."

Cold seeped through every cell in Bianca's body. She was shaking so hard she could barely form words.

"I didn't push her. She threw my grandmother's bracelet into the pool. I went in to find it."

"I don't know why she ended up in the water."

Before she could finish, Viviana cut in.

"Counselor Bellandi, I know you don't like me, but you can't just make things up like this."

"Dante already promised to return the bracelet to you. Why would I throw it away right in front of you?"

The gathered guests were buying every word. Soldiers, wives, associates in evening dress, all watching with the careful attention of people who knew better than to intervene in the Don's business. Bianca pressed on, desperate.

"She really threw it in. Send someone down to look. If it's not there, I'll apologize to her on the spot."

She turned to find a staff member.

Dante stopped her.

"Bianca, when did you become such a liar?"

Something cracked inside her. Even someone as strong as Bianca felt the sting of being accused again and again of things she hadn't done.

"Dante, I have never lied. If you don't believe me, just wait until I get the bracelet out of the water..."

The words died on her lips. She stood frozen, staring, the shock plain on her face.

Because Dante had just pulled her grandmother's bracelet from his jacket pocket.

His signet ring was perfectly still against his thumb.

He looked at her, his expression heavy with disgust.

"This is your grandmother's bracelet, isn't it?"

"Viviana gave it to me before the party even started. Asked me to return it to you. I didn't think I'd need it as evidence."

"Bianca, you keep saying your grandmother loved you more than anyone. But now you're using her bracelet as a prop to frame Viviana."

"You are a complete disappointment. Since you care so little about this bracelet, let's put it out of its misery. At least then you can't use it to hurt anyone else."

Something dark and final crossed his face. He hurled the bracelet at the ground.

It shattered into pieces, just like her heart.

"No!"

Bianca dropped to her knees, scrambling across the ground like a woman possessed, gathering every fragment she could find. The terrace had gone silent. No one moved. No one helped.

Dante glanced down at her with flat, empty eyes.

"Pathetic."

Then he gathered Viviana in his arms and walked away.

Bianca clutched the broken pieces to her chest and wept. She wept until she couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't feel the shards slicing her palms open, blood running between her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Grandma. I'm so sorry..."

"It's all my fault. I couldn't even protect the one thing you left me..."

In the darkness, her phone screen flickered to life. A message from her mother.

Bianca, your extraction paperwork is finalized. Your father and I will be waiting for you at the airfield the morning after next.

Something stirred in the numb wasteland of her chest.

She could finally leave.