Page 26

“You don’t?” Bianca smirks. “You have so much money that you misplaced an entire account?”

Ezra’s eyes meet mine from across the table, looking for answers that I don’t have. I have no idea what Bianca is talking about. I reach to tentatively press my fingertips against her forearm, but she shakes me off, leaning in to hold her husband’s gaze.

“Tell them about the account you share with this woman,” she says pointedly. “Tell them how you put millions of dollars into it over three decades.”

My mouth drops open, turning my head to watch as Mr. Casiraghi blanches, a tic in his jaw. “You knownothing.”

Bianca’s grin widens then, the look of it almost feral around her painted red lips. “I know enough, husband.”

“I will not stand for this,” Lorenzo seethes, pushing away fromthe table. He points a finger at his wife. “You will not like where this ends, Bianca.”

She continues to give him the same sly grin. “I don’t much like it now, Lorenzo.”

His face is turning red now, and he makes a disgusted noise before he storms out of the room, leaving the five of us behind without another word. Eli frowns as he rises, not even bothering to bid anyone goodbye before he follows. The rest of us are left stunned in their wake, and I look from Ezra to Bianca to the mediator and back again, trying to rationalize what just happened.

Ezra speaks first. “What account are you talking about?”

“It seems your client did not disclose everything,” I manage to say without portraying my shock.

“If there are undisclosed assets, I can assure you I don’t know about them,” Ezra tells me.

He looks genuinely surprised by this entire thing, and strangely, I find myself believing him. His brother, however, didn’t seem ruffled in the slightest. Curious.

I clear my throat. “It seems like we won’t be reaching a compromise today.”

“No,” Ezra sighs. “It seems like we won’t.”

I take a steady breath to collect myself, regarding the two men in front of me. “Could you give us the room? I’d like some time with my client, please.”

The mediator immediately agrees, leaving hastily as if he wants no part of the drama unfolding in the room. Ezra is frowning at me, a little wrinkle between his eyes as if he’d like to say something, but he nods instead, giving me a lingering look before he leaves Bianca and me alone.

I immediately turn to face her in my chair. “What the hell was that?”

“My husband shares a secret account with his mistress. He has been adding money to it for almost thirty years.”

I gape at her. “And you didn’t think this was important information to give mebeforetoday?”

“I wanted to see his face for the first time when he knew that I knew,” she says simply.

Goddamn it.

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This is information I could have been digging into, Bianca. I get that you wanted to have agotchamoment, but I can’t help you if you don’t keep me in the loop.”

“I am sorry for not telling you sooner,” she tells me sincerely. I feel her hand cover mine, and when I meet her gaze, her expression seems far less confident than it was moments ago. Right now she looks…worn down. “Lorenzo made a fool of me. For many years. I may never get the answers I deserve, but I want him tofeelwhat he’s done. Do you understand?”

“Is that what this whole thing is about for you?” I don’t ask because I disagree, but I want to understand what I’m getting into, considering everything I have riding on this. “Do you even care if we win?”

“Oh, we will win,” she says fiercely, curling her fingers around mine. “You are a powerful woman, remember? You will make him feel it.”

I find myself nodding slowly, a small smile painting my lips. “I’m sure as hell going to try.”

“That’s my girl,” she chuckles. “Do you forgive me?”

“I’m your lawyer,” I say. “Consider it one of the hazards of the job.”

Her lips tilt in a smile. “We will speak more of this.”

I take a deep breath, my mind already spinning in the face of all the extra digging I’m going to have to do. Weirdly, it only makes me more excited.