I stare at her. "You're telling me I could do the same." I want to point out that would require her son to be dead, but I saw how fierce she was when she talked about Adrian. She would not take kindly to that.
"I'm telling you that victimhood is a choice." She moves closer. "You can spend your life resenting Adrian. Resenting me. Resenting this marriage. Or you can decide to thrive. To take every advantage you're being offered and turn it into power. I ruled Adrian's father in my own way, long before he passed."
"What if I don't want power?"
"Then you're a fool." Her voice hardens. "Because without power in this world, you're nothing. You're a victim. A casualty. A woman who gets used and discarded."
The words sting because they're true.
"Your brother sold you to the Morozovs," Bianca says. "Whether deliberately or through stupidity, he put you in danger. Adrian saved you. Claimed you. Is giving you his name and his protection." She tilts her head. "And you're standing here acting like you're the injured party."
"I am the injured party?—"
"You're a pregnant woman with no money, no family support, and a target on your back. Without Adrian, you'd be dead or worse." She leans close. "So yes, you're trapped. Yes, this isn't what you wanted. But it's what you have. The question is what you're going to do with it."
I can't respond. Can't argue. Because somewhere deep down, I know she's right. And honestly, I'm intrigued by Bianca. By how she turned captivity into power. By how she's still standing after everything this world tried to do to her.
"You walk down that aisle with your head high. You say your vows. You smile for the cameras. You play the role of the perfect bride." She pauses. "And then you start learning. Learn how this family works. Learn where the power is. Learn how to protect yourself and that child."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you'll spend your life as Adrian's pet. Cherished, perhaps. Protected, certainly. But powerless." Her smile is sharp. "Is that really what you want?"
No. God, no.
I've been powerless my whole life. After my parents died. Taking care of Gabe. Scraping by. Always one crisis away from disaster.
I'm so tired of being powerless.
"There's a reason Adrian chose you," Bianca says. "You're not like the others. You're not simpering or weak. You fought Dimitri Morozov. You stood up to Adrian. You demanded to see your brother before you'd agree to this wedding." She nods. "You have steel in you, Seraphina. I recognize the same thing in you that I had when I married into this family. The question is whether you'll use it."
She moves to the door. Pauses with her hand on the knob.
"One more thing," she says. "Adrian cares about you. In his way. That makes you valuable. But it also makes youdangerous." She looks back at me. "Be careful. The things men in this family love, they tend to destroy.”
Then she's gone.
I sit in the silence, her words echoing.
The things he loves, he tends to destroy.
Is that what I am? Something he loves? Something he'll destroy?
Or can I be something else? Something stronger?
I stand slowly, my dress rustling. Move to the mirror.
The woman looking back at me is a stranger. Beautiful. Bruised. Wearing a dress that costs more than I made in a year.
She looks like a bride.
She looks like a victim.
She looks like someone who could survive this.
I straighten my spine. Lift my chin. Meet my own eyes in the mirror.
I am Seraphina Romano.
