Chapter 3 - Marcus Was Not Just Bianca’s Friend
Marcus Hale had entered our lives eight months earlier.
Bianca told me they knew each other from high school.
That was technically true.
It was also deliberately incomplete.
They had dated.
For almost four years.
I learned that from Emma’s phone.
Not from gossip.
Not from suspicion.
From the video Marcus was desperate to take away.
Emma had recorded more than the dog-bowl incident.
One clip showed Bianca and Marcus alone in our kitchen.
Lucy was nowhere visible.
Marcus had his arms around Bianca.
Not a friendly hug.
Bianca kissed him.
Then said:
“Vittorio still thinks you’re helping me with the house.”
Marcus laughed.
“He thinks whatever you tell him.”
I watched the clip once.
That was enough.
The humiliation of discovering an affair was almost secondary.
Because then Marcus asked:
“What about the kid?”
Bianca’s expression hardened.
“She keeps seeing things.”
“Has she told him?”
“She tries.”
Marcus smiled.
“And?”
“He doesn’t listen.”
That sentence landed exactly where it should have.
Not because Bianca was wrong.
Because she had counted on me.
May you like
My failure to listen had become part of their plan.
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