Chapter 4 - The Doctor’s Confession
Four days after the storm, Mason left the estate before sunrise with strict instructions for his security detail to lock down the perimeter. Bianca didn't join him at breakfast. Instead, she drove herself into Westchester County in a nondescript black sedan, wearing a simple trench coat and sunglasses.
She had a destination and a name that had been buried deep inside the financial footnotes of her father’s old ledgers: Dr. Elliot Ferris.
The same Dr. Ferris who had pronounced her permanently infertile in her father’s oak-paneled conference room just weeks before her wedding.
The Westchester Fertility Clinic occupied a sleek, modern glass building overlooking a manicured golf course. Bianca walked through the automatic sliding doors with the practiced confidence of a corporate executive, bypassing the front desk and walking straight down the corridor toward the private offices in the back.
She didn't wait to be announced. She turned the brass doorknob and pushed open the door to Dr. Ferris’s private office.
The silver-haired physician was seated at his desk, signing patient charts. He looked up, startled, as the door swung wide. When he recognized the woman standing in his doorway, his pen slipped from his fingers, clattering against the polished wood.
"Miss Romano—or rather, Mrs. Duca," Ferris stammered, standing up quickly and straightening his white lab coat. "You cannot simply barge in here. My receptionist—"
"Your receptionist is on a coffee break that I paid her fifty dollars to take," Bianca said smoothly, walking into the room and locking the door behind her with a sharp, metallic click.
She pulled off her sunglasses, her eyes fixed on him with predatory coldness.
"Sit down, Doctor," Bianca commanded.
Ferris swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. He sank back into his leather chair. "What is the meaning of this? If this is about your medical diagnosis, I assure you—"
"Let’s talk about my diagnosis," Bianca interrupted, leaning both hands on the edge of his desk and leaning in close. "Let’s talk about how an extensive, permanent internal damage that allegedly left me sterile magically appeared on my chart the exact week my father needed to unload me to Mason Duca."
Ferris’s face lost all color. "That is absurd. Medical records are confidential and strictly scientific—"
"My father paid you," Bianca said, her voice dropping into a quiet, icy hiss. "How much was it, Dr. Ferris? Was it enough to retire in the Caymans? Because I happen to have access to Duca Maritime’s forensic accounting team, and I promise you, they can trace a wire transfer faster than you can invent a fake medical condition."
The doctor’s breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. He looked wildly toward the window, as if expecting rescue, but the office was on the third floor overlooking an empty parking lot.
"I had no choice," Ferris whispered, his shoulders slumping in total defeat. "Victor Romano came to me three months ago. He said... he said you were becoming too powerful within the company, that you were asking too many questions about the old ledger entries from nine years ago."
Bianca’s breath hitched. "Nine years ago? What did my father have to do with nine years ago?"
"He didn't just want you discredited; he wanted you dependent," Ferris confessed, trembling. "He needed you married off to Mason Duca to secure the shipping routes before Duca started digging into the Claire Duca autopsy reports. The diagnosis was entirely fabricated. You are perfectly healthy, Mrs. Duca. You can bear children."
The words echoed in the small office, heavy and profound.
Bianca stared at the physician, a storm of fury and vindication washing over her. Her entire life—her perceived defectiveness, her forced surrender, her family’s betrayal—had been nothing more than an elaborate, calculated cage built by her own father to keep her blind, obedient, and useful.
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Before Ferris could say another word, Bianca reached down, grabbed his collar, and yanked him forward so his face was inches from hers.
"You are going to write a complete, notarized confession detailing every single lie my father paid you to tell," Bianca said, her voice shaking with righteous fury. "And then, Dr. Ferris, you are going to hand it to Mason Duca."
