Chapter 15 - SHE TRIES TO DESTROY TALIA’S NAME
Bianca’s partial admission did not immediately clear Talia.
The agency still needed formal documentation.
Bianca’s attorney revised her complaint.
She no longer claimed she personally witnessed Talia pull Luca.
Instead, she claimed Talia had handled the child “in a concerning manner” and that Bianca formed a good-faith belief he was unsafe.
Melissa read the amendment.
“Clever.”
Talia stared.
“She lied.”
“Yes.”
“And now she gets to edit?”
“People can correct statements.”
“She isn’t correcting. She’s retreating.”
“Then we show the inconsistency.”
The harder problem was Talia’s reputation.
A private childcare group had circulated warnings.
No full name.
But enough details:
Twenty-six-year-old dark-haired nanny recently removed from prominent Winnetka household after baby-handling concern.
Talia’s peers knew.
One friend sent screenshots.
Melissa looked at them.
“Who posted?”
Anonymous admin submission.
“Can we prove Bianca?”
“No.”
Then they found one recipient willing to talk.
A Lake Forest mother named Caroline Russo had interviewed Talia months earlier.
Bianca called her personally.
Not anonymously.
Caroline remembered because the call felt strange.
“Ms. Rinaldi said she felt ethically obligated to warn me.”
“What words?”
“She said Talia had been rough with Luca and tried to turn him against family members.”
Melissa asked:
“Did she say the allegation was under investigation?”
“No.”
“Did she say Dominic disagreed?”
“No.”
Caroline hesitated.
“She made it sound established.”
That mattered.
Defamation standards were complicated.
Melissa did not promise a lawsuit.
But the agency could consider the conduct.
Talia asked:
“Why would Bianca go this far after I was already gone?”
Melissa answered:
“Because your existence contradicted her story.”
“What story?”
“That she protected Luca from you.”
If Talia continued working successfully for other families, Bianca’s certainty looked weaker.
Destroying her career made the accusation feel retrospective justified.
Narrative reinforcement.
It was more sophisticated than simple revenge.
Talia sat back.
“She needed me to become the person she accused.”
“Yes.”
The thought angered her.
Then clarified her strategy.
She stopped trying to convince everyone she was kind.
Kindness was not evidence.
She collected:
Training certificates.
References.
Performance reviews.
Care logs.
Agency records.
The restored deletion.
Dr. Menon’s findings.
Megan’s statement.
Dominic’s written notice that he did not conclude Talia harmed Luca.
A career was a body of evidence too.
At the Rinaldi estate, Dominic confronted Bianca about the calls.
“Did you contact Caroline Russo?”
Bianca looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To warn her.”
“Of what you now admit you did not see.”
Bianca closed her eyes.
“I thought Talia was dangerous.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice remained controlled.
“You thought she was dangerous to you.”
Bianca stared.
That distinction destroyed the last defense.
Dominic continued:
“You did not call child services.”
Silence.
“You called employers.”
She went pale.
“If you thought Luca had been abused, why didn't you report it to authorities?”
“I reported to the agency.”
“And then social contacts.”
“Yes.”
“Why not police?”
Bianca had no answer.
Because she did not believe Luca was in danger.
She believed Talia was.
Dominic walked away.
The next morning, he sent a letter to every person his staff could identify as having received Bianca’s warning.
It said only:
An allegation involving Ms. Talia Monroe remains under review. I have not concluded that Ms. Monroe harmed my son, and any representation that I have reached such a conclusion is inaccurate.
He did not declare Talia innocent before the process ended.
He corrected the misuse of his implied authority.
Talia saw the letter.
For the first time since leaving the mansion, she cried.
Not because Dominic rescued her.
He had not.
Because he finally understood one piece of the damage.
His name had been the weapon Bianca used.
May you like
So his name had to help remove the stain.
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