Chapter 13 - BIANCA’S LAST MESSAGE
Three months after the conference-room confrontation, Rachel received an email from an unfamiliar address.
No subject.
She almost deleted it.
Then opened it.
Bianca.
Rachel,
I know you probably won’t answer.
Rachel almost stopped reading.
Bianca wrote that Mark had initiated the rebate scheme.
That he had shown her how easy it was to manipulate allocations.
That the first change was small.
Ten thousand dollars moved from one commission bucket to another.
Then another.
Then client credits.
Then vendor payments.
Every time nothing happened, the next line became easier to cross.
Bianca claimed she never intended to destroy Rachel’s career.
Rachel laughed aloud at that.
Then came:
You were supposed to get discouraged and leave.
Rachel stared.
Apparently Bianca did not understand that sentence contradicted the one before it.
She continued.
Rachel was dangerous because she remembered details.
Dangerous because clients trusted her enough to call directly.
Dangerous because she kept independent spreadsheets.
Dangerous because the director role would have given her access to profitability reporting.
Then:
When you applied, Mark said either you leave or we stop.
I chose you.
Rachel read that line twice.
Not I chose the money.
I chose you.
Bianca had personalized it.
Perhaps that was how she lived with herself.
Rachel was not a colleague harmed by fraud.
She was the obstacle Bianca had defeated.
The email ended:
I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just need you to know it wasn’t because you weren’t good enough.
Rachel sat at her kitchen table for a long time.
Then she replied.
One sentence.
I already know.
Nothing else.
No anger.
No forgiveness.
No absolution.
She sent it.
Then blocked the address.
May you like
Bianca’s legal case would proceed without Rachel becoming an emotional audience for her explanations.
That boundary felt better than revenge.
