“Alice!” Massimo gasped, worried, but Alice just held her own cheek, without looking at him.
“I’m fine.” she tried to calm him down, without taking her eyes off Emma.
“You are a disgraced bitch, even more than your mother and sister…” she growled “Everything was falling back into place, before you married that bastard and complicated everything again…”
However, instead of completing the sentence, Emma bit her own tongue when Alice landed a slap on her cheek, hard enough to turn her face 180 degrees. And, while Dante ran to his mother to support her, Alice remained firm where she was, feeling her face hurt and her anger burn even more.
"How do you dare…?" Emma asked, seeming to finally recover from
“Mr. Bianchi…” a smiling attendant appeared in the waiting room, interrupting the silence between Alice and Massimo “Dr. Lewis is ready to welcome you. Please accompany me to his office when you are ready.”“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Alice asked, although Massimo's answer was already very clear, as he moved his chair away without even waiting for her.“You know I prefer privacy during these appointments.” her husband replied, his tone indecipherable “Your grandfather is hospitalized nearby, isn’t he? Go visit him. I’ll find you when I’m done.”“He's still not well enough to fully wake up and talk, but… I'll do it…” Alice got up, but couldn't help but stop in front of him “W
“Why can’t I wear my light-up shoes to school, mommy?” Millie grumbled, slamming her feet hard against the mall floor, making her shoes let out a small whistle as the blue and red lights flashed.“Because it’s in your class rules, sweetie. During the Family Day party or other commemorative date when there will be no classes, you can use them, but not every day.” Alice explained, stroking her hair “That's why we bought these new shoes. This way you can run a lot throughout the year with your friends.” She turned to see where Joshua was, accompanied by two more security guards from Massimo's team, who had insisted on carrying the seven shoe boxes that Alice had bought "Gosh, I think I should insist on carrying some of the packages too..."“Mommy, mommy! Can we have ice cream?” Millie tried to pull her to
“You guys better stay right where you are!” Josh growled, but it was too late.As if they had been waiting for that moment the whole time, the two men who were accompanying Agent Simmons threw themselves towards the bodyguards, starting a noisy physical fight that caught the attention of everyone else in the mall. However, Alice didn't have much time to pay attention to that, because soon Simmong was on top of her, holding Millie's waist and trying to lift her off her lap.“Mommy!” Millie screamed, terrified, clinging to her with all her strength.“Stop resisting, Mrs. Bianchi!” the woman growled, never stopping trying to pull Millie away “This will only make the accusations against you worse!”“Stop!” Ali
“Grandma! Please, Grandma! I want mommy!”The insufferable little thing continued to scream and scream as Kendra dragged her through the hallways of her house, the irritating crying making her want to kick that child instead of just digging her nails into the chubby arm, to keep her from running away.“What the fuck are you doing, Kendra?!” Roger growled, that shit having the audacity to sound like he had the morals to scold her “Are you crazy? And stop treating the girl like that! You will end up hurting her and that will only make things worse…!”“Shut up!” Kendra growled, finally reaching the door of the small room next to the laundry room, where that brat and her mother should never have left “If we had it up to you, we would have been in the mud a lon
“Here, darling. Drink some chamomile tea and try to breathe deeply. It's going to be okay…” Thea murmured, handing a cup of warm tea into Alice's shaking hands, who could barely get anything in front of herself because of the tears blurring her vision.“It's going to be okay, Alice…” sitting by her side, Lucy caressed her back and tried to wipe her face with a tissue “Oh, honey, I'm so sorry… But Millie will come back to you soon, I'm sure…"“Fuck. Have you guys gotten any calls from Josh yet?” Massimo asked, for the hundredth time, to one of the many cowboys who were there in the living room, waiting with them for news of Joshua or Millicent.“No, Mr. Bianchi.” one of them swallowed, worried.
The last time she had set foot in the Dawsey mansion, Alice had promised herself that she and Millicent would never return to that place again. However, there she was, stepping back onto that lawn and staring at those doors, while all the employees cowered around, scared but not surprised, which meant her daughter was really in that house and there was only one person to blame for everything she had been through in the last 24 hours.She had spent a lifetime hanging her head and holding her breath whenever she walked across that floor, always feeling trapped and oppressed by the two women who were supposed to be her family. So many things she had endured, so many tears she had shed in secret and so many horrible things she decided to forget, just to try to leave it all behind and move on, in search of some peace...But clearly, Kendra didn't want to forget her.
Alice had spent five whole years walking through hospital corridors and smelling that antiseptic smell in the air, taking care of her grandfather and then her clients. However, she had never felt so suffocated by that environment as she did at that moment, as she walked back and forth through the waiting room of the hospital's pediatric ward. With every step, she could feel Massimo's eyes following her, standing nearby, closer to the emergency room than the doctors had allowed.“Alice…” Lucy called, before appearing before her with a cup in her hands, stopping Alice from starting another lap “One of the nurses gave me this. It's some black tea, your favorite. It might help you calm down a little…”“I… I don't think I can take anything, Lucy…” Alice sniffled, that tightness in her chest stealing her
“What…?” Massimo blinked, staring at her as if she were delirious “I’m mean… Of course I’m her father, Alice, but this is not the time to discuss this kind of thing. That won’t make me compatible with her…”"You do not understand." Alice swallowed hard, managing to keep her voice steady even as the tears ran down her face again “You're not just her stepfather! She... She's your daughter!”“But… What are you saying?” he muttered, in complete disbelief “This… This is impossible. We never…"“I promise I'll explain everything to you, but, please…” she held his hands, her sobs making her body shake “I beg you, do it now. Millie needs you… Your daughter needs you…”