“Daddy, this isn’t a new story.” Millicent laughed “This is Cinderella.”
“Well, I can’t deny that there are some similarities.” He sighed, thinking about how much easier everything would have been if his Cinderella had left a shoe for him to find a little earlier than five years later “But, you’ll soon realize what makes them a little different. Especially because this story is more about the prince than it is about her. At least, that’s the side of the story I’m most familiar with.”“I’ve never seen a story about a prince before!” she said excitedly “Will he talk to his princess at the end? Will he fight a dragon?”“We’ll see…” Massimo laughed sadly, hoping she wouldn’t be too disappointed “For starters, this prince didn’t know he was born a prince until he was a little older. His mother was a kind seamstress who fell in love with the future king and, together, they ended up… Uh… Planting a seed that was watered with lots of love and grew into a baby.” He hoped that di“And… Would the prince really hate the baby?” Millie murmured, her eyes filling with tears.“Of course not!” Massimo assured, leaning over the bed so he could get even closer to her “On the contrary, after the princess left, even though he didn’t know she had left with his child, he felt like his life only had one meaning: trying to become king. And not even that made him truly happy. Deep down, he always felt like there was a part of him that was missing. And then… He got really sick after… Falling off his horse. He needed a healer who could take care of him, but the prince didn’t want anyone. Until… The princess discovered he needed help and decided she would use her healing skills to make him feel better. And, when she came to his castle, she also brought their baby, although the prince didn’t know it. Hurt inside and out, he was even mean to them at first. But, you know what?”“What, Daddy?”“Very quickly, he discovered he loved that baby more than he had ever loved
Sleepless nights had become a constant for Alice lately. But tonight, especially, it felt like an invisible hand was squeezing her throat, stealing her breath and making her feel a despair that was hard to explain. Or, perhaps, too easy. She knew that Massimo must have told Millicent the truth by now, and it was killing Alice inside. God, she wished she could just be happy that she had been wrong about him all this time. Now, her baby would have a loving father, all the financial support in the world to make all her dreams come true, and a real home, much better and more welcoming than the Dawsey house would ever be. And, the truth is that a part of Alice was happy and relieved to finally have put an end to that lie that had been suffocating her for the past few months, every time she saw Massimo and Millie acting like the father and daughter they had no idea they really were…But, a much bigger and much more fragile part of her was in deep agony with the possibility that M
“He’s your father.”It had been so long since Alice needed to say those words. Hearing them hang in the air was both a relief and a pain, because, after everything she had been through when she discovered the truth about her birth, she knew very well the kind of anger and revolt that Millie must be feeling, even as a child. However, even so, Alice forced herself to smile, ignoring the tears that were starting to flow.“I… I’m so sorry for not telling you this before… I shouldn’t have hidden you from each other. I’m so, so sorry that you didn’t have a father since you were born, like you and Massimo deserved…”“Don’t cry, mommy!” Millie begged, alarmed “I’m not mad with you!”“How can you not be?” Alice sniffed, desolate “I shouldn’t have lied about that. I should have always protected you, but I ended up hurting you…”“Daddy told me that he lost his memory and you were afraid that he wouldn’t love me, so you hid me. Just like Sleeping Beauty’
“Mommy! I’m going to be late for class!” Millie complained, but Alice continued to straighten her coat, wanting to make sure her baby was wrapped up properly.“Are you sure it's hot enough? I brought another coat if you want.” Alice said, as she placed the back of her hand on Millicent's forehead “Are you feeling cold or dizzy? I think we should put the thermometer in you again…”“Mommy…” her daughter rolled over in her lap, looking like she wanted to jump through the open bedroom window “I'm not sick! I want to see my friends.”"She is fine." Massimo sighed, sitting on the other leather seat of the small limousine “I've already spoken to the director and the security guards will be patrolling the corridors at all times for the nex
Everything seemed to be a rollercoaster of emotions for Alice lately, even when she was sitting comfortably at one of the tables at her favorite coffee shop.Micah... Well, her father, he was only three minutes late after the time they had agreed upon, but even so, she still found herself staring nervously at the entrance of the coffee shop, hoping that he would walk through that door at any moment, before her mind made her give up on that meeting. God knew that Alice had started to question her choices from the moment she had sent a message to Massimo telling him what she was going to do that day.It wasn't like he was worried about what she was doing anyway, since they had barely spoken that last week unless Millie insisted on it happening. Probably his only requirement would be that she keep Millicent away from Micah as much as possible, until th
“You… You are the one who is ruining my grandfather’s business and buying them all at the lowest price possible, aren’t you?” Alice swallowed hard, unsure of how he would react to that accusation “I've been wondering for months who would have enough influence to make our partners break their contracts and make our commercial value plummet. And, of course, also enough money to buy all the projects, after that happened. For some time now, since Kendra took over from my grandfather as president of the company, our market value has decreased significantly. It would be much more worthwhile to put all this effort into the companies that dominate the pharmaceutical market today. So, if it wasn’t for profit… There would have to be another motivation.”“You are really very smart.” Micah smiled, head down “I’m sorry. I was going to tell
“And, that’s it.” Alice said, stopping for a moment to blow her nose on the tissue that the waiter had brought, after her long session of tears had caught the attention of even the cafeteria attendants “That's what happened between me and Massimo.”With his hands folded on the table, Micah didn't answer her right away. His eyebrows were furrowed and his expression very concentrated, making Alice anxious to think that he should have realized how serious she was about doing something unforgivable to Massimo. More than anyone else, Micah understood the pain of having his daughter's existence hidden. Probably, at that moment, he was feeling the same anger and hatred towards her that he felt towards Kendra. Knowing this, Alice tried to compose herself as quickly as possible and not break down in t
“Here dear. I asked my security guards to buy you another box.” Micah said, still stroking Alice's head gently as he placed a new box of tissues in her lap, probably the third that day.“I’m sorry…” Alice sniffed, grabbing some more tissues to wipe her eyes, which were tingling from being so swollen “I’m not usually a crybaby like that, I swear. It’s just there’s been a lot of things happening lately to mess with my head…”“There’s nothing to be sorry for, darling.” Micah just chuckled, straightening the blanket he'd forced his security guards to buy somewhere, just to make her more comfortable.It had been a while since they left the bakery, after she hugged him. It didn't seem like the right place for her to have the ugly c