“This is the last document we need your signature on, Mr. Bianchi.” his assistant said, placing the paperwork on the table as if offering meat to a ferocious lion “It's about the profit shares of the Carnby's entertainment company. I called Mr. Carnby as you asked, but he's still away. However, his brother got in touch earlier and said he is more than interested in selling part of the company, as long as it does not exceed 50% of everything.”
“Why aren’t this month’s financial reports here yet?” Massimo asked sharply, giving the papers a last careful read, before signing.
“Uh… I’m sorry, Mr. Bianchi.” the woman swallowed “I don’t know. But, I'll get back to you right now, if you'll just give me a second…”
“Contact
“Massimo?” Alice quickly tried to wipe her tears and pretend to be strong, just like he had learned she always did, when something really hurt her ""Millie and I came to visit my father, so she could play a little in the painting room that Dad made for her…”“I… I know I'm acting like an idiot…” Massimo forced the words out, feeling as if someone was turning his insides with a hot iron “All I wanted from that surgery was to feel complete again, to be the best father to Millicent and the best husband to you. I was on the way to resigning myself to the fact that I would spend the rest of my life just remembering what it was like to be able to get out of bed effortlessly, walk around the house without thinking about anything and not feel people's eyes looking down on me, as if I were a poor wretch… But, that shitty surgery made me dream of bringi
“Daddy, do you want more ice cream?” Millicent offered, raising the small plastic spoon to Massimo's lips, as the two of them approached the mall exit, with her on his lap.“No, piccola. I think I’ve had enough sweets for today.” Massimo chuckled, stroking her hair “Just remember to keep this a secret from your mother, okay? You know she won’t be happy to know that we didn’t just stop by the ice cream shop, but also the candy store and the bakery.” he winked, making her laugh.“Mommy will be happy that we bought her favorite ice cream, won’t she?” She turned her neck around, looking for one of her bodyguards, who was a few feet away, holding the package with the pistachio ice cream."Yes. Hopefully, this will help her get over her mourning sickn
“Listen…” Massimo forced himself to swallow his anger and remain calm, never letting go of Millicent’s coat “You want money, don’t you? I'll give you as much as you want. Just let my daughter go…”“Oh, you’re going to give me so much more than you think.” the bastard laughed “I promise it won't be long before you receive the ransom demand. Now…” he lowered the gun to Millicent’s knee “I’m going to count to three and, if you don’t let go of it, I’m going to…”“Daddy…!” Millicent whimpered, terrified, which only seemed to enrage the kidnapper.“Shut the fuck up!”“He won’t take you!” Massimo held
“Millicent?!” Alice practically threw herself from the moving car, when Josiah arrived at the entrance to the mall, full of police cars and ambulances “Massimo?!”“Hey, wait.” one of the police officers who were there approached her, not friendly at all “This is a crime scene! No one can approach…”“Please! I need to know where my daughter and husband are…!” she begged, but the police officer continued to block her path “They were almost kidnapped! I need to see them…”“Do you think you can stop the investigations without even showing your identity?” the man growled, pushing roughly by the shoulder “You better turn around right now, young lady, or I’ll…”“You better measure your words!” Henry, Massimo's head of security, appeared over the officer's shoulder, pushing him away so he could reach Alice “This is Mrs. Bianchi, Mr. Bianchi's wife, and she has every right to be here!” he growled, intimidatingly and, just when he turned to her, Alice realized he had a huge bandage that stretche
“I’m not going to keep wasting my time with you!” Kendra growled into the phone, pacing back and forth around the apartment “I already told you to keep repeating in these interrogations what we agreed on. And don't you dare change even a single word! One mistake and you’ll all go to prison at once!”“Are we going to prison?!” Jocette, the old bitch who used to be the head of the nurses in charge of Lucas, growled on the other end of the line “You assured us nothing like that would happen! You said you would cremate the body and perform a fake autopsy, so that not even a single piece of evidence would be left against us! But now, this investigation is trying to go deeper and deeper and I am being forced to spend all the money I received to pay a lawyer…!”“Oh, of course you want
“Okay, honey. Now, hold Daddy’s hand tight, will you?” Alice asked her daughter, smiling to calm Millicent, before spraying the antiseptic on her knee wound three times, making her whimper.“That hurts!” Millie complained, earning a kiss on her temple from Massimo.“I’m sorry, honey, but the medicine that doesn’t burn isn’t enough. We need something more powerful.” Alice blew on the cut skin for a moment, before holding out the two bandages she had gotten from the first aid kit “Now, do you want Elsa's or Cinderella's band-aid?”“Uh… Elsa.” she decided, with her eyes full of tears, but still not crying.“Good. Now, we put this here…” Alice placed the bandage over the biggest cut, kissing the area afterwards “And we’ll give you a little kiss so you can get better soon. See? That’s my brave little girl.” she praised, straightening up so she could hug her baby, rocking her a little “I told you your boo boo would hurt less after a nice hot bath and a new bandage.”“So… I really won’t need
Alice woke up with her bladder exploding. God, she had forgotten those little details about being pregnant that made her lose sleep, even before there was a little one crying in the middle of the night.She watched Millicent and Massimo's deeply asleep faces for a second, making sure they wouldn't be disturbed easily, before carefully getting out of bed and running to the bathroom, trying to be as silent as possible. However, even when she was relieved and her hands were clean, Alice remained leaning against the sink counter for a moment longer, picking up the cell phone she had brought with her on impulse.There weren't many new messages and unfortunately none of them were delivering the news she wanted to read about Kendra's arrest. Andrea had asked if Millicent and Massimo were okay, as well as informing her that several members of the medical team at Lucas' old hospital had finally come to her to confess their crimes, as long as Kendra could take most of the blame, now that she wa
“Daddy, why can't I see Nemo?” Millicent whimpered on the other end of the video call, looking sullen, sitting on Micah's lap “I want to see his photo, even if it's black and white...!”“We’ve already talked about this, honey.” It was Alice who responded, laughing at her daughter’s expression of outrage “This is just the first of many times we will do tests to see if Nemo is healthy. Today we won't even be able to know if it's a boy or a girl. So, have some fun with Grandpa and I promise that Daddy and I will be home again soon…”“You don’t want to take me because you’re afraid the bad guys will try to steal me again?” Millie whimpered softly, making Massimo let out a pitiful sigh.“Sometimes, she is too smart for her ow