“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
“Amber…” he gritted his teeth, wondering how his security could have made a serious mistake like that, letting that woman even get close to where he and Alice were without the police being called, until he looked up.Her white-blonde hair was gone and was now hidden beneath a brown wig that not only perfectly mimicked human hair, but more specifically Alice's hair, with the same length and the same soft waves at the ends. There was a giant pair of sunglasses hiding her eyes, but behind that, Massimo could see that she had used makeup to almost reshape her face, making it rounder, with a slightly darker skin tone. All that, added to the long coat that was hiding part of her body, had left her practically looking like Alice, at least to eyes that didn't know what details to look for.“You and your mother will pay for what you did to my daughter…” he growled, not
The moment Alice followed the nurse, leaving her husband behind as she climbed those stairs, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, typing a message to Henry, with her heart pounding in her ears.“Any news? Have you been able to confirm if any of them are really here?” she asked.“Yes, Mrs. Bianchi.” His immediate response made her feel relief and despair at the same time “But, I must point out that, although your plan of pretending that our security team let their guard down to lure them to you worked, it was still very risky. I'm sure Mr. Bianchi won't approve when he finds out, no matter how effective it was.”“I guarantee that neither you nor anyone on your team is at risk of losing your jobs. They are coming after me non-stop. There was no reason not to use this t
“Let me talk to him first.”At the sound of that bitch's demands, Kendra gritted her teeth. As if it wasn't enough that she was locked in that dusty, rust-stinking warehouse for hours, surrounded by all kinds of old hospital equipment, that girl was still daring to impose conditions on that situation. Shit, if Massimo had really been in her range at that moment, she would have certainly buried several bullets in his head and made Alice hear him die over the phone call. That fucking slut…And what was making Amber so late, anyway? The fucking elevator that Morris' men had stuck them in earlier, to get up here, had almost stopped, but it was certainly still working. She had to have gotten there with him more than fifteen minutes ago! Although Kendra only got a single real gun, the same one th
“Please take this pill, Mrs. Bianchi.” one of the paramedics asked, holding out a glass of water and a small pill to her eyes “It will help you calm down, but it won't make you too drowsy, I promise.”“Give this a chance, love.” Massimo asked, while stroking her back to try to reduce the frequency of the sobs that were making her body shake “You'll feel better.”“I…” Alice tried to recover enough to accept the tranquilizer, but the image of Amber's dead body falling against the ground, just a few feet away from her, came back to haunt her once again “I never wanted that to happen. We should have captured them both alive. Despite of everything that happened between me and Amber, I never wanted her to…”“That wasn’t your
“And so we say our goodbye to Amber Dawsey, gone so soon, but with the knowledge that the Lord has plans for her in his kingdom.” the pastor said, his voice calm and almost diplomatic, probably because it was not the first funeral he had performed in which the deceased had so few people willing to mourn her departure “Please, may you lower the coffin.”As Amber's only family, Alice had been in the front pew throughout the wake, but now they had reached the cemetery, she had allowed herself to stay a little distant while her only cousin was placed in that deep grave. The normal tradition among the Dawseys would be to bury her near her grandfather, as he had been the last to die, but most of High Society were speculating that Alice would place her in some cemetery somewhere, almost as a pauper. Alice, however, had done neither. Amber was
“The Honorable Judge Roberts concluded her considerations. The court can stand.”At the sound of the bailiff's voice, Alice stood up immediately, but without ever letting go of Massimo's hand. Like the many witnesses who had spent the entire day testifying, she, her husband and her father were in one of the last rows of benches in the courtroom. However, she could still clearly see the woman with white hair and serious features returning to her pulpit, with a thick sheaf of papers in her hands. The trial had been long due to Kendra's list of crimes, but the jurors' deliberation had been much faster than Alice had expected.Probably because Kendra's behavior during the entire trial had not advocated in her favor, in the eyes of the oath-bearers.In the dock, two officers were still sitting on either
“Look, mommy! These boats are so small! They look like the bathtub toy Dad gave me!” Millicent pointed out, trapped in Alice's arms, as she seemed too excited about the sea view outside the hotel window, maybe even enough to try jumping straight into the sea “Can we ride in one? I want to see the fish!”“Those are fishing boats, piccola.” Massimo explained, looking more than proud that Millie is loving every detail of his homeland “This town is small, so most residents survive on fishing, in addition to tourism. But, don't worry. As soon as we go to Florence in two days, there will be lots of boat trips for us to do.” He opened his arms so she could jump into his lap “We came here first because I wanted to show you the place where I was born.”“I want to see the house where you were a baby!&rdquo
“Look! Here comes our lovely bride!”At the sound of her aunt's cheerful and even slightly emotional voice, Millicent forced a smile, trying to look as light and happy as possible as she walked towards them, as any bride should be. Around her, the engagement party continued exactly as she had left it, flawless with drinks being served to smiling guests and the decor without a single flower petal out of place. Everything was perfect and she could see that everyone there, especially her family, also thought the same.And knowing that almost made her regret what they were about to witness.“You look so beautiful, Millie…” her Aunt Heidi was the first to come over, wrapping her in a warm hug “God, I can hardly believe that soon we will actually see you in a wedding dress and walking into a church...”“You look like you were a little girl just a few hours ago…” Thea, who had been her nanny throughout her childhood, took another tissue from the almost empty box on her lap “And now you are go
Today is officially the last day of publications and, for that, I have a lot to thank all of you for!This was my first story to get an official rating and also my first story to get over 30k (I hope it can reach 50k over time) and I owe it all to you. Thank you so much for commenting, sending gifts, gems and leaving reviews! A part of this story was written by you too, because I wouldn't have been able to get this far without all of your encouragement. I really hope to see you all in my next stories S2 S2 S2Thank you to Shelyn, Lhyn, Sabrina Philemon, Guille C, Rachel, Shantel Osgood and Penny Zagrafidis for always leaving comments. It was always wonderful to wait to read what you thought of the story, as well as all the other amazing people who left a comment.Many thanks to Abc Xyz, Lhyn, Irene Kibanya, Shanna-deen Knight, fizztae45, Arabella, Sarah, Lin Que, Kathrin Kähler, Moonlit tales, Shelyn, tina, Sabrina Philemon, Gabrielle, Blue_Hisbiscus, KayJay, Rachel, essstj, Guille C,
“You look so beautiful, Debbie... Isn't it amazing how that dress makes your hair color pop?” Evangeline hummed, and, even though she struggled, Deborah had her chin held and was forced to look at her own reflection in the mirror before them. “You… You really think so?” she swallowed nervously. “Of course! This will be perfect to shut up all those mean girls who are always talking about how this beautiful red is a mark of the God of Discord. Oh, I would give anything to have hair like that too...” Evangeline sighed, running her fingers through her perfectly straight, snow-white hair. "Do not say that. Your hair is perfect. How could it not be? It is a symbol of the Moon Goddess.” Deborah turned to face her cousin, intertwining their hands “And, don’t worry. I know that before I was always wetting your shoulder with my tears because of this, but... Iron is always saying that my hair is beautiful, so... I have no reason to cry anymore. Whenever he tells me I'm completely perfect...
“Okay, honey. Now… Open your eyes.” Alice asked and, when Millicent opened her eyes and looked at her reflection in the mirror, the smile that appeared on her face made her mother's heart more than happy. “That’s amazing, Mom!” Millie smiled to herself, moving closer to the reflection to observe in more detail the way Alice had painted her eyelids “I’m… I’m pretty, right?” she asked with a shy smile, as her hands nervously twisted the hem of the dark green dress, the same color as her eyes, that she was wearing. “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, honey.” Alice sniffled, holding her daughter's face, unable to stop the tears from flowing. “Mom, please… Don’t cry again.” her daughter asked, hugging her. "Sorry. It’s just… One day you were my little girl, running around the house wanting to play with your dolls and now… You’re a 16 year old girl, almost as tall as me and getting ready for your first date.” she had to stop once again to stop herself from bursting int
“And this is the role of fibroblasts in the healing process.” Alice spoke on the phone, as she took her pie out of the oven, happy to see that the dough had turned golden and crispy, exactly how her husband liked it “You can read more about this in the Cell Biology book. Any other questions, Lindsey?”“No, Alice.” the freshman sighed on the other end of the line, clearly relieved “You saved my life. And thank you for letting me record our conversation, it will help me a lot to review all of this for the next test. I just hope it’s not as killer as the last one.” she lamented “Mrs. Doherty was right. You are the best monitor we could ask for.” “It’s just my job.” Alice laughed, opening the cabinet doors where the dishes were “Now, if you don't have any more questions, I'll hang up now, okay? And, if any of your friends comment they tried to contact me this weekend and couldn't, can you let them know that I'm busy? And also remind them that my work as a monitor can only take place dur
“I… I’m sorry if your father isn’t a good father.” Millicent said, feeling like it wasn't right to leave him alone there, even though he clearly wanted that "My mother also had very bad parents and they hurt her a lot, until she found out they had lied and were not her real parents…”“I don’t think I’ll be that lucky.” he grumbled, not looking at her.“Well, that's bad, but that's not what I was going to suggest. When I was very little, mommy… I mean, my Mom told me that bad parents make their children wonder what they did wrong to be treated badly. But the real question should be: how can a father or mother be so mean to their own child? Never let the bad words of your family get to you. Just because a person is your family, doesn't mean he or she is right about yoy.” Millicent recited, although the memories of her mother's words were a little blurry, coming from the time when they still lived in that small room in the Dawsey mansion and she didn't even know her father existed.“That
“Okay, class. We are already accommodating your parents in the main auditorium.” Mrs. Keeley, one of the 3rd grade teachers, clapped her hands as she entered the classroom full of children, quickly grabbing the basket full of cookies that was on the table "Everything is ready, so Miss Shepherd will be calling you any moment, okay? Don't forget the chorus of the song and much less the part reserved just for your father. I’m counting on you!” she said, her voice so fast it was almost difficult to understand, as she left the room once again, practically running towards the auditorium where the Father's Day performance would take place. “You shouldn’t have left putting those bows on the brownies at the last possible moment, Poppy!” Cassie grumbled, but still didn't stop applying the glue stick to the glittery paper bows. “It’s not my fault!” Poppy whimpered, desperately trying to glue the bows onto the cellophane of the brownies she was giving her father as a gift “Mom told me she would
“And, as a last question, Mrs. Bianchi, how do you feel, as the creator, seeing your social project come so far and reach so many people positively?” the reporter asked, turning the microphone towards her as the cameras were turned towards them. “It’s a wonderful feeling. Every day, we receive several families who are unable to even obtain a loan to pay their medical expenses and, here, we are able to serve them in the best possible way, often restoring the quality of life that they had lost a long time ago. It's teamwork from a fantastic team of not only nurses, but also doctors and other healthcare professionals, who I was very lucky to be able to bring together here to support this initiative. My expectations for the future are that we can further expand our capabilities and be able to serve oncology and kidney patients soon.” “That’s great to hear.” the reporter said, his excessively white teeth gleaming against the sun as he smiled at the camera. “And that was our interview with
“Elise?” His voice cracked, sounding almost as if all the air had been stolen from his lungs."Are you okay?" she murmured, moving even closer to him to caress his face, her hands feeling as soft as he remembered “Did you have a nightmare? You were talking in your sleep, but I couldn’t understand…”“Elise?! Is it really you?” Micah sat up with a start, but only managed to feel even more confused when he realized he was lying on a bed, in Elise's youthful room, with the same lilac wallpaper and one of the walls covered in sheet music, next to her grand piano. A few meters away from the bed was the balcony, with the glass doors ajar, where he used to sneak into her room after climbing the large empress tree that was right next to it.“Of course it's me…” her eyebrows furrowed more and more “Are you sure you're okay, Micah? I know you spent the whole day helping your father prune the trees in the garden. If you want to go home and get some rest, I don't mind. We can do it another night…”