Alice expected Massimo’s family reunion to be many things: tense, a battle of barbs, a big mess that would end with her husband and brother-in-law yelling at each other.
But she could never have imagined it would be so… Silent.
Standing in the front yard with Millie hiding behind her legs, Alice stared at Dante Bianchi, waiting for his cold and unreadable expression to change, even in the slightest. However, nothing happened. He remained there, with Heidi by his side and his arms crossed, as if he were making a business visit to the house of some stranger, not his older brother.
And, well, she had to admit that Massimo wasn't behaving much differently. The only thing is that he is not only indifferent, but also disappointed to see his brother there.
“
“Oh, Mr. Bianchi, it’s so good to have you back.”Faced with that fake laugh from the man standing in front of her and her husband, Alice struggled to smile, while keeping her hand firmly on Massimo's shoulders. Of all the things she expected she would have to do at yet another party where Dante and Massimo would try to talk to Micah Griffin, the last thing Alice expected was having to stop her husband from leaving several of the High Society bigwigs talking to themselves.“It is always a pleasure to meet your family, Senator Bingley.” she tried hard to sound as friendly as possible “Thanks to the good wishes from all of you, Massimo is recovering much faster than the doctors could have imagined. You can be sure that soon you will see him again not only at parties, but also at the Bianchi company. Right, darling?” Alice
Alice's shock paralyzed her for a few seconds, long enough for Micah Griffin to hold her by the shoulders, standing in front of her.“I’m sorry for saying something like that so suddenly.” he murmured, looking genuinely embarrassed “But, I guess after the way we met on the wrong foot, there's no other way than to be honest with you.”“You… How can you say something like that?” she stuttered, still unable to form a coherent thought “I know who my father is. His name is Roger Orwell.”“Like I said, I'm not entirely sure…” Micah raised an eyebrow, as if that lack of certainty wasn't entirely true “But, I have good reason to believe that. If you’ll just give me a few minutes of your time, I promise I’ll explain my reasons.”“Is that why my mother had such a strange reaction when she ran into you at the last party we saw each other at?” Alice swallowed h
“What… What are you…?” Alice felt as if her legs were about to give out “Do you have any idea what you’re implying?”“I hate myself for not realizing this before, but now I see it makes perfect sense.” Micah took a step closer to her “Elise did not have any serious illnesses. Lucas had years of experience in medicine. He probably discovered her pregnancy even before Elise could do it herself. So he took her to Europe to prevent the rumor from spreading. That's why no one else, not even her friends at the time, knew where she had gone. I don't know what that son of a bitch did to make Elise so weak during her pregnancy, but… I read her autopsy. She was anemic and underweight, which is probably why she didn't survive the birth. But, Lucas would never allow his favorite daughter's memory to be tarnished with an illegitimate child. Not when K
“What did you say…?!” Alice started to growl, but Massimo didn't allow her to finish.“What do you think you are doing to my wife?!” he growled, his chair quickly sliding over to Micah, as Kendra and Amber also approached, ready to add more fuel to the fire.“How can a married woman come to a place like this with a single man? And older than her?” Kendra growled in disgust, but Alice could tell that, like in the last party, she was clearly nervous.“She’s certainly dying to sleep with him!” Amber teased, clearly delighted to have managed to put Alice in that situation “She's always so eager to show everyone that she's so happy with Massimo, but she can't see another influential billionaire, that already wants to run into his bed…”
“Do you really think you fool me, Kendra?” Micah was the first to speak, not seeming to share Alice’s shock, who at that moment was open-mouthed.“What reason would I have to lie?” Kendra tried to defend herself “You already discovered the real reason my father took Elise out of America 23 years ago, didn't you? Yes, what killed her wasn't bronchitis or any other shit like that. She was devastated because our father would never allow you to see her again and this left her in such a deep state of depression that, when the time came for her to give birth, she was too weak to resist…” she sniffled and Alice realized that her own expression of skepticism was exactly the same as Micah's "But, even after everything I went through after Elise made you fall in love with her on purpose, just because she knew I liked you first and wanted to hurt me..."
Amber was… Confused, to say the least.Well, it wouldn't be bad to be the daughter of a billionaire like Micah Griffin. He had money, status and that would force him to apologize to her for being rude to her and taking Alice's side, weeks ago. However, now that she, her mother and father… Or just Roger now… had returned home, Amber couldn't stop thinking that something was wrong. She had seen other men discover they had raised their wives' lovers' children, but none of them had acted as calmly as Roger was acting at that moment.And, for someone who had beaten Alice and revealed that Amber was Mr. Griffin's real daughter, Kendra was irritated and tense beyond measure. She hadn't even said a single word the entire way home and that was certainly abnormal. Was she angry that Amber dis
“So, you married Micah Griffin’s daughter.” Dante said and just hearing that sentence made Alice's head throb, even though it had been three days since that disastrous night when everything she thought she knew about her family had been turned upside down.“That’s not a certainty yet.” Massimo grunted, dissatisfied “For all we know, this could all just have been his plan to try to destabilize me through my wife. He's not an idiot. Surely he has already realized what you and I are trying to do and wants to buy time to have something against our partnership.”“Is there no one else who can confirm that his story is true?” Heidi asked, worried “I mean, he said your grandfather knew everything, right, Alice? Can't he say anything about it?”&ld
After witnessing how much of a vixen Emma Bianchi could be, Alice understood why Heidi was afraid of her. But, she didn't imagine it would be that much.At the mere prospect of her mother-in-law being there, Heidi stood frozen like a deer in the headlights of a car, staring at the entrance to the Living Room as if a monster would emerge from there at any moment.“Love…” Dante held her hands, his voice faster than normal “Go. Find another room to hide in until I'm gone with her. We will still need you to continue communicating with Massimo and Alice to resolve this.”“But…” his girlfriend stuttered, hesitantly “I can’t leave you alone…”“But you also can't lose your job until you finish
“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…”