Chapter 15 – Alice
“Try to find me, mommy!” At the sound of Millie’s excited scream, Alice moved away from the tree she was leaning against and hiding her eyes with her hands “You’ll never make it.”
“We’ll see about that…” Alice laughed, pretending that she hadn’t already noticed Millie’s feet appearing under one of the bushes in the garden at the entrance of the Bianchi mansion “Oh, God… Where is my baby…?”
While Millie was clearly trying to hide her own laughter nearby, Alice began to walk around the huge garden, pretending she was looking behind every tree, umbrella table and flower bed. scattered around. She couldn’t even remember the last time her daughter had been able to play hide and seek as freely as she did that day.
Because of the tiny room next to the laundry room that they had been forced to call home since the day Kendra became the owner of Dawsey’s mansion, games between Alice and Millicent were always some board game, tea party with dolls, or some painting. Millie had always been a child who loved doing anything as long as Alice was by her side, but certainly any child would be happier with such a huge and beautiful space at their disposal to spend all their energy-
“Oh, Hoppy, what can I do?” Alice pretended to ask the stuffed animal her daughter had left with her while she hid “Millie is so good at playing hide and seek… I can never find her…”
Absentmindedly, she adjusted the faded bow around the bunny’s neck, wondering if she could take a few more sips of the tea Thea had brought them earlier, while letting Millie have fun thinking she had done a great job hiding. However, the moment Alice started to turn to go to the table where the tray full of cups and cookies were, she realized that her daughter wasn’t the only one hiding there.
Because, partially hidden by the frosted glass walls of the large greenhouse nearby, stood Massimo, looking almost like a living shadow, dressed from head to toe in black in the middle of that sunny day.
Perhaps anyone else would have been the least bit embarrassed at being caught spying like that, but when their eyes met, all that Alice could make out on Massimo’s face was that he seemed to frown even more, as if she were the only inconvenient person observing a particular moment of his.
God, that man was really…
“Mommy?” Millie’s call caused Alice to look away from her annoying husband, determined to continue ignoring him until he tired of standing there watching her and her daughter play, for God only knew what reason, as he should certainly be resting in bed, rather than making unnecessary effort under the sun.
“Mommy is coming, honey.” Alice replied, starting to turn towards where her daughter was ” You’re so good at this game that I ended up…”
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Chapter 15–Alice
Her easy smile disappeared the moment Alice realized that not only had Millicent come out of her hiding place, but that the two of them were no longer the only ones there. And, unfortunately, that had nothing to do with Massimo hiding nearby..
“Sissy!” In the distance, but not as far away as Alice would like, was Amber, a few meters away from the car parked on the edge of the Bianchi estate, waving excitedly as if they hadn’t seen. each other for two years, not two weeks “We came to visit you!” as if wanting to emphasize that sentence, Amber pulled, in an almost aggressive manner, the person who was walking next to her.
And, just by chance, it was Casey..
“What are you doing here, Amber?” Alice hurried to go to Millicent and pull her close, hating feeling as if she needed to defend herself from a snake’s attack when encountering someone who carried the same blood as her.
“What do you mean?” Amber pouted when she and Casey finally stopped in front of Alice, her always eyes filled with tears as easily as they used to when they were at school and Amber was
you and chosen as the lead in the drama club plays “Me, Casey and Mom were worried about Millicent! We wanted to make sure you two were okay, but you keep treating me this way even after I apologized…”
“Calm down, sweetie.” Casey comforted her, seeming to do his best to avoid Alice’s eyes as Amber rubbed herself against his chest while hugging him “Alice is nervous. Let’s first find a place to talk. Away from children, preferably.” Even though he was clearly embarrassed, Casey still made an effort to give the same friendly, carefree smile he used to give Millie when he was Alice’s boyfriend “Hey, Millie. I missed you.
“Uncle Casey…” Millicent murmured, tightly hugging Alice’s neck “Why didn’t you and mommy want to be special friends anymore? You told me that when we moved into a new house, the three of us would be a family…”
“Did you say that to her?” Alice growled “I told you to keep your proposal a secret until I could think it through and find the best way to explain it to Millicent!”
“I… I’m sorry. Alice…” Casey swallowed hard “It wasn’t with bad intentions or to try to pressure you into accepting us living together, I swear. At that time I still thought the two of us would work out, so I thought I should let Millie know that I wanted to be a father to her…” Even though Casey didn’t seem to realize, with each new word from him, Amber seemed to get more and more irritated, until she pressed herself against his body again, almost as if she wanted to open a hole in his chest to fit there.
“What’s your problem, Alice? I understand that even though you’re married now, you’re still upset that Casey doesn’t want to be your boyfriend anymore, but that doesn’t give you the right to use your daughter to try to make him feel bad. What kind of mother are you, encouraging her to do this?!” Amber practically screamed, making Alice’s blood boil.
“Honey, go inside and meet Thea in the kitchen, will you?” she did her best to offer Millie a
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Chapter 15–Alice
calm smile “Mommy has… Important things to talk about with Aunt Amber and Uncle Casey.”
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