Chapter 10
The Bride'S Second Face
Alessandro watched the video only once. It was enough.
Bianca stood before him in the empty ballroom, her wedding dress exchanged for a cashmere coat. Her father, Cesare Moretti, hovered near the windows. The three hundred guests were gone; the gold chairs looked like a stage after the actors had failed to appear.
“Who told you to cut her hair?” Alessandro asked.
“I was angry,” Bianca said. “It was stupid.”
“You talked about a document. You planned it.”
“Enzo said you never make decisions while you're calm. He said if I pushed you hard enough, you'd sign anything to make peace.”
Cesare interrupted. “That conversation stays in this family.”
“Your daughter frightened a child,” Grace replied from beside the door. “It won't stay in any family.”
Bianca's face crumpled for a moment. Alessandro wanted to believe it was shame. Then she said, “What happens to me if the press gets that video?”
He had his answer.
“You worried about the headline,” he said. “She's worried the scissors will come back.”
Cesare slammed a contract on the table. “Your businesses depend on my shipping routes.”
“Then I have businesses to rethink.”
Grace's phone buzzed. She read the message twice. A process server had delivered an emergency petition to the courthouse, alleging that Alessandro was an immediate danger to Livia. Attached was a still image of Bianca stumbling backward into the bridal chair.
The person who signed the accompanying sworn statement was not Bianca.
May you like
It was Gabriel Voss.
