Chapter 19
The Girl In The Mirror
Alessandro could have told Livia that Bianca was evil. He could have promised no one would ever hurt her again. Both answers would have been easy, and neither would have helped.
“She said something cruel because she wanted control,” he told her. “It wasn't true. I wanted you when you were born, I wanted you yesterday, and I'll want you on every day you can imagine.”
Livia touched the uneven hair above her ear. “Even like this?”
“Especially when you need me to remember you don't have to look a certain way.”
Rosalie introduced them to a child therapist who used drawing and play rather than asking Livia to relive the dressing suite. Some mornings Livia laughed. Some nights she woke calling for her mother. Healing, Alessandro learned, didn't follow a schedule he could order.
Weeks later, Grace reported that the forged trust transfers had been blocked pending litigation. A court-appointed fiduciary would review Harbor House funds. Moretti's company was being investigated. Enzo faced charges, and investigators had reopened Sofia's crash. None of it was finished, but it was no longer buried.
Alessandro also met with counsel about his own past business conduct. He ended the protection arrangements he'd once treated as normal, cooperated with the financial review, and accepted that doing the right thing might cost him money and status.
“You understand you may face questions you won't like?” Grace asked.
“I've already heard the only question I can't live with,” he answered. “Why did I leave her alone with Bianca?”
Grace watched him for a moment. “Then stop answering it with guilt and start answering it with changes.”
The following Saturday, Livia stood before her bedroom mirror holding a pink ribbon. Rosalie offered to tie it around the shortest curls.
“No,” Livia said. “I want the blue one.”
May you like
Rosalie opened the keepsake box. The blue ribbon was gone.
