Chapter 3
Livia’s pediatrician documented the injury the next morning.
There was no deep cut.
No stitches.
Only mild irritation where the clippers had scraped too close and a small bruise on her upper arm from where Bianca had grabbed her earlier.
The doctor asked Alessandro to step outside for part of the examination so Livia could speak freely with a child specialist.
Alessandro disliked leaving.
He did it anyway.
Afterward, the specialist explained that Livia was too young for adult-style questioning.
They would not repeatedly ask what happened.
They would document what she volunteered.
“What did she say?”
“She said Bianca made her ugly.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
The specialist continued.
“She also said Bianca told her ‘big girls don’t bother Daddy when he has a wife.’”
That sentence stayed with him.
He did not call Bianca.
His attorney, Claire Bennett, had already warned him not to.
Bianca had retained counsel.
By noon, Claire received a formal preservation notice demanding all video related to what Bianca’s lawyer called “the violent assault committed by Alessandro Rizzano during a private wedding event.”
Claire read it twice.
“Fast.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“What?”
“She has counsel, a drafted allegation, and a preservation demand less than twenty-four hours after a canceled wedding.”
“Rich people find lawyers quickly.”
“Yes.”
Claire tapped the date on the retainer notice.
“Not this quickly.”
The firm representing Bianca had opened its file eleven days before the wedding.
Alessandro stared at the page.
“Prenup?”
“Possible.”
They checked.
Bianca’s prenuptial attorney was a different firm.
There was no obvious reason she needed litigation counsel eleven days before marrying him.
That became the second clue.
Again, Alessandro did not jump to conclusions.
He had lived too long around suspicious men who turned coincidence into certainty.
But he ordered Claire to preserve everything.
No deleted texts.
No altered footage.
May you like
No calls made through intermediaries.
Whatever happened next would happen on paper.
