Chapter 3
Bianca stopped looking frightened.
Power had returned to her face.
She adjusted one diamond earring in the mirror.
“You see?”
Alessandro watched her reflection.
She smiled at him through the glass.
“You need this wedding more than I do.”
That arrogance finally made sense.
She had cut Livia’s hair on the morning of the ceremony because she believed Alessandro could not leave.
The wedding had become leverage.
Alessandro looked toward Matteo.
“When did my marriage become collateral?”
Matteo’s thumb rubbed once across the edge of his watch.
“You knew Rizzano Hotels needed refinancing.”
“I knew we were restructuring debt.”
“The Morettis offered the best terms.”
“And you tied the terms to Bianca?”
“They wanted commitment.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“Whose idea?”
Matteo did not answer.
Bianca did.
“Mine.”
She turned.
“I wasn't marrying into a family that could discard me whenever your daughter cried.”
Alessandro’s stare remained fixed on her.
“So you made yourself expensive to discard.”
Her smile sharpened.
“Smart, isn't it?”
Rosalie’s voice came through the nursery door.
“Mr. Rizzano?”
Something in her tone pulled Alessandro away immediately.
He entered.
Livia sat on the carpet holding a doll against her chest.
Rosalie was beside the wardrobe.
“What happened?”
Rosalie showed him a small overnight suitcase.
Livia’s clothes were already packed inside.
Alessandro looked at his daughter.
“Where were you going?”
Livia shrugged.
“School.”
“What school?”
“Bianca says big girls sleep there.”
Alessandro slowly looked toward Rosalie.
Her eyes were wet.
“I've never seen this suitcase.”
Inside were twelve sets of clothes.
Medicine.
Livia’s favorite blanket.
Her toothbrush.
Everything a three-year-old would need to stay away from home.
Alessandro returned to the bridal room carrying the suitcase.
He placed it on the table.
Bianca’s confidence flickered.
“What is this?”
She looked at Matteo.
He looked away.
That was enough.
Alessandro’s hand flattened on the suitcase.
“You knew.”
Matteo exhaled.
“She was supposed to attend a child-development program for a few weeks.”
“She is three.”
“It was temporary.”
“Why?”
Bianca spoke before Matteo could.
“Because she hates me.”
Alessandro looked at her.
Bianca’s voice sharpened.
“She screams when I touch her things. She runs to Rosalie. She cries every time you leave. She needs structure.”
“She needs her father.”
“She needs to stop ruling this house.”
The words hung there.
Matteo closed his eyes for half a second.
He knew she had gone too far.
Then Rosalie entered holding another document.
“I found this inside the suitcase.”
Alessandro took it.
Enrollment confirmation.
Thirty-day residential evaluation.
Authorized emergency pickup:
BIANCA MORETTI.
Secondary authority:
MATTEO RIZZANO.
And in the space where Alessandro’s name should have been—
May you like
someone had written:
DO NOT CONTACT DURING INITIAL ADJUSTMENT PERIOD.
