Chapter 7 - Alice

“Look, mommy, this bed looks like a cloud!” Millie’s laugh warmed Alice’s heart, the only thing that seemed sweet and warm in the middle of that silent and gloomy mansion “Can we play trampoline in this?”

“Uh… I don’t think we should do that, honey.” With the most carefree smile she could muster as she took Millie's favorite blanket out of her suitcase, Alice approached her daughter, ready to cover her "Doing that could break the bed and you know it's not cool to break other people's things. Besides, everything here belongs to Mr. Bianchi, so…”

“Is he going to be mad with us again?” Millie, who was standing on the bed looking ready to start jumping, stopped abruptly, as if she had seen a ghost.

“I won’t let him scare you again.” Alice sat on the bed, pulling her baby close, feeling once again something inside her burn like acid as she remembered the look of pure hatred on Massimo's face earlier, very different from the man she had fallen in love with so long ago “But anyway, we have to be careful with the things who belongs to him, okay? I don't want him to get... Nervous again. That wouldn’t be good, with him being sick like that.”

“Can’t you give him some of my medicine, Mommy?” Millie asked, looking at the glass bottle that was the first thing Alice had taken out of her suitcase “Maybe he doesn't want to drink it at first because it's bitter, but you can give him a little juice later, like we do for lunch.” The way she smiled excitedly at that idea made Alice’s heart hurt a little more “That way his boo boo will heal and he won’t be mad anymore.”

“I'd love for it to be that easy, honey, but... Massimo doesn't just need some vitamins to stay healthy, like you do. His boo boo is... Difficult to cure. Maybe impossible.” Alice sighed “That's why you have to promise me you won't go near him again. He needs to rest.”

“But won’t he feel alone, without anyone to play with?” Millie tilted her head, looking desolate at that thought “Whenever I get sick, you always stay close to me and I get better quickly. Why is his boo boo so different?”

“Uh... Well, that's what Mr. Bianchi wants. So, all we can do is give him the silence and tranquility he wants so much. This way, he won't get nervous and won't be so rude again. Now, why don't you put Hoppy to sleep? I’m sure he’s very excited to meet the horses tomorrow.” Alice smiled, helping her daughter lie down before pulling the blanket over her.

“Did you hear, Hoppy? Tomorrow we’re going to see the horses!” Millie laughed happily, moving onto that huge bed, more comfortable than any other bed Alice had ever managed to give her “And no wanting to get out again, okay? Thea said the horses only have rooms outside, not here. Besides, Mr. Bianchi can’t get sicker because of us.” Carefully, she snuggled the stuffed rabbit into the pillow, just like Alice had done with her “Hey, mommy...”

“Yes, dear?”

“Mr. Bianchi is just like the Beast, don’t you think?” Millie seemed deeply focused on that thought “He's big, hairy and screams a lot. And a little rude, too.”

"Yes." Alice smiled sadly “You’re right, honey.”

“If you fall in love with him, could he become a prince?” her daughter asked, full of expectation, making her blush.

“Well, I don't think I'll have time to do something like that, because I'll be too busy loving you.” she leaned in, starting to tickle Millicent before she could dwell on the subject any further “I just need my little princess to be happy.” Alice assured, kissing Millie's chubby cheek as her daughter laughed.

“So you don’t miss having a special friend?” her daughter asked, curious “Don’t you want another one, now that Casey is no longer our friend?”

“No, honey. Me and Mr. Bianchi are... Helping each other.” Alice felt a little bad distorting the truth, but there was no other way “He needed someone who could live here with him and we needed a better place to live than Grandma's house. And here is exactly what we needed, don't you think? It’s beautiful, there’s plenty of space for you to play, and you’ll be able to see the horses whenever Thea gives you permission to do so.” She stroked her daughter’s hair, before kissing her forehead. “We can have a good life here. And that's all that matters. Do you think you can be happy here, honey?”

“I do.” Millicent nodded solemnly, even though she still looked thoughtful “I hope we can be friends with Mr. Bianchi. Being sick is very annoying. Maybe he wouldn’t have time to think about his boo boo if he had someone to play with.”

"Yes, who knows." Alice forced herself to agree, not wanting her daughter to lose that innocent optimism so soon. “Now, let's go to sleep, shall we? This way you will be full of energy to meet the horses tomorrow. And, don't worry, mommy will stay with you, holding your hand, until you fall asleep. I know a new room can be scary."

“Good night, mommy.” Millicent smiled one last time, before hugging Hoppy in her arms and snuggling between the covers, holding Alice's hand for much less time than she expected. A few minutes later, her little angel already had her mouth open, snoring deeply.

Certainly most children would take a little longer to adapt to a new house and a new room, but... Somehow, Millicent seemed to have been born to be there, in that huge and luxurious room, in the middle of the Bianchi mansion.

No! What was Alice thinking? Fate had played a trick by putting them there and even that would be temporary. Eventually, Massimo's thirst for revenge for being abandoned by Amber would end and he would realize that there was no reason to keep her there as his surrogate wife.

Alice just hoped that, by then, she had managed to gather at least half of the money her mother had stolen, to give Mililie the comfortable and peaceful home she deserved, away from the Dawseys, the Bianchis and anyone else who could be bad for her.

Feeling her head weighing down, Alice gently let go of Millie's hand, before getting up from the armchair next to the bed. After everything that had happened that day, she also needed to rest as much as possible to give Milliecent a little more confidence the next day.

God knew that, if her daughter realized that she was insecure about living in that house with Massimo around, then her plans to make that mansion Millie's new home, however temporary, would all go down the drain.

Closing the bedroom door softly, Alice shuffled down the long hallway as she stretched, her eyes almost burning after so many bad nights of sleep. Millie would probably be up earlier than usual tomorrow in anticipation of seeing the stables, but if Alice could just get some rest and forget that now, before the law, she was also a Bianchi...

A growl nearby made her freeze in her tracks immediately. She had spent enough time in her internships and her work as a home nurse to know that that was the sound of a person who was in pain. A lot of pain, probably.

And, even though the hoarse timbre already made it clear to her who it was, Alice still couldn't stop herself from turning towards the sound, following the trail of visceral wails, not only painful, but also angry, until she reached even one of the doors, which didn't seem to have been closed very well. However, the moment her hand reached out on its own to reach the doorknob, she hesitated, remembering the expression in Massimo’s face earlier.

He hadn't married her for Alice to meddle in his affairs, much less act as his nurses.

So, should she really...?

That thought was interrupted when a new grunt of pain sounded, much louder than the others, followed by a muffled scream.

“Fuck! Why don't you kill me once and for all, fucking piece of shit...?!”

“Massimo!” Alice gasped and, before she realized what the worry was causing her to do, she opened the door.

And she found Massimo on the bed, without his pants, several bandages thrown on the floor, the sheets dirty with his own blood and a deep open wound on his leg.