Chapter 1
I dropped Bianca’s engagement ring beside the broken clippers and the dark section of Livia’s hair lying across the marble.
“Wedding?… What wedding?”
Bianca stared at me.
For the first time since I entered the bridal suite, she looked frightened.
Not ashamed.
Not horrified by what she had done.
Frightened by what it might cost her.
Behind me, Rosalie held Livia against her hip. My daughter’s face was buried in the maid’s shoulder, one tiny hand pressed over the uneven side of her hair.
I looked at Bianca.
“You raised those clippers again after I walked in.”
Her mouth opened.
“Alessandro, she touched my things.”
I almost laughed.
“She’s three.”
“You let her do whatever she wants.”
There it was.
Not an apology.
A complaint.
I stepped closer.
“What did she touch?”
Bianca’s jaw tightened.
“My veil.”
I looked toward the makeup table.
The veil was perfectly arranged.
Untorn.
Unstained.
Rosalie spoke quietly.
“She didn’t touch it.”
Bianca spun toward her.
“Stay out of this.”
Rosalie flinched.
I noticed.
So did Livia.
That reaction bothered me more than Bianca’s words.
“How many times has she told you that?”
Rosalie froze.
Bianca immediately answered.
“She’s staff.”
I looked at her.
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
Rosalie’s hands tightened around Livia.
Then my daughter whispered into her shoulder:
“Bianca said Daddy likes pretty girls.”
My chest tightened.
I turned.
Livia would not look at me.
“What else did she say?”
Bianca snapped, “She twists everything.”
I ignored her.
Livia whispered:
“She said if my hair was ugly, maybe you’d stop carrying me.”
The room went completely still.
I looked at Bianca again.
May you like
The clippers were no longer the beginning of the story.
They were only the first thing I had finally seen.
