Chapter 13 - THE CHOICE
“Are you insane?” Harris shouted.
Probably.
Alessandro pulled his jacket over his mouth and pushed through the smoke.
The fallen beam had trapped Harris’s leg beneath a shattered section of ceiling.
Bianca was crouched beside him, sobbing.
“I can’t lift it!”
Alessandro grabbed the beam.
“Help me.”
Bianca stared.
“Now!”
Together they lifted.
Harris dragged his leg free.
Another crack sounded above them.
“Go!”
They ran.
Bianca’s dress caught on a broken chair.
She screamed.
Alessandro ripped the fabric loose.
The three of them burst through the side exit seconds before part of the hallway ceiling collapsed.
Outside, firefighters rushed past.
Bianca dropped onto the grass.
She coughed violently.
Alessandro bent over, hands on his knees, trying to breathe.
Then he heard Livia.
“Daddy!”
She ran toward him.
Rosalie tried to stop her.
Too late.
Livia launched herself into his arms.
Alessandro nearly fell.
He held her.
“I told you I was coming.”
“You went back in!”
“I know.”
“That was stupid.”
He laughed through a cough.
“Very stupid.”
She hugged him tighter.
Across the lawn, Bianca watched them.
Something changed in her face.
Maybe she finally understood.
Alessandro would always run toward his daughter.
And Bianca had spent two years trying to make him run away from her.
Detective Harris approached with another officer.
Bianca slowly stood.
“You saved me.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not you.”
Her face crumpled.
Harris placed handcuffs around her wrists.
Bianca did not resist.
Guests watched from a distance.
Phones were out.
The wedding of the year had become the scandal of the year in less than an hour.
Bianca looked at Livia.
“I’m sorry.”
Livia buried her face against Alessandro’s shoulder.
Bianca swallowed.
“I know that doesn’t fix anything.”
“No,” Alessandro said. “It doesn’t.”
Harris led her toward the car.
She stopped.
“There’s one more thing.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“The school application wasn’t the worst thing I did.”
Rosalie groaned.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Bianca looked at Alessandro.
“I contacted Livia’s grandparents.”
His stomach tightened.
Elena’s parents.
They had barely spoken since Elena died.
“What did you tell them?”
Bianca looked ashamed.
“That you were neglecting her.”
Alessandro went cold.
“What?”
“I sent pictures.”
“What pictures?”
“Ones that made things look bad.”
Livia lifted her head.
Bianca continued.
“I told them they should seek custody before we got married.”
Rosalie stared at her.
“You tried to have his child taken away.”
Bianca shook her head desperately.
“I wanted them to scare him.”
Alessandro’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“This is Evelyn Shaw with Child Protective Services.”
His entire body went still.
“We need to speak with you regarding an emergency report concerning your daughter.”
Alessandro looked at Bianca.
She closed her eyes.
May you like
And he realized the wedding might be over—
but the fight for Livia had just begun.
