Chapter 1: The Sound of the Clippers
The first thing my daughter lost that morning was her hair. The second was the little bit of trust she had left in the woman who was supposed to become her stepmother. But when Alessandro Moretti walked into the bridal suite and saw what Bianca had done, he made a promise that would change all our lives.
“Don't worry, I trim my dog's fur regularly.””
Bianca said it with a laugh.
A thick lock of my seven-year-old daughter’s chestnut hair slid down her pale pink dress and landed on the marble floor.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Livia screamed.
“Mommy!””
I dropped the box of wedding favors I had been carrying and rushed toward her. Bianca stood behind my daughter with a pair of electric clippers in her manicured hand, her diamond engagement ring flashing beneath the chandelier.
Livia clutched the remaining hair on the side of her head. One section had been shaved almost to the scalp, leaving an uneven patch above her ear.
Her little shoulders shook.
“Mommy, she cut it!”” Livia sobbed.
“She cut my hair!””
I wrapped my arms around her before Bianca could touch her again.
“Step away from my daughter.””
Bianca lifted her eyebrows.
“Rosalie, please don't make this dramatic. I was helping her.””
“Helping her?””
I stared at the clippers.
The machine was still running.
Its electric buzz filled the bridal suite, drowning out the distant music coming from the ballroom downstairs, where hundreds of guests were arriving for Alessandro's wedding.
I reached past Bianca and switched the clippers off.
“Why were you cutting her hair?””
Bianca shrugged, examining her reflection in the mirror.
“Because she wouldn't stop moving. I told her she needed to look presentable for the photographs, and she started whining about wanting to keep her hair long.””
Livia buried her face against my stomach.
“She said she wanted to make me look ugly,” my daughter whispered.
Bianca's expression hardened.
“I never said that.””
“You did!”” Livia cried.
“You said Daddy would love you more if I looked like a boy!””
The silence that followed was worse than the screaming.
I looked at Bianca.
For months, I had tried to convince myself that the coldness I sometimes saw in her was merely stress. Planning a wedding into one of America's wealthiest families was complicated. Alessandro was a powerful man, and his world was filled with people who smiled while calculating what everyone else was worth.
I had tolerated Bianca's sharp remarks because I wanted to believe she could become a good wife to Alessandro.
More importantly, I wanted my daughter to have a peaceful home.
But watching Livia tremble in my arms, I finally understood something.
Bianca hadn't been stressed.
She had been testing how much cruelty she could get away with.
“Give me the clippers,” I said.
Bianca pulled them against her chest.
“Don't tell me what to do in my own bridal suite.””
“Then stop using it as a place to hurt a child.””
Her cheeks reddened.
“You're forgetting who you're talking to.””
“No,” I replied quietly.
“For the first time, I'm remembering exactly who you are.””
Bianca stepped forward.
Livia whimpered and grabbed the back of my dress.
That was when Bianca's face changed.
She looked at the child hiding behind me, then at the clippers in her hand.
“You know what your problem is, Rosalie? You think being Alessandro's daughter makes you untouchable.””
“She's seven years old.””
“And I'm about to become her mother.””
“You don't get to call yourself her mother just because you're marrying her father.””
Bianca's smile disappeared.
She raised the clippers again.
I moved between her and Livia so quickly that my shoulder struck the vanity.
“Don't you dare!””
“Move.””
“No.””
Bianca lunged around me, reaching toward the remaining long hair on Livia's head.
My daughter screamed.
And at that exact moment, a man's voice thundered from the adjoining corridor.
“What the hell is happening in here?””
Alessandro Moretti stood in the doorway.
He was still wearing his black wedding suit, his white tie perfectly arranged beneath the collar. Two men from his security detail stood several feet behind him.
His eyes moved from my face to Livia.
Then he saw the clippers in Bianca's hand.
Finally, he looked down.
The severed hair lay scattered across the marble like something that had been deliberately destroyed.
“Daddy,” Livia cried.
She ran toward him.
“Daddy, she hurt me!””
Alessandro dropped to one knee and caught her in his arms.
For the first time since I had known him, the composed, intimidating billionaire looked completely lost.
“What happened to your hair, sweetheart?””
Livia struggled to speak through her tears.
“Bianca said I had to be pretty for the wedding. Then she cut it. I told her to stop, but she wouldn't.””
Alessandro slowly lifted his head.
Bianca immediately lowered the clippers.
“Darling, this isn't what it looks like.””
He stood.
“Put them down.””
“Alessandro, listen to me.””
“Now.””
For a moment, she seemed to consider arguing.
Then she placed the clippers on the vanity.
Alessandro pulled Livia safely behind him, shielding her with his body.
Bianca forced a nervous laugh.
“Honestly, you're making this sound like an assault. I was trimming a little hair. She wouldn't sit still, and I lost my patience. It happens.””
Alessandro stared at her.
“You cut my daughter's hair without her permission.””
“It was only hair!””
“Look at her.””
Bianca glanced toward Livia.
The little girl was clutching her father's jacket, her wet face pressed against his back.
“Look at what you've done to her,” he repeated.
Bianca folded her arms.
“She needs discipline. You spoil her because you feel guilty about her mother.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
Alessandro's first wife had died years earlier. Livia barely remembered her, but Alessandro kept her photograph beside his bed and had never once allowed anyone to speak disrespectfully of her.
Bianca knew that.
She also knew exactly where to strike.
“Don't bring my late wife into this,” he warned.
“Then stop treating your daughter like she's made of glass!””
Alessandro stepped toward the vanity.
He seized the clippers and hurled them onto the bridal table.
They struck the polished surface with a violent crack.
Powder compacts shattered. Lipsticks rolled across the marble. A glass perfume bottle tipped over, spilling its expensive contents across the scattered cosmetics.
Bianca shrieked.
“My things!””
Alessandro turned back to her.
“Touch my daughter again, and the wedding is over.””
Her mouth fell open.
“Are you threatening me?””
“No. I'm telling you what happens next.””
“Alessandro, there are three hundred guests downstairs!””
“I don't care if there are three thousand.””
She stared at him, suddenly realizing that he wasn't bluffing.
Then she looked at me.
The expression in her eyes was no longer embarrassment.
It was hatred.
“You did this,” she whispered.
I tightened my arms around Livia.
“No, Bianca. You did.””
Alessandro called for his head of security, ordered him to remove the clippers, and asked the house physician to examine Livia's scalp.
Then he carried our daughter out of the room.
I followed.
Behind us, Bianca began screaming that the wedding couldn't be canceled over a child's haircut.
But as we reached the corridor, Alessandro stopped.
He looked at his security chief.
“Lock down the house. Nobody leaves until I know exactly what happened here.””
The man's face became serious.
“Yes, sir.””
I glanced at Alessandro.
“Why would you need to lock down the house?””
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at Livia's uneven hair, then at the small red mark where the clippers had grazed her skin.
Finally, he spoke in a voice so low that only I could hear.
“Because this isn't the first time Bianca has tried to hurt my daughter.””
My blood ran cold.
“What do you mean?””
Alessandro looked toward the bridal suite.
And from inside, Bianca suddenly screamed a name I hadn't heard in years.
“Adrian! You promised me this wouldn't happen!””
Alessandro went completely still.
Then he turned to me.
“Rosalie, take Livia upstairs. And whatever you do, don't let Bianca get near her again.””
“Who is Adrian?””
He didn't answer.
May you like
He was already walking back toward the bridal suite.
And for the first time, I wondered whether the woman I thought I knew had been hiding something far more dangerous than jealousy.
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