Page 36 of Powerful Deception

Alessandra shakes her head and before I give her a smile, she looks over my shoulder and whatever she sees, makes her eyes go wide.

I don’t have to turn around to see that she is looking at Arianna. She must have walked into the room behind me.

Letting out a sigh, I lift Alessandra up into my arms, stand and turn to face the nanny.

I watch Arianna as I approach her with my daughter. I watch her to see when she will see the scar that travels across the little girl’s face and gasp in surprise when she sees it.

Everyone gasps when they see it.

But as I continue to watch her, there is no real surprise and there is no gasp. She just looks at the little girl in my arms with interest and not directly at the scar.

“Alessandra, this is Arianna. She’s going to pick you up from school and take care of you and your brother when papi can’t.”

That causes Alessandra to finally take her eyes off the nanny and look at me.

Her eyes, so much like her mother’s and brother’s, look at me in question.

She’s curious about the new woman that is in her room and holding her brother. She wants to know what I mean when I say when I can’t take care of them. So many questions flow through her grayish blue eyes and I would kill to hear them being spoken.

But of course, she doesn’t speak.

Alessandra looks at me until her eyes have said enough and she leans her head into the crook of my neck, holding her little body tightly to mine.

I rub at her back and when I look up again, I notice that Arianna has a small smile playing at her lips.

Does she have other smiles beside that one?

I hold in my scoff.

Why do I care? She’s my employee, I shouldn’t care about the type of smiles she has.

She meets my eyes for a second before turning to Evelyn and handing Angel over to her.

I watch as she approaches me and Alessandra and when she’s a few inches away, she puts a delicate hand on my daughter’s back.

At the movement, Alessandra detaches herself from me somewhat.

Again, with curiosity in her eyes, she looks at me before she looks down at the woman that she’s going to be spending a lot of time with.

“Hi Alessandra. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Ari.” Arianna greets her with a bright smile.

I guess she does have other ones and I think I like seeing this one.

Alessandra doesn’t do anything, she just continues looking down at Arianna.

The silence doesn’t halt Arianna from continuing their interaction.

“Would you like me to help you get dressed for school? Ms. Evelyn told me that you wear a pretty skirt every day.”

It takes a second, but Alessandra finally answers with a small nod.

Arianna looks at me with eyebrows furrowed, silently asking me if she’s saying yes to the help or yes to her wearing a skirt.

“Alessandra doesn’t speak. She can but she hasn’t spoken since her mom died. In order to know what she’s answering, you have to ask more yes or no questions.”

A contemplative look crosses her face before she gives me a nod and yet another fucking small smile.

Enough with the fucking small smiles already.