Chapter 27 - the day mia asked who really saved her
Mia was four when she began asking questions.
She knew there had been a laundry room.
She knew Mommy had once been afraid.
She knew Daddy had carried her.
But children don't understand chronology.
One afternoon, she pointed at a photograph.
“Who saved me?”
Elena looked at Alessandro.
Then at Mia.
“What do you mean?”
“Daddy says he protected me.”
“He did.”
“Mommy says she protected me.”
“She did.”
Mia frowned.
“Who did it?”
Alessandro sat beside her.
“Everyone.”
She looked confused.
“Everyone?”
“Your mother brought you somewhere she believed was safe.”
Elena added:
“Your father made sure you stayed safe.”
“Luca?”
“He helped find the people who were hurting us.”
“Daniel?”
“He helped uncover the truth.”
“Marco?”
“He tried to protect us even when he didn't know everything.”
Mia thought.
“And me?”
Alessandro smiled.
“You reminded all of us what mattered.”
She smiled.
“I'm the hero?”
Elena laughed.
“No.”
Mia looked disappointed.
“You're a child.”
“That's not as good.”
Alessandro lifted her.
“It is.”
Mia hugged him.
That night, after she went to sleep, Elena and Alessandro sat on the balcony.
“She'll remember this,” Elena said.
“Yes.”
“Do you think she'll understand?”
“Eventually.”
Elena leaned against him.
“What do you want her to understand most?”
Alessandro looked toward the city.
“That she never belonged to anyone.”
Elena smiled.
“Not even you?”
“Especially not me.”
She kissed his cheek.
That was the lesson Victor had never understood.
People were not possessions.
Not employees.
Not leverage.
Not weaknesses.
Not pieces on a board.
And Alessandro had spent years learning that lesson.
May you like
His daughter would grow up knowing it from the beginning.
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