Chapter 22: Princess

“Are you sure you are going to do this?” Jessica asked while zipping up my gown. “I mean if Henry comes to know he’ll get mad at you.”

I caught her eyes in the mirror. “Yeah, I’m sure, and I don’t really care if he gets mad at me. He is always mad at me, anyway.”

She fixed my hair with hairspray. “You’re very kind, Alice. You don’t even take care of yourself. I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Jessica. It’s not like I’m committing a crime. I’m just making a little girl happy. I’m giving her all the happiness she deserves. She lost her mother when she was only two.” We were talking about Harley. I told her everything except Vivian’s mafia business. “It’s going to be fun having her around.”

Harley got a theme of princess Rapunzel, so I wore a purple gown with pink shades. I applied natural makeup and had lips in pink with pink eyeshadows. My hair fell over my shoulders in a smooth curtain to my waist as Jessica straightened my hair professionally, and it looked even longer than the rest of the days.

Jessica placed her hand on my shoulder and turned me around, looking at me with appreciation in her eyes. “I don’t know why Henry hates you so much, but if I were a boy, I would have already fallen in love with you.”

“I wish you were. You would make a wonderful boyfriend,” I said, and we both broke into a laugh. “Okay, I gotta go. My daughter must be waiting for me.” I winked at her, put on the silver heel, and walked downstairs. I glanced around the living room in case I ran into my devil husband. I sighed in relief when he was nowhere in the sight. I rushed to the exit door.

“Where are you going?” My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I heard his deep voice from behind me.

Shit! I cursed, gripping my gown in my fists.

“Alice…” he called my name, and I slowly turned around to face him. The second I found him shirtless my fear was replaced with excitement. His upper body was glistening with sweat and his hair was damp like he had come straight from the gym. “Where are you going?” He asked, making me tear my eyes away from his chiseled chest.

“Party.” I blurted out, and his dark brows snapped together in a frown.

“Party?” he said. “In the morning?” His eyes took in my gown. “As far as I remember today is not Halloween.”

“This is not a Halloween costume, okay.” I snapped when he smirked. “I’m attending my friend’s bachelorette party. We’ve set a theme for the Disney princesses. And I became Rapunzel because of my long brown hair.”

“Princess Rapunzel.” Henry scratched his jaw, eyeing me up and down. I was wondering what he was thinking. “You’re going to be the ugliest princess.”

“Excuse me…” I glared at him.

“Excuse me…” he said and looked past me.

“My lord, did you call me?” I heard a familiar voice from behind me and I didn’t take a second to recognize his voice.

Joseph.

I twirled around to see him, and immediately a huge smile spread across my face. “You’re back.” I blurted and reached out to him.

“Nice to see you, Alice.” Joseph nodded with the same enormous smile.

“Joseph will drive you to the party and he will stay there until the party is over,” Henry said in his authoritative tone.

I glanced at him over my shoulder and smiled. “Thank you.”

He said nothing and gave me a single hard look before walking away. Why did he always behave like that? Why did he not accept that he cares about me?

*****

“Please, don’t tell him you drop me at school,” I pleaded with Joseph. I knew I was becoming selfish, but if I told Henry that I’d joined the school, he would never let me work here.

After a few moments of hesitation, Joseph gave me a curt nod. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Thank you,” I chirped and got out of the car and made my way to the school.

The hall was stuffed with parents and children. All were looking fancy and beautiful, from parents to children. I looked around to find Harley and her father.

Finally, I found them. Vivian was in his black expensive suit and looked like a businessman. Seeing him in a formal suit, who would guess he was a mafia leader. He was on his knees in front of her daughter, murmuring something to her.

Harley looked adorable in a purple gown as the same as mine. Her golden hair cascaded through her shoulder and made her look like a little princess. They both were smiling at each other. He was tickling her under the chin and she broke into giggles. They both looked so beautiful together. The love, affection, and care witnessed in his eyes for her daughter.

“What are you looking for?” Pearl, one of my colleagues, asked and followed my eyes. “He is stunningly handsome, isn’t he?”

I smiled at her and nodded.

“Wanna date him,” she murmured.

I raised my brows and lifted my hand, showing her my diamond ring. “Already married.”

“I’m not talking about you, idiot. I’m talking about me. I want to date him.”

I snapped my eyes at her. “Are you crazy? He is a father of a five-year-old,” I gasped. She was a beautiful blonde girl and she could have any man, but why Vivian… Ugh! He was handsome and a caring person. But what she didn’t know was that he was a criminal.

“I know I’m crazy, but I want to date him. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go on a date with that handsome guy?” She smiled, and removed a piece of paper from her purse, and placed it in my hand. “This is my contact number. Do me a favor, please give it to him. I know you are going to a photo shoot with his daughter.”

“You aren’t serious, are you?” I said in disbelief.

“I’m serious,” she said and turned her gaze at him again, and a deep blush spread across her cheeks. “I’ve wanted him for so long. Please, convince him. I badly want to date him. I want to know more about him and his life.”

God! Lovesick!

“Okay, I’ll let him know.” I folded the paper and stuffed it in my purse. “And I’ll try to persuade him.”

“Thank you so much, Alice.” A huge smile spread across her face. “I’m waiting for a signal.” She gave me a wink and glanced one last time at Vivian before disappearing into the crowd.

I sighed and headed towards father and daughter. They both were enjoying one another. But once I reached, Harley looked up and chirped in excitement. “Viv, your girlfriend is here!” And my jaw dropped. His girlfriend. I glanced at Vivian, who was smirking at his daughter’s statement.

After a moment, I kneeled beside her and held her small hands in mine. "Hey, I’m not your father’s girlfriend," I said quietly.

She frowned and looked at her father. “Then, who is she?” she asked.

“She’s your aunt’s friend, sweetheart.” Vivian glanced at me briefly. “Very good friend.”

My heart warmed.

“Really?” Harley chirped and looked at me back. “You’re my aunt’s friend. Do you know where she is and when will she come? Viv told me she has gone somewhere for very important work and will be back soon. But I’ve been waiting for her for so many days.” Her eyes fell into sadness. “Does she tell you when she will come?”

I bit into my lower lip and looked away, feeling guilty. I didn’t have enough courage to look into her eyes. I’d snatched her lovely aunt.

“Sweetheart…” Vivian said and picked his daughter in his arms to avoid her questions. “Don’t you want to go to the photoshoot?” Harley nodded with excitement. “So let’s go. We’re already getting late.”

I sighed in relief when Vivian diverted her mind. We walked into the room where photo shoots were going to take place.

“Please, take your positions,” the photographer shouted and started to snap pictures. Vivian stood behind him, talking on the phone.

Click! Click!

He snapped a few pictures. “Please, look at each other’s eyes.” He instructed. “And stop fidgeting!” I winced when he shouted again.

Vivian quickly hung up the phone and placed his hand on the photographer’s shoulder. “Be respectful, man,” he said quietly, yet threateningly.

The photographer swallowed and looked back at us. “P-please…do what I asked you.”

I stifled my smile and kneeled in front of Harley. “Harley, look at me and tell me the color of my eyes.” She did what I asked, looking into my eyes. We didn’t break our eye contact as a photographer was snapping our pictures. I stared at Harley’s blue eyes, which were incredibly beautiful with thick, long eyelashes.

“Okay, done,” the photographer announced, and we broke our eye contact. “Now, the mother holds her daughter in her arms.”

I did what the photographer asked and carried Harley in my arms. To my surprise, she was weightless. “What is the color of my eyes?” I asked with a smile.

“Light brown,” she answered, and caressed my face with her small hand. “You’re so beautiful.”

“And you’re the prettiest.”

The photographer took a few shots before finishing the shoots. I sighed in relief and put Harley down and asked, “Did you enjoy this shoot?”

“I enjoy it a lot.” She giggled and jumped in excitement. “Now I can show these photos to my friends and tell them I too have a mother. They won’t bully me again.”

It wrenched my heart. “Do they bully you?” I asked, and she nodded. I cupped her face. “From now on, they won’t bully you. This is my promise to you.”

“Really.” Her eyes glittered with happiness. “What’s your name?”

“Alice.” I smiled.

“Can I call you princess?” She pouted. “Because you look like a princess with your long hair.” She caressed my hair.

“You can call me anything whatever you like.”

“Girls, are you done? Can we leave? Because other parents are lined up for their chance,” Vivian announced and approached us.

“Don’t you want a family picture, Sir?” Photographer asked.

Before I could say anything. “Of course I would like to have one,” Vivian said with a smirk.

“What are you doing?” I hissed in his ear.

“A family picture is important.”

“We are not family!” I snapped and narrowed my eyes on him.

“We’re family.” Vivian clipped.

“Both of you come close to each other,” the photographer instructed, and I badly wanted to slam my heel on his head. Vivian quickly grabbed the opportunity and came closer to me, and Harley was between us. “Baby, you take one step ahead to give some space to your parents.” Now my blood went ice cold. I wanted to slap that photographer hard to make him red.

Vivian wrapped his arm around my waist, leaning toward me. “Madam, please smile.” I groaned and forced a smile. He snapped a few pictures. “Perfect family.”

Quickly, I moved away from Vivian and walked out. Harley rushed to her friends. “Come on, I will not eat you up,” Vivian growled from behind me.

I turned around and faced him. “But I feel uncomfortable near you.” Ignoring his grim expression, I dug my hand into my purse and pulled out the paper. “You see that girl over there.” I jerked my chin to Pearl who was standing next to the redhead girl and talking to her. “She wants to go out with you.”

“What the fuck is that?” In a single blink, his features changed to anger as he snatched the paper from my hand and tore it into pieces. “I don’t want to go out with anyone else.”

“She really wants…”

“You don’t understand. I said I don’t want to go out with anyone else,” he snarled and made me flinch in fear.

“Okay,” I mumbled and turned around to leave.

“Alice,” he called me and grabbed my hand to stop me. "Fuck, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I do not want to date anyone because…"

Because you still love your late wife.

I turned to him and smiled. “Never mind.”

“Would you like to have dinner with us? I, you, and Harley.”

Henry would not like it. “I would like to but I’m busy.”

“She will be very happy to have you around,” he said and looked at his daughter, who was playing with her friends. My heart melted seeing her smiling face. I couldn’t refuse him for the sake of Harley, so I said yes to him.