CHAPTER 77: MARCUS DE ROSSI

Alisha snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the woman’s voice from earlier, pulling her out.

"Mr. Woods is ready to see you," the woman said.

Alisha gave her an awkward smile because she must have been in a trance for a while and who knows how long the woman had been calling her.

The woman led her to the office of Mr. Woods.

Mr. Woods was the founder of the orphanage. She was only in her fifties but looked younger than her age. She smiled at Alisha as she walked inside, but those were looks of unfamiliarity.

She didn’t recognize Alisha because of her facial reconstruction a year ago, so Alisha understood where she was coming from.

She greeted the woman, who welcomed her with a handshake.

"I think I’ve seen you on the billboard before. You’re Alisha De Rossi," said Mrs Woods and Alisha nodded. "Is there anything you would like me to do for you? Do you want to adopt a child?"

Alisha shook her head immediately. "I’ve missed you," she suddenly said, making the woman cock an eyebrow at her.

Alisha immediately went on to explain her real identity and what had happened to her over the past year.

Giving her real identity may be careless, but she knew she could trust Mr. Woods with this secret.

When she was done, the elderly woman immediately wrapped her arms around her to hug her. She couldn’t believe the little girl had to go through so much despite what she’d been through when she was only a child.

"That reminds me, a man came here asking about you. About Eva Montclair," Mrs woods said and Alisha frowned.

"Who was it? What did he look like?" She questioned.

Mrs woods went ahead and described the man but he didn’t fit into Alisha’s narrative. Her instincts told her that it was none other than Mr. De Rossi.

But would he dig deeper into her past? What could he be searching for?

Several questions flooded her mind, unable to answer either of them.

"Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him anything. Told him the information of the children was highly confidential but I’ve never seen him come back since then," Mrs Woods said with a sigh of relief.

But Alisha wasn’t relieved.

Mr. De Rossi had been very direct with his warning and now that he was propping into her past, searching for something unknown, she couldn’t help but get worried.

"You should worry too much about this," Mrs Woods said, driving her back from her thoughts. "You should go play with the kids before you go. I’m sure they’ve missed their big aunt even though they won’t know it’s you."

Her words brought a smile to Alisha’s lips.

She decided to push the current issue aside and enjoy her time at the orphanage.

She left the elderly woman’s office to head to the playground where the children were playing. The memories of her and her sister tried to fight their way back into her mind, but she pushed them further down away.

Alisha was playing with children of different ages. Usually, most orphanages send out kids who are eighteen to fend for themselves as if they were adults now without caring how they would get a roof over their head, but this orphanage doesn’t do that.

They would simply push the kids to get a job and save up until they knew they were ready to move out.

Alisha stayed at the orphanage longer than she thought she would. Before she knew it, time had passed.

She received a text from Dante asking where she was. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his text, but there was this tiny part of her that liked that he was worried. It’s been his routine for a while, and she was starting to get used to his daily texts.

She quickly sent a reply, met with Mrs Woods again, and waved the children goodbye as she left the orphanage to get into her car when she suddenly felt something.

As she was walking to her car, she noticed a shadow right behind her, watching her every move.

It was obvious the person wasn’t skilled in stalking because you should never get too close to your target.

Alisha wanted to ignore the person but their presence was starting to irk her.

When she turned back to face the intruder, she saw an empty street. No one was in sight. She frowned deeply.

She glanced around, but didn’t find anyone in sight.

She looked harder and found the person, hiding behind another car with their head peeking out.

The person became scared and started running away. Unfortunately for them, Alisha still had time to spare before heading home.

She chased after the person, catching up to them in less than a minute as she shoved the back, hard.

It was a man, his face unrecognizable.

She picked him up from his collar and yanked him upward.

"Why were you watching me? Who sent you?" She questioned. She was glad the streets were empty by this time of the day, but that wouldn’t be for long.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about!!" James yelled, as he struggled to get out of her grip but was amazed at how strong she was. He didn’t expect to see her here. He wanted to have a word with the founder of the orphanage one more time, and didn’t think he would see Alisha there.

He’d wanted to follow her, to at least see where she was headed when she’d caught him and wouldn’t let go.

"Help!!" He yelled and an unpredictable punch kissed his face, sending one tooth flying away.

Blood splurged on the ground.

Without saying another word, she dragged him to her car, while James continued to fight to get out of her hold. But she wouldn’t budge. He didn’t think Dante’s wife would be this strong.

"Until you say who sent you, you’re coming with me," she said, about to put him in the car when he pleaded immediately.

"Please let me go," he said.

"Who sent you?" She demanded, her eyes red with rage at this moment.

James gulped down his saliva as he parted his bloody lips to speak. "It’s Marcus De Rossi."