"Sent to the orphanage?" Alia echoed, her eyes widening in surprise. But when she thought about it, this wasn’t sothing she would put past Catherine Laine.
Of all the tis Alia had the luxury to et her, she wasn’t the most pleasant woman. If Alia recalled correctly, Catherine was also a friend of Annalise’s― that was one of the reasons why she was so enthusiastic about tying Matteo and Emline together for marriage.
"She had just given birth to Aiden shortly before. But even as children, Matteo was favored by the Montgory elders. He showed a great aptitude even as a toddler, and more so when he grew up and started attending kindergarten."
Cherry shrugged. "As a mother, I suppose Catherine didn’t want there to be any competition for her son. She is the third party, after all, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted to wipe clean all traces of the first wife’s existence from the Montgory family history― Matteo included."
"But she failed," Alia said. "Matteo returned."
"Yes," Cherry said. "But I can’t rember how. All I know is that he was sent to the orphanage for a couple of years. My uncle tried looking for him at first, but over ti, he sort of just... stopped. Perhaps Catherine convinced him otherwise. Eventually, Matteo just returned."
She sighed. "I’m sorry I don’t know more, Alia. That’s pretty much all I rember about this. I could ask around, but that incident is sort of taboo to speak about in the Montgory family ho."
With a huff and a roll of her eyes, Cherry added, "Not that I am a welco guest there."
"That’s fine. You’ve already helped plenty. Thank you, Cherry," Alia said. "Frankly, I have a feeling this is the most anyone is going to tell ."
"Anyti," Cherry said with a grin. "I’m just about to head back to Paragon Luxe since my errands are finished. Do you want to co grab a drink?"
"Not today," Alia said with a shake of her head.
Looking down, she glanced at the ti. It was already late afternoon, and she wondered if she should at least show her face at the office. She might be Matteo’s assistant on paper, but she wasn’t doing much these days between the wedding planning and the charity.
"I should head back to the office for a bit." Alia tucked her phone back into her pocket. "Ronan might need so help. He’s been handling things alone the last few days."
"He will be fine," Cherry said with a wave of her hand. "He has been doing this solo for years. He doesn’t need the help, despite what he might claim."
Alia could only laugh. She did steal a job that didn’t exist before her arrival. Matteo never needed a second personal assistant, with how efficient Ronan was. Nevertheless, Alia reached into her purse and pulled out a shiny envelope.
"What’s this?" Cherry asked when Alia handed it to her.
"Our wedding invitation," Alia explained. "We just received the stash, and the wedding is arranged in quite a rush because of my grandfather and things with Emline and Aiden." She sighed. "If you can’t make it, we totally understand."
"Ah yes," Cherry said. "I heard about how Emline Hawthorne has been ordered to tie the knot with Aiden Montgory. Matteo was quite happy about it."
With a smirk, she continued, "I’ll be there. Congratulations again, Alia. It’s nice to see that after all these years, you two still ended up together."
Alia was about to smile and wave goodbye when Cherry’s words caused her to stop moving altogether. She glanced up in surprise, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"Pardon?" Alia asked, "After all these years?"
"Matteo and his secrets," Cherry said with a shake of her head. "I suppose he didn’t tell you this either?"
"No," Alia said with a frown. "I an, he did, but it was―"
―an open-ended statent. Matteo never really did finish explaining how they t, which was what led to Alia’s search for the orphanage in the first place.
"I don’t know much, but I think this was during the ti he was at the orphanage. The years he spent after that would’ve never allowed you two to et, so that’s the only reasonable explanation," Cherry said. "All he said was that you were his childhood sweetheart. He had been looking for a certain girl called ’Millie’ for a very long ti. You fit his description."
Cherry then grinned. "And with how he acted when I first t you at Paragon Luxe, I knew that he finally found you. After all, Matteo is famous for being an ice-cold block of stone when it cos to won. You — soone who should’ve been a stranger at that ti — received a very different treatnt right off the bat."
She then shrugged. "It’s easy to connect the dots once you know the backstory."
Glancing down, Cherry eyed her watch before widening her eyes.
"Oh shoot," she cursed under her breath. "Well, gotta run. I’ll text you again when I’m free, Alia!"
Without another word, Cherry dashed off, leaving Alia standing by the pavent wordlessly watching.
Cherry was right. Once she had all the clues and the pieces, it wasn’t too difficult to put everything together to form the image. Now, she was just missing the last puzzle piece― why didn’t Alia rember all of this?
***
The best source of information would co straight from Matteo. Whether it took hours or days, she was determined to grill the information out of him.
However...
"Mr. Montgory left with Ronan just a few minutes ago," the staff at the receptionist desk said. She offered an apologetic smile. "You just missed him."
"Oh!" Alia reeled back. She did rember Matteo ntioning he had sothing urgent to handle at the office recently. "Thank you, then."
Originally, she hadn’t wanted to head upstairs to her desk. She wasn’t dressed for the office. However, she might have to wait there for Matteo to return.
’You’re out of the office?’ She typed and sent the ssage quickly. In less than a minute, Matteo’s reply ca.
’There’s a developnt in the partnership with Berkenbilt Industrial,’ Matteo’s ssage read. ’Ronan and I are eting with their representative. Why?’
’Just wondering. I dropped by the office.’
’Should I co back?’
A small smile curved Alia’s face. It was nice to know that he would drop everything on his plate for her, but she wasn’t going to demand it.
’It’s fine. I’ll see you at ho?’
His reply was quick, short, and simple. Yet, it effortlessly brought a smile to Alia’s face. ’I love you.’
’Love you too.’
"That’s a surprise!" Alia raised her head at the familiar voice, her eyes eting with a pair that glimred with intrigue. "What brings you here, Alia?"
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