Chapter 9: Chapter 8 Anastelle’s Surprise
I froze the moment I opened the door.
The apartment didn’t look like mine anymore. Toys were everywhere—Barbie dolls, a massive dollhouse with tiny plastic furniture, and cartoon character sets from the
Winx Club show she loved watching.
For a second, I thought I had walked onto the wrong floor.
"Mommy!"
Anastelle came running before I could even drop my bag.
"Mommy, look! Look what I got!"
She grabbed my hand and dragged me inside with all the strength her small body could manage.
My eyes widened as I looked at the pile. Every single piece looked brand new and expensive. I knew for a fact that those individual Barbie dolls cost at least twenty dollars each, and that massive dollhouse was easily fifty. Everything altogether was touching almost two hundred dollars.
We didn’t have that kind of money.
"Annie," I crouched down.
"Where did you get all of this? Where is Auntie Giulia?"
"Auntie Giulia is sleeping," she said quickly, breathless. "I knocked, but she didn’t wake up. So I climbed the chair and opened the door myself."
My chest tightened.
"You opened the door?"
She nodded proudly.
"I’m big now, Mommy. See?"
"When I opened the door, I didn’t see anyone outside. I just saw a huge box. I was trying to drag it in... now my hand hurts a little bit, but I managed to drag it in anyway! You see, mommy? I’m a big girl now."
I stood up so fast my head spun. Someone had knocked on our door. Someone knew our address.
"Giulia!" I screamed.
A moment later, Giulia stumbled out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes and looking completely disoriented. "What? What’s going on? Why are you shouting—"
She stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth falling open as her eyes landed on the living room floor.
"Did you buy all these dolls for her?" I snapped.
"Are you crazy?" Giulia said immediately. "With what money, Mireya? Where did all this stuff even come from?"
"Anastelle said there was a knock on the door while you were asleep. She climbed a chair, opened it, and found a giant box sitting in the hallway."
Giulia’s face went entirely pale. She looked at the dolls, then back at me, swallowing hard. "Okay... no. This is creepy as fuck. Mireya, I think you should get rid of all those dolls right now. This looks like a horror movie about to begin. What if the dolls are possessed and they start walking around inside the house at night?"
"Giulia, not now."
"I’m serious! This is how people disappear in Netflix shows."
"Giulia!"
"I’m going to dispose of them," I said, "We are throwing all of it away."
"No! Mom, why are you doing that?" Anastelle’s voice cracked. She immediately threw herself over the Barbie dollhouse, her small arms wrapping around it tightly.
"I just got new toys and you want to throw them away! Why don’t you want me to play with them?"
She was almost crying, but I couldn’t let her keep them. Not when I didn’t know who sent them.
"Annie, look at me," I said, softening my tone as I knelt beside her on the floor. "Please, just put the doll down for a second."
"No!" she sobbed, hugging the doll to her chest. "It’s mine! The door person left it for me!"
"Mireya... look at the packing tape on the main box over there by the door. That’s not standard postal tape." Giulia said.
I turned my head. The large cardboard box Anastelle had dragged inside was sealed with shipping tape. Printed across the plastic in small, neat, minimalist black letters was a tracking serial code:
M-GLOBAL LOGISTICS // MEDITERRANEAN DIVISION.
My breath hitched.
It wasn’t a random delivery. It was sent directly from the shipping network managed by the forty-fifth floor of the Milan branch.
Laziel.
My mind started spinning at a hundred miles an hour. How? Yesterday he found out Giulia was my emergency contact. This morning he asked how old my daughter was. And by the time I got home, a box of luxury toys specifically targeted for a four-year-old girl was sitting on my doormat.
He didn’t just look at my HR file. He had used Giulia’s name, tracked our current address, and sent a delivery to my house within a matter of hours.
"What is it?" Giulia asked, seeing the sheer terror on my face. "Mireya, whose company is that?"
"It’s his," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "It’s Laziel Monroe."
Giulia gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh my god. He knows where we live? How does he know where we live?"
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed.
It was a text from an unknown number.
Ensure you are not late on Saturday, Miss Brenner. Efficiency requires a clear mind at home.
Oh no.
"Help her unpack the dolls. She can keep them."
Giulia stared at me like I had lost my mind. "Are you serious? After what you just told me?"
"If I throw them away, he’ll know I’m panicked," I whispered, "He’s playing a game with me, Giulia. And if I want to survive Saturday night, I have to pretend I’m not afraid of the devil."
