Alice was brought back home and was kept under high security until the person behind her accident were caught.

To Derek and Emily, it wasn't an accident,  it looked like someone tried to kill her. All the possibilities were pondered and looked through. Derek was working round the clock to get to the culprit as soon as possible.

Derek had a team of the five best private investigators in Boston working their heads off to find the culprit.

Derek called his head of investigation.
"Cut to the chase, Willy? What's the progress?" Derek fired his questions at him.

"Sir, we haven't got a suspect yet," Willy replied.

"What do you mean you haven't got a suspect yet?!" He yelled.

Derek took a few deep breaths and then resumed his conversation again.

"I'm sorry for talking to you like that, Willy. You know how important Alice is for me. She is in danger if her culprit is roaming around freely. We need to get our hands on him. As soon as possible. Did you get me? Have you checked in on Daniel? " He said.

"No sir, we haven't yet because he can't plan anything from the asylum. " Willy replied.

"I don't know anything. Just check up on Daniel and let me know." He said as he hung up.

Daniel wasn't in their list of suspects because he was in an asylum. Deep inside Derek was suspicious that it could be Daniel behind the attack. But he dismissed the thought.

As days were passing, Emily and Derek's wedding was nearing. Derek was working off his limits. He came home late and didn't care about food or water. All he cared about was keeping his family safe. To him, there was no greater shame than being unable to protect his family despite having everything in the world.

He hired more guards for Alice's safety and assigned George to stay with Alice each day. George only got off his duty when Derek and Emily returned home from office. Maria wanted them to stay with her.

One evening, Derek was in his room. He was working on his laptop. Emily came to his room.

"Derek, are you free?" Asked Emily as she opened the door slightly.

"Yes, Emily. Come in." He answered. Emily came and sat on the vacant chair beside his study desk.

"I.. wanted to talk to you about something." She said as she started biting her lip in confusion.

"Don't do this," Derek said as he touched her lower lip to free it from the torture of her teeth.

"Are you having second thoughts about our wedding, Derek?" She asked looking at him.

Derek looked at her as if she had grown two heads. Emily saw a wave of hurt flash through his eyes. She was feeling bad for hurting him but she needed answers.

"Emily, I don't know why you're thinking like this but to answer your question, yes I'm having second thoughts. I think its not the right time to get married because Alice is not feeling well and mother is also occupied with her. So I think we should postpone the wedding a bit or we could have a small church wedding just us and mom." He winked as he said the last part.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same. Its not safe to do a big wedding until Alice's culprit is not caught. It's like putting everyone's life in danger." Emily said.

"We could have a small church wedding. I don't mind as long as I have you by my side." She said as he hugged her and kissed her forehead.

"Come on let's talk to mum about this." He said as he pulled her up from her seat and dragged her all the way to Alice's room.

"Hey princess, what are you up to? How are you feeling now?" Derek said as he kissed Alice's forehead.

"Can't you see? I want to get rid of this bandage on my head and these ridiculous casts. I hate it. I feel like I weigh 200 kilos. Like a giant elephant." Alice answered as she rolled her eyes at Derek.

"She's getting cranky again. I don't know what am I going to do to her?" Derek said as he went to his mother.

"Hello, mother. How are you?" He greeted Maria as he kissed her forehead too.

"I'm fine, son. Why are you so warm? Are you having a fever?" Maria asked eyeing him.

"No mother. I'm not having fever." He lied.

"Emily, can you bring me a
mirror? I want to see my face. I want to see how I look." Alice asked Emily. Emily stiffened. Maria went pale.

"First we have to tell you something." Derek interrupted.

"Okay. Say it quickly." Alice said with an irritated tone.

"We're not getting married after two weeks. We don't want a big wedding. We both agreed on having a small church wedding." Derek said.

"What????!" Alice shrieked.

"Are you two crazy? Have you two hit your heads somewhere?" She yelled.

Emily ran to Alice. She patted Alice's back to calm her down.
"Alice, we don't want to have a wedding without you." She said to Alice as she hugged him lightly avoiding her casts.

"Awww. Why are you so sweet? Come here, brother." She motioned for Derek to come to her.

"Give me your hand." She asked for his hand. She took Emily's hand and put it in his. Then sealed it with her hand.

"You can't get married without my blessing so here's my blessing and I want you to have a big wedding. I only have one brother. I don't want him to have a small quiet wedding." She said.

"Mother, I'll start preparing for their wedding from here. I'll finalize everything. I'm not an invalid. My mind's working. I can work from here. I want everything to be perfect. I want to show everyone that there's nothing disabled people can't do." She said looking at her mother.

"Well, that's like my girl. I'm so proud of you, Alice. You've made your father and me proud." Maria said as she gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"Why isn't there a mirror here in this room?" Alice asked her mother.

"Because we don't want you to see yourself until you're all healed," Maria answered.

"But I want to see myself. Please, mother." Alice pleaded.

"Okay. We'll get you a mirror." Derek said as he went out of the room and returned a few minutes later carrying a middle-sized mirror.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Alice screamed. Emily held her.

"Shh... it's going to be fine, Alice.  You're going to be fine." Emily said as she soothed her.

"Where is all my hair, mother? My face is all ruined, mother. There are so many scars on my face and hands. I look so horrible mother." Alice said crying as she touched her face and arms which were covered in scars.

"Scars prove how strong you've been, Alice," Maria answered.

"Your hair will grow back. You don't have to worry about it. You're always going to be the most beautiful girl for us, Alice." Derek said as he covered the mirror.

"You can get a wig for now and plastic surgery after a few days. I've talked to the doctors. As soon as your cast is removed, you'll get your surgery done. And its next week."Derek said. 

Alice kept crying. She used to be the most beautiful person in her family. She had her mother's eyes and hair like her father. She was her father's princess. She looked nothing but a mess now. Derek and Emily were always there for her. She was thankful for their support.