“Father,” Romeo asked. “May I ask why Giorgio Bonifacio has been returned here?”
Angelo and Romeo had a silent face-off from their spots in the room, and once again, as much as I hated to admit it, whether or not I lived or died lied solely within Romeo Cavetti’s hands.
15
Natalia
It hadn’t been my intention to not return to Giorgio’s room for two days, but between the wedding plans and my father and brothers hanging around more than usual, I had to lay low for a while. That morning, though, I’d been informed that breakfast was going to be more informal as everyone had their own tasks for the first part of the day. With that as a good excuse, I decided to take a trip to Giorgio’s room to let him know that I’d successfully gotten the morning after pill, and to see if he was interested in going another couple of rounds. My whole body heated up at the thought. My sexual experience was relatively limited, so if he was up to it, I had alotof experimenting to do. If Giorgio was capable of bringing me the pleasure he had when we slept together a couple of nights prior, then I wanted to be able to give him something similar or find ways for us to find new heights of euphoria together.
Under my clothes, I made sure to dress in a particularly sexy set of underwear, the kind I’d invested in only because of the aesthetic in the past, but now I had an actual reason to wear them. The house seemed rather empty and unguarded, so I traveled with relative ease down to the kitchen to collect some fruits and milk to enjoy for breakfast, and then carried them up to Giorgio’s room.
I knocked, taking a deep breath, and waited. There was no response, which was odd, but maybe he was just sleeping. I tried knocking one more time, just in case he was in the bathroom and slow to respond, but when I got no answer again, I simply let myself in.
“Gio?”
The second I got across the threshold, I froze - the room was a mess. The dresser was knocked askew, the blankets on the bed were ruffled, and the glass of water I typically left on Giorgio’s bed was tipped over and had spilled on the floor. On top of that, there were splatters of blood on both sides of the bed and drag marks on the carpet where it appeared someone had been dragged from the room.
“Gio?” I called out again.
Setting the food down on the dresser, I ran into the bathroom and threw back the shower curtain, but he wasn’t there. I ran across and into the walk-in closet, pulling aside different clothes, some of which belonged to a woman, suggesting the room had maybe been Lucia’s room before it had been Giorgio’s, but he wasn’t in there, either. Though I’d feared it when I first saw the mess, I was developing real concern that something bad had happened to Giorgio.
I ran from the room and stood in the center of the bedroom, panicking. Whathadhappened to Giorgio, I didn’t know, and I didn’t have a way to find out. If I asked any of my brothers what happened to Giorgio, they would know something was up. I still had my contact that had given me info before, but with everything going on, I wasn’t sure he would know.
It was worth a shot.
Leaving the milk and fruit behind, I moved as quickly, but as calmly as I could out of the room and started a hunt around the estate for the guard that I’d paid for information in the past. At first, I couldn’t find him, and my chest started to tighten thinking that Giorgio had been dragged from the house altogether, but then I found him lingering around the dining room.
“Miss Cavetti,” he greeted.
There were two other guards hanging around, both watching me with heightened curiosity, but I didn’t have the energy to be worried about them.
“Have any of you seen my brothers or father?” I asked. “It seems potentially one of the Bonifacios has been moved.”
The goons exchanged looks with one another, and I could see the one I worked with specifically, trying to figure out a way to not get caught out, but eventually, he just turned to me and said, “You know your father doesn’t want us revealing any information to you, but there’s none to reveal.”
“Nothing?” I said.
“If one of the Bonifacios has been moved,” and there was a knowing in his voice that he understood who I was looking for, “that isn’t something we’re privy to.”
He seemed honest, which was frustrating. Whatever had happened, had likely happened suddenly, and without much prior warning, which meant my father was likely behind it. If I knew my father at all, he was annoyed that he lost his torture plaything, and if that was true, then there was a slight chance Giorgio had been moved back down to the dungeon.
“Thanks,” I said, and walked away, heading upstairs first, so as not to arouse suspicion.
How long I had to get down to Giorgio was anyone’s guess, so I made my way down a different staircase that went down to the lower level and snuck my way around to the door to the dungeon. It was open and unguarded, a rarity given what had previously been down there, but it made me afraid nothing was down there now. Still, I had to check, so I snuck down the stairs, not liking the familiar twist in my stomach at the dank smell and dim lighting.
I rounded the corner, convinced I’d see nothing, but my heart leaped at the sight of Romeo standing in the doorway of Giorgio’s cell.
Had it been Romeo who dragged Giorgio back down?
I could hear him speaking, but too quietly for me to hear what he was saying. My heart started to pound faster and my brow perspired with sweat, but I couldn’t stand back and not know if Giorgio was in that room, worse, if he was dead or alive. So though there was nothing to hide me, and all it would take would be for Romeo to take one peek out of the room, I started to creep my way down the hallway.
“Anything that will not harm either Lucia or any future children we might have,” I heard Romeo say.
There was a heavy silence before the voice I expected to hear filled the silence. “Done.”
My fatherwasresponsible.
Romeo took a step back from the room and I froze. There was a room to my left, but the door was closed. I was uncertain if it was locked or not, but if I was going to move towards it to hide, if it wasn’t unlocked, my presence would be revealed. I heard the rattling of shackles, followed by the sound of footsteps pounding in my direction. Quickly, I jumped to the side and grabbed the handle of the door, my stomach lurching when it gave. I slipped in and ran the risk not to latch the door, but just leave it cracked. Not long after I got inside did my father go sidling past me with a malicious grin on his face, followed by two of his goons. I held my breath as they passed, jumping back when one of the goons looked in my direction, but then they pressed on down the hallway, and I listened until their footsteps were quiet taps in the distance.
