Praying they were far enough away, and Romeo wasn’t staring down the hallway, I peeked out of the door. I couldn’t see him, he must have gone into another room, so I returned to the hallway and continued my way down to Giorgio’s room, holding a hand over my mouth so my heavy breathing wouldn’t give me away.
“Do you need assistance?” I heard Romeo ask.
“W-what difference d-does that m-make to you?”
Both hands clasped over my mouth as tears filled my eyes at how weak Giorgio sounded. We’d spent weeks trying to bring him back to mostly healthy and normal, and now he was back to being just as broken as he was before. Even more so.
“Because Lucia cares about your welfare,” Romeo responded.
“You d-don’t.” Giorgio’s voice was shaking, and I could only imagine how he must look.
Romeo huffed out a scoff. “I’m not here for me. I’m here for her.”
Those were words I never imagined I’d hear from any of my brothers’ mouths, least of all Romeo. Whatever Lucia was doing to his heart, it was changing him from the inside out and it was spreading through the Cavettis like wildfire.
The room was silent for a moment, but then I could hear Giorgio grunting and groaning. I bolted forward, afraid that Romeo was hurting Giorgio, but then I looked in the room and saw Romeo crouched down, attempting to get Giorgio on his feet. My stomach flipped over at the sight of how mangled Giorgio looked. His legs were crumpled uselessly below him, and as Romeo worked to get him to his feet, they would barely support him. For all intents and purposes, Romeo was carrying Giorgio, with his legs dragging behind.
I spun backward as Romeo started for the door, and backed down the hallway to wait for them to come out. It was a slow go, but Romeo eventually managed to get Giorgio out of the dungeon room and started off down the hallway. Whatever it had been that attracted Giorgio’s attention, I wasn’t sure, but he shuddered as he looked back over his shoulder, and his eyes landed on me briefly, before he continued doing what little he could in his broken physical state to get to his bedroom upstairs.
Even Romeo, who was a strong and resilient person started to show some wear as they climbed the second set of stairs towards the guest rooms. Both he and Giorgio were breathing hard, and it didn’t help that Giorgio kept fading in and out of consciousness. In my mind, I was already preparing the supplies I’d have to gather to nurse him again. There were still several left behind in his room, but it wasn’t even like we were starting from the beginning with his recovery, we’d been pushed far behind the finish line, and it would take some doing just to get him where he was when he came up to the room the first time.
After what felt like hours, but was in reality only about twenty minutes, Romeo finally managed to get Giorgio up to his bedroom. I stood off to the side of the doorframe and peeked in, watching as he all but threw Giorgio into bed before collapsing into an armchair himself. They both fought to recover their breath, and there was nothing that I wanted more than to run in there and help, but though Romeo’s feelings towards Lucia had softened him towards Giorgio, finding out the man was involved with his little sister could sap that sympathy away in an instant.
So instead I waited, even though it killed me. Romeo and Giorgio sat in silence for a while, and I had no choice but to wait outside for Romeo’s next step. Giorgio had all but passed out on the bed, no shock there, but Romeo was a bit harder to read. He was watching Giorgio, but his thoughts were far from the scene at hand. I wished I knew what he was thinking, and for the first time ever, I wished that our relationship was such that I could ask.
Finally, Romeo stood up, which stirred Giorgio awake. “Th-thanks,” he managed to get out.
Romeo pulled out his phone. “This may make you angry, but just bear with it,” Romeo said. “Did you know this room used to be your sister’s?”
He walked so close to the doorway that I had to shuffle further down the hallway so I wouldn’t be spotted. “Lucia?”
“Yes. While she was here, I had a camera installed.” I was too far from the doorway to see what Romeo was doing, but I could hear him shuffling around near it. “It hasn’t been in operation for some time, but I’m turning it back on. I don’t wish to spy on you, it doesn’t record sound, it’s only to make sure my father doesn’t come to take you again.”
“I d-don’t need babysitting,” Giorgio strained out.
“Says the man who is within an inch of his life,” Romeo spat. “Just be grateful I’d care enough to do this at all.” Giorgio didn’t respond to that. He probablywasgrateful but was not the kind of man to admit to something like that. “I’ll check from time to time.” Romeo stepped out of the doorway, and I hissed out a quiet swear word. I scrambled under a nearby table, thankful for its tablecloth and my miniature stature just as Romeo said, “Rest,” before leaving the room.
He started to stride past me, but then stopped next to the table. I latched my hands over my mouth to keep my breathing quiet, and after a few heart-pounding seconds, Romeo carried on. I waited until I could hear his footsteps traveling down the stairs before I crawled out from under the table. I stayed on my hands and knees and crawled down to Giorgio’s room and opened the door. He craned his head up and locked eyes with me, sadly shaking his head.
“There’s a camera?” I asked quietly.
Giorgio nodded up towards the doorframe and I looked up and saw the small black camera hanging above the door, pointing out into the room. It was angled in a way that was focused on the majority of the room, meaning that just inside the doorway was a blind spot, but if I tried to get any further in, I’d be seen on the camera and Romeo would know.
“What do we do?” I asked. “You need help.”
He was shaking and shuddering and it reminded me of the fever he fell into after coming up from his prison the first time. “I still ha-have sup-plies.”
“What about food?” I glanced up and the fruit and milk I’d brought were still on the dresser. Pointing at them, I shrugged. “They’re probably warm now, but you can maybe drag them into the bathroom and eat them.”
“Thank you.”
That was all that we had now. I could pass him things using the blindspot in the camera, but as far as actuallygettingto him, I couldn’t.
After all of the steps forward we’d taken, we were separated yet again. There wasn’t a door between us any longer, but for the fact that we couldn’t touch anymore, there may as well be.
16
Giorgio
