At that, Giorgio weakly lifted his head. “Really?
“Of course,” I said. “It’s going to take me some time, but I’ll do it. If it’ll help.”
A small smile crossed his face. “It would definitely help.”
It would definitely help.
Those were the words I kept in my mind as I bought, stole, and bribed my way to Giorgio’s room key. I couldn’t risk letting anyone know that I actually wanted the key. There wasn’t a single guard in the place who wouldn’t tell my father immediately if they knew I was trying to get into that cell. That kind of information could pad someone’s life for years to come with the way my father paid regarding the things closest to him.
Instead, I got information. Swiped things from guards that would get them killed for losing, and then blackmailed them to get it back and keep quiet. Paid for information regarding the rotation schedule. I eventually found out, though frustratingly, that my father and brothers were the only ones with keys to the cells. After the promise I made to Giorgio, I didn’t want to go back on getting the key to his room, but if what I was told was true, there was no way I’d be able to get my hands on it.
But then I got a break.
While in the kitchen, not far from where the door down to the dungeon was, I saw some of our estate’s cleaning crew headed down into the dungeon. Cleanliness wasn’t something I had experienced a lot of down there, and it didn’t seem like the kind of thing my father would be overly concerned with.
“Hey,” I asked one of the guards. “Why are they going down there?”
“Romeo sent them, his fiancee asked him to,” he replied.
“Are they cleaning the rooms?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “The prisoners have been tied up so they can get in and get out. They’re being overseen by guards, don’t worry.”
If they were going into the room, they had to have keys. I found a spot in the kitchen and sat down to flick through my phone and drink water while I waited. It was two or more hours that they were down there, not shocking considering the conditions, but eventually, the guard standing at the door stepped aside, and the cleaning crew came back out. They had garbage bags that would need to be dumped, so I quietly snuck my way out to the dumpsters behind our house and waited.
Eventually, the cleaning staff walked out into the back with their bags. The head staff member had a ring of keys hanging from her waist, all I needed to do was get to them. They didn’t see me standing out there at first, but I popped out from behind the dumpster. She was struggling to get one of the larger bags up and over the dumpster, so I walked over to her.
“Do you need some help?” I asked.
“Oh, no Miss Cavetti, I’ve got it,” she replied.
“I don’t mind, really. I don’t get to do much in a day here. Let me help.” I stepped up to her with a switchblade in hand and sliced the edge of the bag as I helped hoist it over. With a small cut as I held it up, the bag busted open and all of the contents came spilling out all over her. “Oh my gosh!”
I just managed to back out of the way as she got covered in the grime and garbage from the dungeon, but then I quickly stepped back up to her to help wipe her clothes clean. I picked and pulled bits off of her slowly working my way down, and in her panic to get herself clean, she didn’t notice as I hooked the keys off of her belt. I quickly tucked them into my pockets and continued to clean her off.
Finally, she looked at me and waved her hands. “I’m okay, Miss Cavetti. Don’t tell your father please.”
“No, you don’t have to worry,” I said. It made me angry, the fear he exacted over our staff. “Everyone makes mistakes. It’s okay.”
With the keys in hand, I slipped back into the house, and all that was left was to wait. Night eventually came, and I snuck back down to the dungeon. Things smelled a little cleaner, although it didn’t change the fact that it was still a musty dungeon, something my father no doubt banked on when he imprisoned them down there. I made my way past the twins’ rooms, past Antonio’s room, and down to Giorgio’s.
Instead of opening the window like I typically would, I pulled out the cleaning staff’s keys and slowly started to stick each one of them into the lock. A few of them fit, but wouldn’t allow me to twist, and I was beginning to think I’d made a bad wager when I finally tried one near the end of the ring. It slid into the lock and when I turned, the lock gave, the tumblers letting out loud clangs that echoed down the hallway.
I dragged the door open and peered into the dark room. “Giorgio?”
Along with the regular food I brought, I had some bandages, antiseptic, and a couple of painkillers.
“Natalia?” a voice called back. It came from the cot in the corner.
“Hey,” I said. “It’s not much, but I brought some things to help.”
There was more shifting, and with my eyes starting to adjust to the dark, I could see Giorgio getting up. He walked over to me, and my heart was racing. He looked bloodied and bruised, with nothing but exhaustion in his eyes. He reached out a hand towards my face and I smiled, almost leaning towards it.
Then he twisted me around and locked my head into a choke hold. He was stronger than he’d let on, and with his arm braced on my neck, he darkly growled, “Don’t move, or I’ll kill you.”
4
Giorgio
