“Yes. He’s the only one who has done what we expected. I’ve heard him converse with Natalia. He believes that your father is the root of all evil and wants to kill him. Not just for what he’s done to his own family, but to Natalia as well.”
“Natalia?” I imagined the face of my sweet baby sister, a stranger by her standards, but a precious rose attempting to take root in my father’s poisoned soil. “What did he do?”
“I didn’t hear all of it, but she seemed to suggest that he’d tried… touching her,” Philippa said.
A rage started at my feet and rolled its way up my body like a hot fire. I wasn’t unaware of the perverted man my father was, in all the ways that he was perverted. As Philippa grew, I kept a close watch on her because I feared he may try for her, but his own child? “We have to stop him. By any means necessary,” I said. “I need to speak with Giorgio. Does he ever leave the house?”
“No,” Philippa replied. “He never even leaves his room. Natalia brings him anything he needs.”
“I’m sorry to ask you this, but do you think you can find me an opportunity? I’ll take anything. I only need a few minutes, preferably where my familycan’tget to us.”
There was a beat of silence before Philippa said, “Yeah, I can do it. I’m afraid what will happen if they find out I was involved though.”
“Don’t worry about that. If you can create the opening, then you can escape after that. Just call me when it’s ready,” I said. “Time is of the essence.”
“Okay,” Philippa replied. “I’ll get you your opportunity. Don’t worry.”
18
Philippa
Being around the Cavettis estate when I knew there was a life, a home, waiting for me in Japan was difficult. I had texts from Gianni, inspiring me to get through each day, but every moment I was awake, I looked for an opportunity to connect Giorgio with Gianni.
Half of me considered just giving Giorgio my phone so he could call, but most of the day, Natalia was with him and there were very few opportunities to be with him alone. Though she was sneaking around and hiding their relationship from her family, she often stashed herself nearby when I or anyone else came near his room. Natalia was a Cavetti at the end of the day, and regardless of whatever hatred she had for her father, if she learned Gianni was alive, she’d tell her brothers. Once Giorgio knew Gianni was alive, it’d be the same as assuming Natalia knew as well.
I had to somehow get Giorgio out of the house.
There were so few reasons that the captured Bonifacio siblings would leave the house, that I quickly became discouraged it wasn’t something I’d be able to pull off. They’d been allowed to leave for Lucia’s wedding, but nothing else like that was happening any time soon.
Lucia.
It hit me like an icy chill down my spine. If Lucia was out of the house, her siblings would be allowed to go to her, wherever that was. She’d be giving birth in some months, and her siblings would certainly be able to visit her in the hospital, but that wasn’t time Gianni and I had. I needed her to go to the hospital much sooner, and in emergency rooms, they typically only let one or two people visit at a time to not overwhelm the patient.
That was it.
Could I admit that maybe I’d let my own emotions embolden my decision that night, sure? The truth was, ever since I first saw Gianni utter her name with such sweetness that I’d never seen before, my hatred for her started to grow. I watched as she fell in love with Romeo. I watched as she married him and became pregnant with his child. I was forced to stand to the side and watch her build a life of her own, while I was forced to stay far from the man that I loved. To live every single day in fear.
She was the first woman who held Gianni’s heart and I was jealous.
So when an idea came to my mind—a manner of getting Giorgio out of the house and alone so that Gianni could approach him uncontested by his own family—I had more confidence than I should have in doing it.
“Signorina…signorina… you must get up.”
In truth, I didn’t even entirely remember going to Lucia’s room. My feet moved on instinct into her bedroom on that quiet night. Romeo had been sent to California by his father, a cruel act to isolate the newlyweds from one another while Lucia was pregnant and needed her husband more than ever. She slept so soundly, so securely. It was as if the terrifying things around the Cavetti household didn't affect her at all.
I hated her for it.
Lucia roused, flapping her eyes in confusion as she slowly sat up out of bed. “What… Philippa?”
“There is anemergenza. You must go downstairs.” I used more Italian with Lucia, even letting some of my mother’s authentic accent come out. At first, I noticed that it was calming to her, but it was a difficult act to play now.
“Emergency? What emergency?” Still moving as slow as molasses to get up out of bed.
Didn’t the word ‘Emergency’ usually jump people right up?
“WithSignoreRomeo,” I said. “Hurry, hurry!”
To my extreme frustration, Lucia still didn’t move out of bed, but rather stared back at me with blind confusion. It was the middle of the night and neither of us was being particularly quiet. It was only a matter of time before someone would come looking. “But he’s not even here. He’s in California.”
