“Y-yes,” I lied. “I didn’t. I knew Romeo was out of town s-so I went to go and check on her and saw her lying there.”
“It seems it was just an accident and she fell. She must have been experiencing sickness in the night because there was bile at the top of the stairs. Maybe she tried to get some water? She knew she had you, why would she go for anything on her own?” Alegna mused to herself. “In any event. One team will be designated to clean up the mess at the bottom of the stairs, while another will clean the stairs and at the top. Philippa, you should clean her room and make sure it’s perfectly clean for when she’s ready to return.”
“Yes,Signora,” I replied.
We were dismissed from the staff meeting, and I wandered my way upstairs. It felt like I could still hear her whimpering and banging her way down the stairs but I tried to force it from my mind. Her room was still in the state it was in when I’d been there last, and as I absently cleaned, I wondered how long I had. Gianni said he would help me escape, but for as long as Lucia was out, no one would know that I pushed her. It was in my best interest to stay as long as I could. Once they knew I was the one who sent her down the stairs, the Cavettis wouldn’t stop until I was dead.
I was too afraid to tell Gianni what had happened for a while. He had no connection to the house other than me, so I controlled the information, but it made me feel terrible to lie to him. Every day that passed, I feared it’d be the day that Lucia would wake up and tell them the truth. I was gambling with my own life.
Yet and still, I was able to hang on for a week. Beginning the second week of Lucia’s coma, I had a good handle on the rotating visitation schedule they’d established for Lucia and her siblings, and I knew exactly when Gianni could visit and get Giorgio in the room alone. Giorgio’s visit would take place the next day and that was all I needed, an opportunity.
In the middle of the night, as quietly as I could, I packed what few possessions I had into one of the tote bags Alegna kept for shopping and snuck out into the garden. There was a blind spot to the cameras that Angelo had, and though he kept a guard on it at all times, I knew they tended to doze off during the night shift. I’d planned an escape from the Cavettis estate multiple times but stayed for Gianni. Now I was escaping to get to him.
I crept my way past the guard tower and between the shrubs that divided the back of the property from the road. A wrought iron fence kept the Cavettis estate secure, but I was a tiny person. I dug down into the dirt enough until I was able to expose the bottom of the fence, then I continued to move enough earth aside to slide myself and my bag out.
The road up to the Cavettis was just as guarded, so I slipped into the woods and walked along, staying straight and heading in a single direction until the rush of cars met my ears. I followed it to the interstate that led into Chicago and eventually across it to a small convenience store off an exit on the other side. I flopped down on a bench and pulled out my cell phone to call Gianni.
“Philippa?” he grunted. “It’s the middle of the night. Are you okay?”
“More or less,” I said. “I’m sitting on a bench at the gas station off the exit before the one for your father’s estate.”
“What?” Gianni huffed, more alarmed. “What happened?”
“There’s an opportunity for you to speak with Giorgio. Can you come and get me?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m already halfway to my car. Stay there,” and the line went dead.
The sun was just starting to peek up over the horizon when Gianni finally made it to me. He hopped out of the car, wearing only a pair of sweatpants and his combat boots, and ran over to me. “Are you okay?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I threw myself into a hug and breathed into the feeling of him in front of me. I’d lost track of the days it had been since the wedding, and now that I had to admit to him what happened, I was terrified I was going to lose him. I still wasn’t convinced he didn’t love Lucia. Once he learned what I had done, was he going to hate me?
“You’re freezing,” he said, rubbing my skin. “Come on. Let’s get you in the car.” He tossed my bag in the trunk and helped me into the passenger seat of his car and I couldn’t stop tears from coming to my eyes.
What had I done?
I must have drifted off during the drive because the next thing I remember was Gianni carrying me into his place, my bag in hand. He set me down on the couch, and I panicked, seeing the sun in the sky outside. “What time is it?” I yelped.
Gianni checked his watch. “A little after six. Why?”
“Today, around nine in the morning, if you go to your family’s dedicated room at Hyde Park, Giorgio will be there. He’ll…” I took a deep breath. “He’ll be visiting Lucia.”
Gianni’s eyes got a bit wider. “What? Why? What happened?”
“She’s in a coma,” I said weakly. “She… hit her head falling down the stairs.”
Gianni stared down at me in silence for a few minutes, then he took a step back from me that felt more like ten. “Philippa tell me you didn’t.”
I looked up at him, tears filling my eyes. “I didn’t mean to.”
“How were you even in that position?” he asked.
“I don’t have time to explain everything right now. You have to go if you’re going to make it back in time,” I said.
Gianni watched me quietly for a moment, then he walked away and headed upstairs. I could hear his dresser drawers and bathroom door slamming as he opened and closed them and I knew he was angry. He didn’t even look at me when he came back down, but instead grabbed his phone and keys, and left. I pulled my knees up on the couch and buried my head between them.
This was the mistake that was going to ruin my life.
19
