Chapter Eleven.
Arianna’s POV.
I escaped breakfast with Gabriele this morning and I was so over the moon. After our conversation last night, I’d rather be anywhere other than close to him. I heard that he had to leave for urgent work that morning. I enjoyed breakfast in the comfort of my room and I missed my phone badly. At one point I was tempted to ask him about my phone, but I gave up that idea pretty quickly.
I remembered that Sofia had talked about the other women in the house Nadia and Elena. I was really curious about them and hoped that they were nothing like the bimbo Sara. I needed other people around me to at least keep me sane with all the madness going on in my life.
I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where I was sure to find Sofia and there she was fiddling with some plates. “Sofie” I called out, and she turned to look at me. She smiled and immediately came to me. “You’re here? Is there anything you need?”
“I’m bored,” I replied as I swung her hands. She sighed. “The books weren’t good enough?” I stopped swinging her arm. “I wanted to meet Nadia and Elena. You’re pretty close to them right?”
She smiled. “Finally, they’ve been wanting to see you. I thought you’d never ask.”
Because what we were about to do was ‘illegal’ we were really careful in going to the west wing. We weren’t only wary of maids or guards but we prayed and hoped we didn’t see Sara.
We finally reached a room and Sofia knocked on the door as quietly as she could, our eyes darting around frantically to see if anyone was coming and luckily the coast was clear. The door swung open and we rushed in immediately. The door closed shut and we patted our chests in relief. I looked at the woman who closed the door and gasped a little. She was so beautiful with blond hair and baby blue eyes, I was stunned. She smiled kindly at me and I shook my head a little and returned the smile.
“Hello there.” She called out and I smiled. “Hi.”
She led us into the room where another woman was seated. I was so awed because both the women were astoundingly beautiful. The second one had dark hair and warm brown eyes. She was seated on the bed and smiled at me as well.
“Well, Sofia won’t you introduce us?” The one on the bed asked and Sofia laughed and turned to me “Arianna, meet Nadia…” she pointed at the one with dark hair “…. and Elena.” The one with blond hair.
“This is Arianna.” She said to both of them.
They both seemed nice and we sat down to talk. “I’ve heard stuff about you baby girl,” Nadia remarked as she held her chin with her hand.
I turned to her. “Yeah? What things?”
“About you trying to run away. You know when I was first brought here. I was so freaked out, I didn’t even have the thought of running away ’cause everything was so intimidating, especially Gabriele Andino, so when I first heard it, I really couldn’t wait to see you.”
I smiled and immediately Elena continued. “It’s true. You’re amazing.”
They both stared at me starry-eyed like I was some sort of immortal being and it was sorta uncomfortable “I was just desperate to leave, you know. I have family in Italy who were probably waiting for me and my Nonna and Grandpa who I missed terribly, so I guess that was the driving force of my near escape.”
As I talked about my family, their faces turned sad and the atmosphere became weird. I realized that I had said something I shouldn’t have and I Didn’t know how to diffuse the atmosphere.
“I’m sorry I brought that up” I apologized and they smiled wryly.
“It’s alright. We both miss our families very much.” Elena said. “I was stolen from my family and sold for over six years now. I don’t even know if they remember me. At some point in my life, I considered myself lucky to be here because Mr. Andino was not like other men I’d heard stories about.”
I nodded in understanding and Elena continued, “Nadia doesn’t really like to talk about the past. So, what about you Arianna?”
I sighed. “Well, on my first day in Italy, I was kidnapped on my way from the airport and auctioned off to Mr. Andino.” They looked surprised, “Mr. Andino?” I nodded, not understanding why they looked so shocked. “Mr. Andino never buys women, we weren’t bought by him. We were gifts, Arianna.” I sat there dumbstruck. I was one hundred percent positive that I was bought by him, but now I didn’t know what to think anymore.
“But I’m sure I was bought by him, Nadia.” They looked at each other and shrugged then Nadia turned to me again. “It’s weird isn’t it, that you were kidnapped on your first day in Italy? How could they know if someone didn’t inform them cause I don’t think you were trailed from America to Italy. Someone must have leaked the news to them.”
I froze and went into deep thought. It was highly possible, cause it was like they were purposely waiting for us to drive off.
The information was just too sudden and quite difficult to digest. Who would have done something so horrid to me? I don’t know many people in Italy except my parents so I didn’t know who to suspect. My parents may not love me much, but I didn’t think they would do such a thing, after all, I am their daughter.
I snapped out of my daze and Sofia patted my hand a little and smiled at me. We talked about little things that went on in our lives and such. Then I found out that Nadia was the dirty-minded and gossipy one. Elena was the smart and flirty one. They were so much fun to be around. Nadia wiggled her eyebrows and smirked. “Soooo..” she asked, swinging her legs from the bed “…. have you guys done it yet?” I played dumb with her and averted my eyes.
She sat in front of me and shook my arm. “You know what I’m talking about? I mean you and Gabriele Andino” she said to Andino in a high-pitched voice and I blushed a little. She squealed and grabbed my hands tighter. Elena also looked at me with anticipation, I felt a little embarrassed under their very shiny gazes. “No we’ve not and I don’t plan on doing it with him either.”
Their excitement died down and even Sofia who was pricking her ears to listen shrunk into the bed again. “Oh, we understand. One more thing, be careful of Sara.” I nodded and then we kept talking and laughing. It was now late afternoon. I didn’t even notice that time went by so quickly and we soon left after promising to see each other the next day.
We left as quietly as we came and I slipped back into my room and Sofia went to get my lunch for me. After I ate, I took a short nap and woke up to the sound of hurried voices and distorted sounds. I sat up in bed and hurried downstairs. The sight that met my eyes was scary. It was Gabriele covered in blood. His pristine white shirt was now dyed red as Basilio and a guard supported him inside. I held a hand over my mouth as they carried him upstairs.
When they passed me I could see that his face was abnormally pale meaning that he had lost a lot of blood. I could see that he was still conscious and he looked at me and said nothing as he went upstairs. I hated him, but I sure didn’t want him to die or anything. My legs followed them upstairs and stopped outside his room. I could hear the sounds from inside.
“I’ve called the doctor, he should be on his way now,” Basilio said, and I could hear Gabriele’s raspy voice. “I’m fine. It’s not like it’s the first time I’m getting injured, a little first aid will fix it.” Basilio didn’t say a word and I saw him outside the door. “Is he okay?” I asked him as we went a little further from the door.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t worry Arianna, he’ll be alright after a little cleaning up. It’s not as serious as it seems.”
I nodded and spoke quickly “I’m not worried about him, I just wanted to know.”
Basilio smiled knowingly and just as I was about to speak, he beat me to it. “Please don’t ask how he got those injuries, ’cause I really wouldn’t want to lie to you and you wouldn’t like to know as well.” Well, he read my mind. I wanted to ask but after he spoke, I shut my mouth. Soon I could hear the sound of footsteps and turned to the source, only to see a frantic Sara.
She grabbed onto Basilio. “Where is Gabriele? I heard he bled a lot. Where were you? You were supposed to protect him and be by his side.”
Basilio frowned in distaste. “Watch it, Sara. It’s not your place to meddle in our Business, you’d better go back to the west wing. Gabriele needs all the rest he can get and he certainly doesn’t need you crying loudly over here.”
She got mad and turned to me. “Why can she be here and I can’t? You’re doing this on purpose. I am sure that you just want to fuck her, that’s why….”
She was cut off by a slap from him and held her cheek “I won’t hesitate to slap you if you do that next time, Sara, I’m going to get the doctor.” He signalled to the guard standing by the side and he dragged Sara away. She shouted threats and curses at him.
I had seen enough drama for one day and I turned to go to my room. When I got there I lay on my bed. so much had happened today that I didn’t know how to deal with it. One, the kidnapping issue, two the suspect, and three Gabriele’s injuries. I couldn’t help but think about how he got that injury. Everything about him seemed to be shrouded in mystery.