Gabriele’s POV
I saw her eyes red and swollen like someone who had been crying all day –or maybe she was still mad at me.
What right did she have to be mad at me?
She was the one who spoke out of turn!
“This woman is driving me crazy!” I hissed out as I walked on to my intended destination.
She had decided to have her time with my workers making fun of me. She should be glad I liked her or she would have been dead by now for saying all of those stupid things about me.
She had no right to tell me how to run my house or business.
“Woah! Why are you looking like you just crossed paths with an angel?” Basilio whistled sarcastically as he came to me.
I narrowed my eyes at him and continued walking.
“You know ignoring me is not going to work right?” He sang matching my steps.
I continued walking, completely ignoring him. I had enough problems on my plates to worry about and there was no space for Basilio and his drama.
“Fratello, sometimes you need to smile. She might just fall for your charms and you never can…” His words trailed off as we saw Niko and Mike standing by my door ahead.
“This is strange…” Basilio muttered as we got closer.
Even I thought the very same thing. Niko and Mike only came to me when I called for them. Plus they knew never to come to my bedroom -unless it was an emergency.
“Good evening boss. Good evening Basilio,” they chorused, giving a little bow as Basilio and I reached them.
“What’s the problem?” I decided to ask. There was obviously something wrong from the look on their faces and the sooner they spilled it, the earlier I would be able to solve it.
I searched their faces trying to guess what the problem could be. Something at the back of my mind drew me back to Arianna.
She wasn’t looking like her usual self when we crossed paths. If I remembered correctly, her eyes were red and swollen.
At the time I thought it was anger but now that I thought about it… It wasn’t anger. It was pain.
“Did you guys encounter Gianni?” Basilio asked.
“No, we didn’t see him,” Mike said.
“It’s about Ari– Miss Arianna,” Niko spewed in.
My heart skipped a beat as my fears got confirmed.
“What about her?” I asked, beating Basilio to it.
“We were at work then all of a sudden she went missing for a couple of minutes. When we found her she was in tears and requested to be sent home,” Mike explained.
Basilio and I exchanged looks as we tried to understand their explanation.
“What do you mean she went missing for a couple of minutes?! Aren’t you supposed to be guarding her every second of the day?” Basilio gritted out.
I was not even angry. On the contrary I was confused and worried, all at once.
“Forgive Mike, he didn’t mean to say that. She went into the document control room and was there for a while. When Mila went to check on her, she found her in tears,” Niko explained.
“We tried asking her what the problem was but she refused to respond and only wanted to go home,” he added.
My heart skipped another beat as yet again, I had an inkling of what might have caused this breakdown.
“Basilio gets me, Mila on the phone,” I said to him then turned to the boys. “Thank you for the information, I’ll handle it.”
They bowed and walked away. Basilio waited for them to leave before attacking me with questions.
“Do you know what the problem is? Why didn’t you let me question them further? Should I go talk to her? You think it’s something serious?”
“Just call Mila already and stop acting like a pussy!” I growled as I pulled the door to my room open.
I walked to the window and stood there as my brain tried to calculate the probability of Arianna finding her purchase manual. I had moved it out of the house for her sake.
But somehow when she started going to the office, I totally forgot to move it out again.
Basilio fumbled with his phone before coming forward to give it to me.
“She is on the phone,” he whispered as he handed it to me.
I took it and placed the device to my ears. “Mila.”
“Good evening sir!”
“Are you still in the office?”
The phone cracked for a second before her voice came through. “Yes, Boss. I was just rounding up a few documents that Miss Arianna forgot to take with her,” she said.
“Drop them,” I ordered. “I need you to go to the document room and search through the special drawer for Arianna’s purchase manual,” I said.
From the corners of my eyes, I could see realization flood Basilio’s face as he heard me talk about the purchasing manual.
“I’ll do that sir.”
“Stay on the line,” I ordered and she mumbled a reply.
I waited following all sounds from her end with rapt attention. The way her shoes clicked on the floors as she hurried to the room, the way her breathing came in fast as she tried to control them over the phone.
The scratching sound of the metallic drawers opening reached through and I knew she was in.
“Have you found it yet?” I asked her.
She fumbled with some papers before her voice returned to the phone. “Yes sir. I have found it. Do you want me to send it over?”
“Yes,” I replied and then passed the phone back to Basilio to arrange for transportation.
Mila didn’t have to come over. I had more than enough drivers in the company that could comfortably bring it over to me.
“I have arranged for it. It should be here in the next hour,” Basilio said as he put his phone safely in his pocket.
“Okay.”
My heart was restless as I tried to find a way of tackling the situation if Arianna had truly seen the book. She must be broken.
Having to find out in that manner that your parents had been the ones to sell you to a whole you were not even aware of, was traumatizing.
“You think she knows?” Basilio whispered.
I looked up at him as if I just realized that he was in the room with me.
“I am guessing so…” I responded.
I walked away from the window and headed to the bathroom. I needed to pour some water on my head to calm it.
“Poor girl, she must be devastated,” Basilio whispered.
I could understand how she felt given the fact that my father had also abandoned me after the death of my mother and sister. But being sold was a huge blow.
“Make sure she comes down for dinner,” I said to Basilio as I reached the bathroom.
“Of course,” he replied.
“And tell that maid of hers to stay by her side,” I added before closing the door behind me.
At this point, she needed all the love and assurance she could get. To enable her to heal.
I knew this because I needed the very same thing when my father left. My godfather was there for me. Basilio had also been very helpful.
I couldn’t imagine the sort of monster I would have become, if not for those two.
I took a quick bath and stepped out to change into comfortable clothes.
I forgot about Gianni and my uncle for a while as my brain only focused on helping Arianna.
I was buttoning my shirt when Basilio popped his head into the room.
“The book is here,” he said and my eyes automatically went to the golden clock on my wall.
“They took a power bike. That’s why it was faster. Mila figured it was urgent,” Basilio explained as if he had read my inner thoughts.
“Good,” I shrugged. “Bring it.”
Basilio stepped in and brought the manual to me. I took it and flipped through looking for a sign that Arianna had seen it.
I didn’t put any sign or mark but I was certain if she had read it, there must be something different–
My thoughts paused as my eyes fell on the torn page.
“She has read it,” I concluded and placed the book on top of my drawer.
“What do we do now?” Basilio asked with worry dripping from his words.
I started heading to the door and paused just before stepping out. “We’ll help her as much as we can,” I said.
I half expected not to see her in the dining hall but to my surprise, she was there.
She sat on her usual seat like nothing happened but I could see the pain in her eyes. They were distant and lost.
Her eyes were no longer reddened and swollen but she looked pale and drained.