Chapter Five
980 Words
"You saw her actually take the ring?" interrogated Giovanna.
Leila nodded. "I was in Master Giorna's room too. At the time, I thought she was taking it simply as part of her duties to report to the Mistress. I thought perhaps the Mistress had ordered her to bring it. Because it would be too stupid, and too crazy to steal from the heir of the family. It was only hours later when Master Giorna had begun to look for the ring, that I connected the dots."
"Leila" repeated Adriana, her voice breaking. How could someone lie so smoothly and easily in a matter like this?
"And" continued Leila "I hate to say it. She was also my friend. To imagine her doing something to this extent, I could not. I knew she was always by her lonesome, but we always managed to get along. Why did you do this, Adrianna? You could've talked to someone"
"Leila! You devil! You scum of the earth!" cursed Adrianna. Her heart was hot, and pumping. It wasn't enough to sway Giorna against me, now she wants to destroy my life too?!!, thought Adrianna.
"Guards, take her" instructed Giorna, and this time, Giovanna was powerless to stop them. Three guards pounced on her, but Adrianna, with the greatest strength of her life, resisted them.
She kicked and turned, and bit, and fought tooth and nail, but couldn't overpower three of them in the end. While they were ruffling her, something small dropped from her clothes to the grass. One guard picked it up and showed it to Giorna, who exclaimed.
"Yes, it is! It's the ring! My god, you were just carrying it around with you?" asked Giorna.
Adrianna looked at the ring in wonder. "No, no, no. That's impossible. That can't be!" And then she locked eyes with Leila, who was smiling. She remembered walking past Leila when leaving Giorna's room, feeling a slight sensation around her pockets, but dismissing it.
Leila must have dropped it then! thought Adrianna.
"Get her out of my sight" spat Giorna. "We have what we do with thieves in the mafia. Maid or not."
Adrianna cried, as loudly as her voice would allow: "I'm not - I'm not a thief! I'm not a thief, please! God, please! I'm just a human being. I'm just a--" Giovanna turned his face from looking at her anymore.
********
"We'll cut off her hands," said Merardo Desantos, the head of the Desantos manor. He had gathered with the immediate family to think of how to dole out proper punishment for Adrianna. "It's the mafia way."
"Not if you want her to keep working. We're making her a w***e remember? Whores need their hands intact." clarified Claudia.
"Why can't we just get rid of her?" asked Giorna.
Medardo shook his head. "You are the heir, and you still don't get it. Never forgive a debt! Especially one of those Toscano! He owes us in the millions!"
"How about a few fingers?" suggested Claudia.
"Yes, that seems reasonable."
The doors to the chambers opened, and Giovanna walked in. "I think I have a proposition that will satisfy both parties" he grinned.
Claudia gasped at seeing her son again, but Medardo rose in fury. "Get out."
"Ironically, father. That is what I have come to do," replied Giovanna.
There was a pause before Medardo said: "Explain"
"It's the holy grail, father. The thing you've been having wet dreams about. I, Giovanna Desantos, have come to recuse myself from the family name."
Giorna perked his head. That would be wonderful. My role as heir would be finally cemented in stone.
"To what end?" asked Medardo, suspicious.
"I just need a tiny little thing you won't miss." Giovanna grinned.
*****************
After being in the dungeon for a few days, without food, and water, Adrianna heard footsteps. The doors to the cell were unlocked, and she was lifted off the ground. She still was without her senses, so couldn't tell most of what was happening.
But the next thing she knew, was being seated in what looked like a moving cabin. She turned to see Giovanna. Giovanna, the black sheep of the Desantos family, with an uncanny reputation for being self-destructive.
He had disappeared from the Manor a few years back because of a drug-related incident. Why was he with her now?
"What's going on?" muttered Adrianna.
"Just hopping over a bit of nastiness" he replied nonchalantly. Soon, the Limousine came to a stop, and someone opened his door. Another opened Adrianna's door as well. It was a middle-aged man dressed in uniform.
"We've been expecting you, Madam," he said. Did I hear that right? thought Adrianna as she stepped down.
In front of her was a long and wide mansion. She looked inside to see big trees and lawns from the brass gates.
"What? What's happening here?" Adrianna asked Giovanna once more. "I thought I was in a dungeon. The Desantos dungeon."
"Yes. You were quite beside yourself" elaborated Giovanna. "That was before I got you out, of course."
"What? I was in line to get my hands cut off," said Adrianna looking at her intact hands. "How?"
"Ohh. I just told my father to let me have you instead. And all it cost was to remove my claim to the Desantos family for good. I think they were rather happy to do it too. It's sad" said Giovanna.
"Your claim? Your family's fortune?" repeated Adrianna. "But"
"Mm-hmm?"
"But why?!" inquired Adrianna, still lost. For the first time, she saw Giovanna smile. "Well, I'm not going to leave the only living heir of the LAVINIA family trillions in a dungeon, now am I?" he winked.
Before Adrianna could say anything, the gates swung open. There was a line of staff who bowed before her.
"Welcome back, Madam. Shall we show you to the Living Chambers?"
- Writer
