Chapter Thirty-Five
"Tell me what you found out." I answer the phone with an order, not caring that I talk with Empress's right hand.
I look over at Althea, glad that she finally sleeps. She couldn't sleep after we got out of the pool, and I know the reason was because it was her birthday. Not even with the pills, she couldn't find in her mind a piece of comfort.
And all I wanted to was to bring the bastards back to life, just to torture them again.
All night we watched different movies, one of them was her favorite, Corpse Bride. If Vincent found us in the living room, watching TV without him, we both would've been dead now.
Then we spent the morning with Vince, walking the animals that I still can't believe are living in my damn house. After the walk, we put Vincent to bed, but Althea fell asleep too.
"Does your wife know that you put me to follow her?" His rough voice almost makes me misunderstand him.
"Like I know she sneaks out?" I ask sarcastically.
When I first saw her sneak out, I thought she would meet with another man. But then I started to know her and knew she would never do this to me. She stopped after shit went down with Ivan and her past. And yesterday she started her activity again.
One quick call to Arius and after not even a day, he calls me back.
If I asked Althea directly, she would've lied, and I don't know how many times I can forgive.
Last night was the second most intimate moment we had. The first being when we made love, between the mirrors. Something about how we both communicated so sincere made my heart beat as hard as before.
I just need to know where she sneaks out before I finally say the words she won't believe. And not because it might change my feeling, because I will not ever escape my feelings for Althea. She became my heart when her fingers first touched me. But because I need to trust her completely.
And I hope one day she will trust me just as much.
"Fair point." He murmurs.
"Do you know where my little, badass of a wife sneaks, Arius?" I ask him again, impatient by the answer.
She never left Italy before, so where is she going to in Chicago?
"Yes, I texted you the address."
"Do I need to worry, Novak?" I ask with a tremble.
"Not that kind, Keaton." He assures me.
Please be just a damn art studio or something.
"Thank you." I murmur.
"What did you say?" He asks amused. I think it's the first time I hear him with another emotion in his voice besides coldness.
"I won't repeat again." I say back just as amused.
"I sent Empress's motorbike to you." I frown at that.
If I'm proud about something in this life besides my little family, it's the fact that I created Empress's motorbike. I made it six years ago with the model of an Arc Vector in mind. It's just bigger and way more technologically advanced.
While I build the motorbike, looking absolutely deadly and out of this world, Arius build a software protection. The Empress can start the engine with her finger print, control it from her phone, and other crazy shits Arius did.
When he called me six years ago and asked me if I'll help him surprise the Empress, of course I took the opportunity.
"What happened to it?"
"The engine sounds weird when she starts it." He says, leaving me with other questions about it, but he won't answer them. He spoke enough today.
"I'll look over it."
I open the message he sent me. My body tells me that I won't like what I'll found out, and this time I will listen to it. Even though I'll pray to be wrong.
I lean over Althea, careful to not squish Vince, and kiss her cheek multiple times, trying to not wake her. I let my lips stay a little longer, enjoying the softness of her skin. I don't want to leave her warmth and her scent that feeds my beast, but I need to know every single thing she hides in order to fulfill my promise I made.
The promise to always make her happy.
I look at her relaxed face, praying that when I'm back everything will be the same.
"Why do I have the feeling that it will shock me more than you saving me?" I ask her, and with one last kiss I
leave the room.
I park the car in front of the institution and I feel my body tremble.
Chicago's Mentally Ill Asylum.
I stare at the words, wishing that I just don't know how to read. But reality hits me hard.
What are you doing here, Althea?
My head is full of questions, ones worse than others, but with a shake of the head, I walk inside the asylum.
The interior is designed in warm colors, giving the rooms a calm atmosphere. Medical staff are wondering everywhere with people of all ages. My eyes meet the middle-aged woman with blonde hair that stays behind a desk, a big computer in front of her. I walk toward her, feeling eyes staring at me.
"Hello, Mrs.," I look over at the silver plate on her chest. "Mikels."
She looks at me and her eyes widen. She just stares at me, eyeing the tattoos that are coming out of my shirt. She looks petite in her blue scrubs.
So petite that I could crush her with my thumb.
"Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?" And yet she doesn't stutters.
"I'm here instead of my wife. Althea Moretti." Her face instantly calms, and she gives me a smile.
"Ah, Mr. Moretti, it's a pleasure to meet you. Sorry for my rudeness, I didn't know it was you. Your wife spoke about you and described your figure but I never though we'll meet." I narrow my eyes at her, trying to
sense the lie. But it seems that she's telling the truth.
My little fox told stories about me? Maybe after this I'll have some free time to gossip with Mrs. Mikels.
"I didn't know you'll come here today, but I think it's a good change for Mrs. Rossi." She smiles at me, but my body freezes.
Rossi is Althea's other side of the family. Her mother's maiden name.
It can't be.
She's dead.
Hanibal suffered after her for years because she died. Everyone suffered after Gianna Luciano.
"Mrs. Rossi," I say aloud just to make sure this is the reality that I'm living in.
"Yes, your wife's mother. Poor thing still tries to make her own mother remember her, but maybe your arrival will be different for Mrs. Rossi."
Remember her?
What the fuck is going on?
"Is she available?" I ask through my teeth.
"Of course, sign this and then follow me." She hands me a paper and a pen, but my mind can't even read the letters on it. I sign it and follow the woman who just blew my damn sanity.
I follow her in the elevator and see her press the button that goes in the basement. I narrow my eyes at her, her body still as a rock.
The elevator doors open and a white hall greets us.
"This is the warn for Alzheimer patients." She explains to me, and I almost punch the wall next to me.
We stop in front of a room that has no number. If I see Giana Luciano in that room, I'll fucking murder someone.
"I'll be right here if things go a little out of control.
Just don't pressure her if she won't answer to you." She explains again and opens the door with a key.
The room looks like a mini apartment. Besides the bed and some magazines, the room has two other doors that I think are the bathroom and kitchen. The space indeed gives the vibes of a hospital room, just more lovely and prepared.
Just for a person who has been here for a while.
There are no pictures, no painting from her past life. Like she stays here just to exist.
One of the doors opens and my knees weaken when the brown eyes that I love look back at me.
Gianna gasps and her hands fly where her heart is. The same Gianna that looks just like Althea. The same Gianna who died six years ago.
"You scared me, giovane uomo. Did no one tell you to not sneak up on the elders?" She laughs lightly.
I feel like I'm going to faint. All these years and she's been here, living her life like nothing happened.
Her face shifts to concern, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
She looks so much like Althea. I can't even look in her eyes.
"Keres looks like the carbon copy of Hanibal while I look like Mamma."
I take the chair that sits next to her bed and put it in the middle of the room. I sit down, my head killing me.
"Are you okay? Do you want some water?" She comes near me, but I straighten my back so that it sits on the chair.
"I need some answers, not fucking water." I say in between breathes.
"About what?" Gianna asks and sits on the bed.
She looks so elegant, sophisticated. So put together.
"Why the fuck aren't you dead?"
"Because I never died? Look, I don't know you or why you are here,"
"I'm Everette Moretti," I snap, interrupting her. I can't take this shit anymore. "Your daughter's ex-fiancé." I murmur.
I have to play with her mind. I know for a fucking fact that she's not mentally ill. The way she answers to my statement it's the way I'll play with her memories.
"Oh, this again." Gianna shakes her head, clearly tired of this topic. "I don't have a daughter. I've been alone since my husband left me."
She chose the hard way.
So be it.
"Yes, Keres told me you might say that." I say with a sigh.
"Keres you say. I don't know who this girl is, but I know another girl comes here sometimes, claiming I'm her mother." I almost laugh at her trying to feed me lies with the truth.
"Really? You know her name?"
"I-I forgot," She stutters, making a guilty face. The sick card doesn't work with me, Gianna.
She can't even say her name.
"If you refer to Thea, don't believe a word she says. She's a snake." I scrunch up my nose, pretending I'm disgusted.
"She seems nice," Her voice deepens, the mispronounced name of her daughter making her angry.
I hit a nerve.
"No, she's not. She's the reason why Keres broke up with me. Althea wanted me so bad that she made Keres believe I want her too." I shake my head in disapproval.
"I don't believe that. She came here the other day and told me about her sister and she was genuine about her love." Good job, Gianna. Defend your daughter.
"She did." I simply say, and I see in the corner of my right eye her fingers gripping the sheets, turning white.
"Do you have proof?" She asks with a raised voice.
"I don't need proof to prove a person is a snake. I know them good." I turn my head toward her, winking and smirking. My actions make her face turn a slight shade of red.
She didn't even deny the fact that she doesn't have two daughters.
"That's Thea's doing. She played with your head."
"Her name is Althea," She snaps at me and I pretend a make a shocked face.
"Ah, yes! You remembered her name." I say with disinterest.
I look again at Gianna and her body seems back into its armor.
I need to anger her more, and I curse myself for what I'm about to say. But I need the real Gianna to talk to me, not this fake copy of her.
"As an excuse for breaking us apart, she said it was a desperate action because she was raped. Pathetic," I snort, and I feel like I want to punch myself in the mouth.
I feel Gianna trembling, and without even considering the though, a fist punches me hard.
Oh well, be careful what you wish for.
Gianna is in front of me, holding my face in her hand, squeezing hard until I feel her rings digging in my skin.
"If you ever talk about my daughter in that manner, I will kill you in cold blood until every drop is on my
damn hands. I don't care if it was a way to make me talk, or the big truth." She snarls and I smirk.
"Nice to finally meet you, Gianna." And I stand up, taking her neck in my hand.
"The pleasure it's all mine, Moretti. Or should I say, dear son-in-law?" I grin at throw her in a sitting position on her bed.
"Did you like my acting skills?"
"There's always room for improvements." I laugh at her reply.
"Fuck, you are just like Althea."
"Don't talk about my daughter," She warns.
"Your daughter is my wife. I'll speak about her when I want, how I want."
"And you like speaking lies about her?" She asks in anger.
I look at her confused, not realizing what she's saying. Her face though gives me the answer.
She doesn't want that it true.
"She was raped, Gianna." I say lowly, feeling the room getting smaller and smaller.
"So, it was true," Gianna's voice breaks and her tears are making me soften. "She w-wa-was r-ra- fuck, I can't say it." She whimpers. "Oh, my little girl."
"How did you hear?" I ask her, feeling my chest tighten.
"I know everything that happens with my girls. Well, one now." And the tears are falling on her pale cheeks.
"And yet you can't even speak with her when she comes here to visit you." I tell her sarcastically.
Gianna looks at me again with venom. "My Althea has been through enough. After I selfishly chose myself and left that house, I thought the only good thing I can do for her is let her go."
"And yet she's still here." I say through my teeth.
"Yet she is." She softly says. "It kills me to not talk to her when she's here. To see her tears and not hug her. I'm desperate for my Althea, but she's way too strong without me. And I'm way to broken without her."
I almost snap at her and say that Althea is mine, not hers, but Gianna seems to be literally heartbroken.
"She lost too much. You're making her believe she's losing you two."
"She lost me a long time ago, but she found you. Finally, she's in your arms." She smiles weakly. I remain confused after her reply.
"You knew?"
Gianna just laughs.
"I know everything about my daughter, Everette. I know everything about this world we live in."
"And if you know so many, you could've saved your daughter from Hanibal's wrath and give her to her biological father." I spat at her.
Her eyes form again salty tears. She lowers her head in shame, and it gives me a strange feeling of satisfaction.
"I will always blame myself for that, Everette. Always."
"You claim to know everything, but your actions are opposite."
"I know that Keres's body is in Ivan's hands and about their love story and unborn child. I know how you killed Hanibal. And now I realize that those three men you killed were my daughter’s rapists. You'll be surprised how many things I know."
With rage and confusion, I ask roughly. "How?"
"For a great Boss as everyone calls you, you are not so smart." She mocks me and laughs.
"Why do I know everything about everyone? Why
didn't anyone find me? Why hasn't Althea told you about me?" She asks me so many questions, and in my head is only chaos.
Her eyes keep looking at her closet, and I move mine too, staring at the golden mask.
My breathing stops along with my body. I look at the mask, and the mask looks back, almost mocking me.
I look at Gianna who smiles like a snake whose prey walked right into the trap.
"You are the Empress." My throat hurts when I say the words.
"And who do you think has the throne now?"
And the answer is obvious.
The answer is pure chaos.