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Maybe I’m stupid, but definitely not that damn stupid.
“I can’t trust you,” I tell him blank point.
“You will,” he says it with so much conviction that for a moment he has me doubting myself.
He looks around the room and for once, he looks awkward. It gives me pause. And the anger that has ransacked me tonight leaves, exhaustion and wariness occupying its space.
“I’m sorry,” Giovanni says after a moment and the words are such a shock, I’d be less surprised if a giraffe appeared in the room wearing a pink thong.
If someone were to tell me that Giovanni would apologize to me, I’d laugh in their face but it's clear his apology is sincere as he looks at me.
So instead of giving a verbal response, I just nod my head. Because I honestly can’t fight anymore tonight. I want to go to my room, go to sleep, and forget this whole evening happened.
Forget Giovanni’s twisted tales, forget my brother betraying me, forget the blank look on my father’s face as he looked at me.
He watches me for a moment before saying, “And as far as your freedom, you can’t leave the house, but youcanexplore it. There’s more to it then you’ve yet to see. If you need help or assistance, Amadeo will be around.”
And with that he leaves, headed down the hall leading to his office, leaving me caught between shock and relief.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: WINTER
This new life of freedom around the compound isn’t so bad.
It nearly makes me forget about everything leading up to it, particularly sacrificing my ability to leave the house.
Nearly.
Giovanni wasn’t lying. There's so many rooms in the compound that I’ve never come across until now.
Up to this point I’d only seen Giovanni’s office, the basement, the eating areas, my room, and the little library on the same floor as my room.
All boring, especially when you compare it to my new discoveries.
The little movie theater room has been my favorite find so far. It’s huge, leather black couches lining the room in front of the huge projection screen. The seats recline and more often than not I find myself dozing off in them.
I go in everyday and pick from the large selection of movies. The variety mixed with rom coms had been a surprise. I’d ran into Enzo in the kitchen while preparing popcorn one day and had mentioned it to him. He had snorted a laugh, saying Maximo likes them before wiping the look from his face as quickly as it appeared.
He and Maximo are still pissed with each other.
The cook, Donna, has been more than happy to encourage me to take a seat as she took over making my popcorn whenever she’s around. She takes her time, filling a pot on the stove with oil and dropping the seeds inside. It’s twice as good as the packets I’ve been throwing in the microwave. And when she lathers it in butter, my mouth starts salivating.
When Donna isn’t around, I have no trouble fending for myself. And when I’m in the movie room, I can relax and forget everything else going on around me.
More than a few times, I’ve ended up sleeping in the room overnight, passing out before I can get up and go to my room. The reclining chairs are so damn comfortable and addicting that my body seems to go into a state of languidity the second I sit down in them. Considering how not-like-Giovanni, Giovanni has been, I've thought about requesting he adds one of the chairs to my room because I’m not sure he’d say no right now.
The projector in the room even connects to cable and a few times I’ve bailed out on the movies, putting on reality shows.
I’ve gone out to the pool a few times as well. However, I don’t actually get inside of the water, flashes to the day that Giovanni nearly killed me always appearing.
Instead, I lounge in the pool chairs and soak up the last rays of the sun as they continue to disappear day after day with Fall coming in.
There’s something so serene to being outdoors alone, unbothered. I’m almost positive its because I’ve been trapped inside for so long now, almost a whole damn year. Before coming here, you couldn’t pay me to step outside into the heat for too long, just to enjoy nature.
Still, I can’t ignore how good I’ve felt these last couple of days.
A girl could easily enjoy living in a home like this.
Everytime I have the thought, I remind myself that I’m not on a vacation, nor is this really my home. I shouldn’t be getting used to it.
