AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look down at the computer screen, the enlarged photo there, taken a long time ago, is living proof that, sometimes, destiny really likes to play tricks called coincidences. The information Dario gave me last night, as soon as we closed the door to my cabin on the plane, would be difficult to believe if it weren't impossible to deny.
Massimo Coppeline spent years accusing us of having murdered his daughter and granddaughter, who was still in her mother's womb, and then having their bodies disappear. The point, however, is that not only was Sagrada not responsible for these deaths, but we were also never able to find out who was.
Today, after witnessing all of Massimo's efforts to harm us, I find it hard to believe that old Coppeline's mistaken certainty was not planted. Whoever murdered his offspring didn't do it by chance, nor did it stop him from finding the purposeless bodies either. They wanted him to blame us. They wanted him, as a bearer of immunity that few have, to abandon the status of our ally to assume that of our enemy.
But what none of us expected was that, at the most critical moment of this enmity, when Massimo could have landed the greatest blow of all the blows he has ever dealt against us, I would have in my hands the only thing he could ever want.
On my computer screen, Gabriella's dark eyes stare back at me in the digital version of a photograph yellowed with age. The small, curvy body has a curve that I haven't seen in person and that I probably will never see: the belly swollen from a nine-month pregnancy.
The resemblance is almost unbelievable, the Brazilian is a very faithful copy of Martina Coppeline, Massimo's daughter, and I'm not surprised at the state of astonishment in which seeing Gabriella put him.
If she were alive, her granddaughter would be exactly the same age as the Brazilian. I also don't wonder at the absolute hatred with which the man looked at me when I arrived telling him to keep his hands off what was mine. At that moment, the certainty that Massimo had carried with him for eighteen years gained indisputable proof. It's a shame for him that, in order to get his granddaughter back, he will need to renounce all this hatred and give me everything I say I want in return.
Gabriella Matos is, indeed, an obedient girl. I told her to make her life count for something, and she did. Much more and in much less time than I thought possible, actually.
Bravo, Gabriella! Bravo!
CHAPTER 27
________
Gabriella Matos
I rub my hands on my uniform skirt when Luigia enters the kitchen at the end of the day. Rafaella and I exchange an apprehensive look, I hadn't seen the housekeeper all day, which means that the moment I find out how she will react to the latest events is probably now.
Nothing that happened was my fault, Vittorio knowing that should be enough for me, but the truth is that, at some point, Luigia's consideration became important to me.
I came to admire this woman who commands a true castle with an iron fist, taking her work so seriously that no one subordinated to her has the chance to do anything different. I would hate for her to hold me responsible; I would hate for her not to understand that I was the victim.
“I don't have all night, Gabriella,” Luigia says when I don't move and, only then, I understand that she's waiting to take me to the bedroom. Well, at least we’ll do this in private.
Rafaella reaches out her hand and shakes mine, I smile weakly at her before following the housekeeper. We cross the now familiar corridors that lead from the service area ofSignoraAnna's wing to a small side door that gives alternative access to the guest area. However, Luigia walks right through that door, and I frown.
“SignoraLuigia,” I call, and she looks at me over her shoulder, but doesn't stop walking. “The door,” I warn.
“I'm old, not blind. I know where I'm going.” I open my mouth to protest, but what's the point?
I shrug and just continue following her. However, when Luigia starts to climb the stairs that lead to Vittorio's wing of the house, I stop. The housekeeper climbs a few steps before realizing I've stopped following her.
She only turns her face and, again, looks at me over her shoulder. I think I see something like pity in her eyes before she speaks.
“Did your legs stop working?”
“Uh-uhm...” I stutter. “No.”
“Then why did you stop walking?” My shoulders shrug as I exhale and, with no options, I climb the stairs.
Vittorio's wing isn't much different from the others, it has more common rooms than private spaces, and Rafaella once told me that this used to beSignoraAnna and Don Francesco's wing, but when Vittorio became Don, the parents had to move. I think that's really weird, but obviously, no one asked me.
My heart and stomach do somersaults when Luigia, at the end of the corridor leading to the private and guest areas, turns towards the area where I know the Don's room is.
I've never been to Vittorio's space before. The housekeeper never sent me to that specific part of the house, however, unless the occupation of Vittorio's areas is the opposite of the other three wings of the house, on the left there are the visitors and, on the right, the residents. In this case, the only resident.
The hallway is long and full of doors that are all closed. The walls are a calming shade of light blue that I would never imagine in the home of someone like Vittorio Cataneo, but that is the color of all the interior walls of the mansion except those that are covered in wallpaper.
Luigia opens the first door on our left and waves me in. Even though I know this is a hallway of rooms, I'm still surprised when I walk into one. I was expecting more work as punishment but understanding soon arrived and my eyes widened.
“SignoraLuigia...”
