Chapter 51 Lunchtime
"Alessandra! You're here!"
My eyes snap open, and my heart skips open. The sudden loud voice wakes me up from the nap I don't even take. Pulling myself to sit, I see Valeria approaching me with an excited grin on her face.
Did I fall asleep earlier? How? I was talking with Dante and Carlo. Did I fall asleep during our conversation? Whatever. What matters now is the Ricci. Now that they're already here, I need to put on an act. I just need to act all sweet and polite like they're not planning to kill me or something.
"Hi. You're back already. I'm sorry. I guess I fell asleep while I was waiting for you," I say, giving her an apologetic smile.
"I should be the one who apologises. Sorry to keep you waiting. We decided to go on a quick grocery shopping earlier, and guess what? I bought us some snacks," Valeria says, holding a few bags with a grin. That, I can't miss. Even though I'm here on a mission, some good snacks won't hurt me, right?
"That's awesome," I say.
"I'll put these here for now," Valeria says, putting the paper bags down next to my bed. "Let's go. It's time for lunch."
"Okay. Lead the way," I say.
Without warning, Valeria grabs my wrist and drags me out of the room with her. On the door's left, Carlo is standing there. When our eyes meet, he gives me a confused look. Valeria continues to take me with her, and I feel Carlo following right behind us. I wonder where Dante is. If Carlo is with me, he should be in his room, probably thinking of a new plan since he doesn't have full access to the staff quarters as we expected.
Valeria may be shorter than I am, but her walking pace is faster than mine. Catching up with her cost me my breath and energy. After a long walk through the hallways and the other side of the house, we finally arrive at the dining room. Just as I expected, everyone is there, except for Giorgio. Considering he's still a student, he's probably in class or hanging out with his friends. I'm not really sure.
"Alessandra, Carlo, please take a seat. Where's Dante?" Fabio asks.
"He's resting in his room," Carlo says. Talking about Dante, I need to find a way to communicate with him later. We need to find a new way to snoop around the house safely if we still want to get important information about the Ricci. Our time here is limited, so we must act quickly.
"Please get him here. We should eat together," Fabio says.
If this keeps going for every meal time, then we're fucked. I guess now that Fabio knows about my father's suspicion about him and the Romanos, he won't let anyone out of his sight for too long, including Dante and Carlo. Shit. We truly are in the lion's den now. What matters to us now is to stay alive. I don't think it's worth risking Dante's and Carlo's lives for some information if we're being watched so closely by the Ricci like this. One slip-up from one of us, and we're dead.
"I don't think it's appropriate for Dante and me to eat with you," Carlo says.
"Nonsense. Just like Alessandra, Dante and you are guests of mine. So please, tell Dante to come here," Fabio says.
I stare at Fabio with my heart pounding in my chest. As a self-soothing act, I take a few deep, controlled breaths. Calm down, Alessandra. You can't expose your true intention like this. You're going to get yourself and everyone else killed.
"Alright, Mr Ricci. I'll go get Dante now," Carlo says.
"Alessandra. Here. You can sit next to me," Valeria says as she nudges me towards the empty chair on her left. I only smile at her and sit down next to her. I observe the table, looking at Antonio, Mariano, and then at Fabio. When my gaze lands on the man, I can't help but feel scared on the inside. He's smiling at me, but he stares at me a bit too long, almost sinisterly. I have no choice but to look away from him and stare at the food served in front of us.
Damn it. This is harder than I thought. I guess my only chance is to do the job myself, but then again, it'll be too risky. I'm not good at moving discreetly. Yeah, Dante might say I'm a good fighter and all, but I don't trust that at all. Ugh. I should've taken every lesson my father made me take seriously. Even though he intended to make me a great leader for the family once he steps down, it also benefits me in situations like this. But then again, even if I'm good at spying on others, Fabio might have security cameras planted all around this place.
Talking about security cameras, how didn't I think about them before? Damn it. If Fabio really has them, then I don't think we can sneak around the place freely. Unless... Unless Dante or Carlo knows how to deactivate the cameras for a bit. Could they? Nah, I don't think so. They're only trained to protect my father and me with mostly their physical strength. Or so I thought.
"How's your father? He should've come and stayed here as well," Fabio says as he puts some fettuccine onto his plate. I hold myself back from scoffing, pressing my lips together.
And risk all of us getting killed at once by you? No, thanks, dude. If both my father and I die at the same time, we lose to the Ricci and the Romanos, and everything might go into chaos once we're dead. There's no telling if the Ricci and the Romanos might end up fighting each other for my family's territory. They might be working together now, but they also might become enemies once they get me and the rest of my family killed.
"He's fine. He's a bit busy at the moment with the new shipments, so he can't come," I say.
"Oh, right. I just remember that," Fabio says.
I hope my father will be okay. I don't want him to die yet. I don't want to lead the damn family. He'd better still be alive when I come back home and before I leave this damn life. I don't want to lead the damn family. If anyone else wanted the position, then I'd gladly give it away, but never to these assholes or any other assholes that have prayed for my family's downfall.
Dante and Carlo finally come into the dining room and sit next to each other, with Carlo sitting between Antonio and Dante. After getting my own food, I begin to eat it in silence. Fabio, Mariano, Valeria, and Antonio talk amongst themselves, and I sometimes join in the conversation to be polite, and then continue eating in silence once again.
I glance at Dante, and then my heart stops for a second when our eyes meet. Before I can think of anything, I shift my gaze back to my plate, twirling the fettuccine around my fork. Gosh. I hope this will end soon. I feel so awkward not knowing what to say to these people. Knowing what they might be planning for me, I can't stay calm around them for too long.
"If you want to, I can show you around the place and give you a quick house tour after this," Antonio says.
A house tour? That's what I need now. I need to know about all the rooms and stuff around this place. If Dante, Carlo, and I still want to go through with our first plan, we need to know our way around this house. Since Carlo will be my bodyguard during the day, he can come with Antonio and me and observe this house and all the things going on here, like how many people are in here and whatever is important to our plan.
"That would be nice, actually," I say.
"I can do that with her," Valeria says.
"No, I'll do it," Antonio says, sending Valeria a slight glare.
I guess Antonio is just making excuses to spend time with me now, but it's whatever. As long as Carlo and I get a house tour, it doesn't really matter. I'll make that tiny sacrifice so we can finally end the Ricci's and the Romanos' sly plan. It's now or never. We'll do whatever we can before they get to us first.
"I'm the one who got Alessandra here, so she should be hanging out with me. Not you," Valeria says.
Siblings fight. How great. Even if Valeria wants to give me the house tour, I'd still rather have Antonio do it. I want to see what he'll do now that we're in his territory. Now that I recall it, Antonio did seem like he held himself back a lot when we were around other people, my father, and his family. Who knows, he'll probably act differently now that I'm in his territory.
"Come on. I'm just showing her our house. You can have her all to yourself after that. Don't you agree, darling?" Antonio says, smiling at me.
"Maybe you can both show me around?" I say, trying to be diplomatic even though I'd rather go with Antonio instead.
"No," Valeria and Antonio say at the same time.
"Fine. Alessandra can go with you," Valeria says.
"Thanks," Antonio says, grinning at Valeria.
"Don't talk to me," Valeria says, scowling as she shoves a forkful of salad into her mouth. She continues to scowl at her plate as she chews on her food angrily, avoiding Antonio's gaze.
Now that's out of the way, I need a plan for Valeria. I don't think we'll do a lot of things today. Honestly, I'd rather us watch a movie or something chill. I don't want to think of anything that will drain too much of my energy. I hope Valeria will agree to my plan.
Alright. That's settled. My plan for the day is to go on a house tour with Antonio and watch movies with Valeria. Let's see what will unfold today. Will Antonio finally break his polite guy act, or will he stay in character? We'll see about that later right after this lunch.