Lorenzo, I'm coming.
I followed my father.
I wiped away my tears and suddenly I found the strength and determination to come up with a valid strategy to get Lorenzo out of there.
I looked around and surprised my father going to the kitchen. He moved in the direction of the cold room and the pantry.
I had never been there.
At the far end of the room, there was a door protected by a bodyguard, who stepped aside as soon as he saw my father arrive.
He opened the door with the key he kept in a vest pocket.
We entered and went down several steps.
The cold, stale air, as if we were in a cellar, penetrated my bones.
I shivered and noticed that there were no more surveillance cameras.
What was going on down there wasn't supposed to be recorded.
The dungeons of the castle that I had always imagined were a reality ...
We went through a cavity in the stone to the end, where there were three doors.
Only one of them was guarded by two agents.
Again, without saying a word, the two agents stepped aside and opened the door.
I had to hold my breath so as not to scream or vomit when the scene unfolded in front of my eyes.
The room was dirty and smelly.
Lorenzo was unconscious, tied to a chair with chains and a double lock.
He had been wildly beaten and lost a lot of blood, as the patch at his feet revealed.
The wound on his leg had just been bandaged, but the bandage was stained with blood and dust.
"You have a visitor," a guard told him, kicking his injured leg.
Only Lorenzo's groan of pain made me realize that he was still alive.
"As you see, my child, we are treating him well," my father provoked me, determined to make me give in and destroy that apparent coldness that I was using as a shield against him.
"Yes, Daddy," I just said.
It was precisely my voice that attracted Lorenzo's attention and he suddenly opened his eyes, but as soon as his amber gaze landed on me, I felt the earth fail under my feet.
I only read a deep hatred and an insatiable thirst for revenge in his eyes.
Lorenzo had never looked at me like that. It was as if someone had torn the last piece of hope for future happiness from his soul.
"Now that you've seen him, you can go, Ginevra. I need to be alone with dear Lorenzo. There are a couple of issues I'd like to clarify," my father warned me, motioning for a guard to take me away.
I wanted to run to Lorenzo and free him, hug him, kiss him, medicate him, and tell him that I loved him so much and that I would do anything for him, but I couldn't.
I knew that a misstep of mine would cost him his life and I would have not been able to forgive myself for the rest of my days.
For fear of bursting into tears or doing something rash that would have made my father suspicious, I just nodded and left the room, escorted by an agent.
We were about to cross the kitchen when I saw the chef calling my escort.
"Charlie, the sandwiches are ready. Will you bring them to the others? 'Said the cook, pointing to a tray full of hamburgers and a carafe of sparkling water.
"Yes, I'll take Miss Rinaldi to her room and then I'll go."
"No, wait. I too am hungry, and I want to eat! "
I improvised, feeling a light bulb light up inside me. "In these days you have done nothing but give me unappetizing food. Now I want to show you what cooking really means. "
"You're not allowed to be here."
"Ask my father! I am sure that you will not forbid me to prepare a savory pie with vegetables or a tofu salad! ", I got angry feigning annoyance and arrogance.
In the end I had to wait for my father and, only after having agreed to be monitored on sight by a waiter and a guard, in addition to the ban on touching knives, I was cleared to stay in the kitchen.
I cooked all day, flashing recipes on recipes.
Getting busy eased the anxiety that choked me every time I thought about Lorenzo and what they were doing to him.
I also understood how the guards' shifts and meals worked.
At noon and seven in the evening sandwiches and salads were prepared for those who finished the shift three hours later.
I also knew that one of Lorenzo's guards was celiac and that the surveillance guy from the room where the videos were recorded was allergic to eggs, so his sandwich was with tuna instead of beef. I had to wait two days to be able to carry out the ploy and figure how to free Lorenzo without attracting attention.
My hours were counted, and I knew that my father had now got what he wanted, so it was not going to take long before he got rid of Lorenzo.
I waited for the evening when my whole family gathered together with other council members to discuss the latest news and what to do with Brian now that the truth had come out.
The kitchen was in great turmoil and I stayed in the kitchen to prepare an elaborate dish for the guests, even though I knew that the chef would never have brought it to the table.
I immediately put the pot on the fire to cook the potato dumplings I had prepared.
I cooked as usual, without rising any suspicions in the guard and the waitress who controlled me.
Then I quickly went to drain the gnocchi, since I was in the way of the other employees.
There was a lot of steam and in the confusion, I started to scream, pretending I had spilled boiling water on my hand.
"What's going on?" Said the waitress hurriedly.
"I burned myself! Don't you see it, you stupid fool? Go get a bandage and something to calm the pain right away," I cried, pretending to moan, holding my right hand under cold water as if I were looking for relief.
In an instant, the woman ran to look for the emergency case.
One gone!
"Show me the burn," came the guard.
"Holy Christ, do not you see that you are in the way!"
There was a great frenzy because there were twenty people to serve and my accident had slowed down the orders for a moment.
The guard walked away from me and quickly searched for the maid in search of the emergency kit.
I took advantage of that short window of freedom to get closer to the sandwiches, which would soon be filled with burgers for the guards.
I took my mother's sleeping pill from my pocket, which I had gotten from her the day before for my feigned insomnia.
I had minced it carefully and, in a hurry, I distributed it on the sandwiches that would have been eaten by the Lorenzo's guards as well as the guy in the video surveillance room.
I was barely done when the waitress arrived.
I let her spread the burn cream on my hand and put on a bandage.
I had noticed the skeptical look of the woman as she medicated my perfect hand, slightly reddened by the heat, but she did not dare say a word.
Besides, I was still the boss's daughter and there was no need to contradict me if you didn't want to lose your job.
"Thanks. Can you take care of the gnocchi? I no longer feel like cooking, " I proposed mildly.
"Sure, miss."
"I'll just stay here to check the sauce does not get ruined," I said, looking for an excuse to stay. I would not have left the kitchen until the sandwich with the sleeping pills had gotten to the people they were meant for.
It took more than an hour for this to happen, but I was quiet, and the guard was also distracted.
"I am going to sleep. I am dead tired ", I informed those present when I saw the sandwiches being taken to the people they were destined for 8.
As always, as soon as I left the kitchen, the guard took his leave and I went to my room.
I stayed in bed for half an hour before going down again with the excuse of being hungry.
I went to the kitchen.
I noticed that nobody was following me, and nobody was paying attention to me.
By now they were used to seeing me there and nobody had noticed that I was alone.
Without paying attention, I went to the pantry where I found the guard assigned to the door to the basements, asleep on a chair.
I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, but there was no one there.
Feeling encouraged by the fact the agent had already fallen asleep in the surveillance room, I took the keys from the man's waistcoat and opened the door.
I ran at breakneck speed down the stairs, feeling the adrenaline rushing through my veins.
When I reached the end, I slowed down until I noticed the two guards laying on the ground in front of Lorenzo's cell.
Agitated and frightened, but full of courage and strength, I grabbed the two sets of keys from the pockets of the two men and opened the door after several attempts.
Lorenzo was exactly as I had left him two days earlier, but the wounds on his body had increased. And also, the blood dried on the ground.
"Lorenzo!" I whispered in a low voice for fear of waking up the guards. "Lorenzo, it's me, Ginevra. Please wake up ... We have to go before my father ... "
"Your father, huh?" He interrupted me suddenly, lifting his head and nailing me with his fierce gaze.
"Lorenzo, please ... I'll explain everything, but we have to run away now," I replied unable to face him at that very moment.
With the smaller keys I opened the padlocks.
I slid the chains and finally freed Lorenzo.
I wanted to hug and kiss him, but his hateful gaze stopped me in my tracks, when I tried to get closer.