Ruthless Monarch

When the food is done, Matteo stands and takes my hand in his. Together, we make the descent to the hidden basement.

It’s the coolest thing I have ever seen. It’s like every old movie, where there is a lever in the closet that opens to a secret room.

It’s amazing.

They still store the liquor in there because of the temperature.

I feel like I’m transported back in time.

When we are finally ready to leave, I throw my arms around him.

“Thank you.”

He smiles down at me as I pull back.

“You never need to thank me, Viviana.”

“It doesn’t matter that I don’t need to. I want to.”

And with that last statement, he pulls me close and kisses me firmly, fiercely, and like he will never let me go.

A few weeks have passed.

They’ve been amazing.

Matteo showed me his library, and although it’s not as big and beautiful as the New York Public Library, it’s still larger than anything I could have ever hoped for.

It hasn’t been touched in years. That much is obvious from the dust collection on the top shelves.

I need a ladder to even see the books up on some of the shelves.

Which is what I’m doing now. I’m on the top rung of one, looking to see what classic novel I’ll read as I wait for Julia to arrive.

“Hey.” I hear from behind me. I carefully turn my head over my shoulder at the sound of her voice.

“You’re here.”

“Well, you did send a car to get me.”

I giggle at that. It was a pretty silly statement since she’s right. Roberto did pick her up today to bring her here to spend time with me.

“Give me one minute. I’ll be right down.”

I take the book I found out of the wall and then carefully climb back down the rungs until I’m back on solid ground.

“What do you have there?” Julia asks as I step off the ladder and cross the space until I’m standing in front of her in the center of the room.

I lift the book up, turning it in her direction so that she can see the cover.

“Jane Eyre.”

“Interesting choice.”

I look from her to the weathered book. Mr. Rochester is a little like Matteo when I first got here, but the more I stare at it, the more I think of Ana, Julia’s mom.

A shiver runs up my back.

I’m quick to put the book down on the small table. Needing to get it as far away from me now that I have made a connection.

It’s stupid, really.

There are no similarities.

Other than Ana was a modern-day governess.

“What do you want to do today?” I ask her.

“We can choose?”

“Of course, we can choose.”

“Oh, and here I thought we were locked away in a castle. What book would that be?” She chides, clearly making fun of my love of literature and the situation I’m in.

There’s a clip to her voice, one that I’ve never heard before.

I wonder what that’s about. Recently, I’ve noticed a different side of her. Since she’s here, it’s obviously not about me. I wonder what’s going on in her life.

“Well, of course not, we would just need to take one of the drivers.”

“Where would we go?”

“Well, there’s this great restaurant Matteo and I have been going to on the water. It used to be like a speakeasy, I think. Maybe we can go there. Or we can sit here and talk. Francesca can bring us lunch.”

“Let’s stay here.”

“Oh, okay.”

I take a seat and gesture for her to join me. “What’s new? I feel like something is going on with you.”

“Nothing really. I’m still looking for a job,” she says. Her brother works for my father, and she can too, but she knows how I feel about him. The idea of that makes me sick.

“I think I will work at the governor’s office.”

I try to school my features and not show how much I hate her life being dictated by my father.

“Do you think that’s smart?”

“Well, there isn’t anyone hiring, plus we’re already so dependent on him.” Her voice is clipped, and there it is.

The unspoken topic neither of us broaches.

The accident that changed all our lives twelve years ago.

The accident that took Ana from me and her mom from her.

“You don’t need to work for him.”

She shakes her head. “The experience and jobs on our résumés are worth it for us.”

Her words are clear. She and her twin brother don’t have the same prospects as I did in life.

She doesn’t realize her imagination is better than the truth.

I never had it. My father’s blackmail, never allowing me the freedom.

A deal made with the devil.

She thinks the grass is greener. She thinks all doors are open to me. She doesn’t realize that for her to have the doors open, mine must be shut.

I’m not sure what my father’s angle is. Why he’s hired both of Ana’s children. It’s almost as if it’s another thing to hang over my head. Another way to control me.