Adele was keeping herself busy by standing next to the window and looking outside in Francesco’s room. There was hardly anything to do but wait for Francesco to come back from school. She had said goodbye to him after breakfast and he had locked her inside to keep her safe.

She raised an eyebrow as a black car with tinted windows pulled inside the front yard. Was it time already? School had finished. Francesco and Costanzo got off the car and Francesco sprinted towards the mansion’s entrance.

Soon Adele heard the familiar sound of a key turning in the key hole and foot steps echoed behind her as Francesco approached her from behind ” Are you safe? Has anyone come to this room while I was gone? Tell me if you are hurt. Look at me Adele”

Adele rolled her eyes and turned around and looked into the eyes of Francesco who was standing handsome and tall towering over her but with an unreadable emotion in his eyes. She sighed ” I am fine. Nothing has happened to me while you have been gone. Its been hardly 7 hours ever since you left me in this room. How was school?”

Francesco spoke ” School? I think school should be the least of my worries right now. I heard some disturbing news from the guards as they drove us back from school just now. Unfortunately my father is coming to visit today.”

Adele sighed ” He can’t be worse than your uncle right? Why is it bad news that your father is coming to visit you though? Shouldn’t you be happy?”

Francesco shook his head ” You are right on one thing he is not worse than my uncle. They operate in similar ways most of the time. But what worries me about his arrival is that I have no idea why he is coming to visit. I am scared Adele. What if ...... What if he asks Costanzo and I to return to New York with him. I could never stand being away from you. I can’t imagine my life without you being close to me.” He then reached his hand over and took Adele’s palm in his. ” What am I going to do without you Adele? I don’t want to be alone any more. I know I have Costanzo by my side but he is the one who is reliant on me. He needs me .... to keep him from getting hurt at my father’s and uncle’s hands. And in turn I need you Adele. Seeing your beautiful eyes every morning is as natural and essential in my life as breathing. I love nothing and no one like this. It’s just you. My life would be like the lonely hell it used to be before I met you if my father forces my brother and I to leave.

Adele spoke ” Don’t think like that. Firstly you haven’t even seen your father yet and you have no way of knowing what he wants. Besides you have your whole life ahead of you Francesco. You can’t worry too much about what happens when decisions are out of your hands. I wish I could take your worries away but I cant.”

Francesco closed his eyes shut and then sighed. He then opened his eyes staring intensely into Adele’s ” There is a way for you to take away my worries. Please promise that you would agree to do anything to keep us together.”

Adele spoke in a careful tone “But Francesco you can’t ask for me to make promises that I can’t keep. I am 14. I am a minor. You are only 15 and a minor too. Our families decide for us. If your uncle or father decide for you to be away from me, what can a promise by me do for us? I cant do anything. We both have to do what our families tell us to do. We can’t control our lives until we grow up right and reach adulthood?”

Francesco remained silent for a minute and then nodded ” Point taken. Now at least swear to me that when you are of legal age, you won’t hesitate to be with me when the time comes, Make a vow to me that wherever I go in this world, you would follow.”

As Adele was about to respond a knock on the door startled them and Costanzo entered “Francesco, why aren’t you downstairs yet. We must be standing at the door waiting for our father when he arrives. You are lucky uncle is not there yet. Quick. Our father would arrive very soon.”

Francesco sighed and turned to Adele “I will see you at dinner. I don’t want you to meet my father as he arrives. He is a bitter man. The less contact you have with him the better. If it was upto me you wont even meet him but my uncle has meal time rules as you know. Please be at your best behaviour when I bring you downstairs.”

Adele nodded “I understand. I will keep quiet most of the time as you advised me when I meet your father. You have told me how to act to not come across as offensive.”

Francesco smiled and kissed Adele’s forehead “See you soon, gorgeous.”

As Francesco left with Costanzo, Adele huffed and threw herself on the bed. What was she to do now. She took an apple from the fruit bowl and took a bite. “It was one of those apples from the garden of the mansion. She smiled at the memory of going for a walk with Francesco in the morning in the Rosario Ranch. It was huge. They even had a lake. Such a shames such a beautiful place was in the hand of a monster like Piero Rosario” Adele thought to herself. She felt sleepy for some reason. Maybe the numbness and the shock of yesterday’s events where still in her system.

Adele didn’t know what time it was when she suddenly felt someone shaking her. She opened her eyes and was faced with Francesco’s sitting form on her bed. She groaned “I must have fallen sleep. What is wrong with me?”

Francesco spoke “Get changed into something more formal. Its dinner time already. Lets get this over with.”

Adele sat up on her bed and asked carefully “Did your father say why he was here?”

Francesco shook his head “He insists that he is here to check on my safety and Costanzo’s. he was given a tour of this ranch with my brother and I and then he has been in a meeting with my uncle ever since till now. Needless to say Costanzo and I weren’t allowed to go inside their meeting room.”

Adele spoke “So you just sat downstairs for hours? How come you didn’t come upstairs and wake me?”

Francesco spoke ” What makes you think thats all we did. Maybe we had other instructions and don’t ask me what they were. You don’t want to know. Now get up and get dressed.”

Adele cringed at the response but didn’t protest and got changed. She looked at herself in the mirror “Why are all these dresses you have bought me are either red or white.”

Francesco walked to Adele and reached his hand up and stroked her cheek gently “These are the colours of my favourite flowers, red roses and white orchids. My mother planted these two flowers in our greenhouse in New York and used to water them every morning. My father of course demolished and burned down any remains of the whole greenhouse to destroy her memory since she loved gardening so much. Now having flowers is banned in our home in New York and you must have noticed there are no flowers in this house either. Even my uncle doesn’t want to push it with my father and knows not to keep any flowers around his house while my father is here.”

Adele gasped “Your father’s hate towards your mother and anything she loved is disturbing. I don’t know what to say.”

Francesco nodded “True. But what he doesn’t know is that no matter how hard he tries to destroy all traces of my mother in his life and his sons’ lives, he cant destroy the memories of her. When i see red or white it reminds me of her and her love for roses and orchids that I share. I was six years old when I said goodbye to her and I consider myself lucky to at least have this memory of her. I should be grateful for even that. Now enough of that. We must go.” He then took Adele’s hand into his and lead her out of the room and down the stairs.

Adele asked “Where are we going? This is not the way to the dining room.”

Francesco spoke “We dine in a special room since my father is a special guest.”

When Francesco opened the door to the room they were supposed to be in Adele gasped. it was beautiful. Chandeliers and expensive looking crystals and mirrors alongside various portraits hanging on the walls had made the room look very breathtakingly beautiful. There were sofas and tables. There were library of books and of course there was a dining table at the side. Adele’s heart beat fastened and her awe was short lived as reality hit her when she saw Piero alongisde another man sitting and talking at the dinner table in the far corner of the room where variety of food and drinks were laid out. Luckily, they had their backs to where she was approaching from. She tried to focus looking at Costanzo who was sitting opposite his uncle and father at the other side of the table and looking down.