Adele opened her eyes and woke up from her deep sleep to rays on sunshine entering the room through the opened windows. She looked at the clock. It was eleven o’clock. She couldn’t believe how she had overslept and no one had woken her up for breakfast. She then was even more surprised as she saw a tray of breakfast on the table. Some pastries, bread rolls and jam and a glass of orange juice was sitting on the tea table in the middle of the room. She couldn’t believe she was allowed to eat in her room now. What had happened? Then she remembered that Piero Rosario was in hospital so it seemed like the rules of attending breakfast and leaving breakfast at a certain time were no longer exercised. It made sense now. The memory of following Francesco and encountering the cellar door and finding out what Francesco was upto last night hit her hard. She shook her head “I want to forget this. i really do.” She then got up and changed her night dress and freshened up in the bathroom.

She was then startled as she walked into the room through the bathroom door “Good morning Adele. Did you sleep well?” Francesco was standing leaning to the wall next to the window of the balcony smiling at her. He looked very cheerful. Too cheerful.

Adele spoke “Good morning. You scared me. Don’t sneak in like this again. I didn’t hear no door open. Never mind that. Why didn’t you wake me up. I hate it when I sleep too much.”

Francesco chuckled “I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up. When Costanzo knocked, you made no movement.”

Adele walked to Francesco and stood in front of him “Francesco. What is happening. Why do you look so ... happy? What has changed?”

Francesco spoke “Its a long story. Alot happened last night. First of all. My uncle Piero is in a coma in hospital since he knocked himself out when he got drunk and fell of the stairs and hit his head in the middle of the night. So that’s why you are getting breakfast in bed and there are no more laws of his in this mansion......”

Adele spoke carelessly “I know that already. But it doesn’t explain why you look so happy?”

Francesco’s expression turned into a stone cold one and he spoke in a low and threatening voice “Excuse me?” Adele’s eyes widened. She just realised what she had said. She had admitted to knowing something that only she could have heard from someone else beside Francesco and she knew Fabio was a dead man if Francesco found out he had talked to her. She stuttered “Um. What else happened?”

Francesco spoke firmly “You said you already know about my uncle being unwell. Who told you? I want a name.”

Adele swallowed hard as she felt the danger. This Francesco was different to the one who treated her with so much care and love. She spoke “Did I say that... I meant .... I didn’t know.”

Francesco lifted his hand and Adele assuming the worst, closed her eyes and braced herself for a blow. She thought he was going to hit her. But instead she felt his hand caressing her cheek gently. “Adele. Open your eyes. I would never hurt you.”

Adele slowly opened her eyes and looked at Francesco “You are angry. You scare me Francesco. You raised your hand. I thought you were going to hit me.”

Francesco huffed “Of course I should be angry. You just admitted that you know something that you shouldn’t. But i would never hurt you Adele. How many times do I have to say that I wouldn’t ever let any harm come to the ones I love. You just hurt my feelings by doubting me. As I was looking at you, I just realised how hollowed your cheeks are. You look so weak. You need to eat. I should take better care of you. Have breakfast now..... while I go downstairs and call upon the night shift guards and beat the truth out of them. They were the only ones in this mansion last night beside me, my brother and my father that could have told you. I made it clear to them that they are not allowed to come near you.”

Adele was about to protest but Francesco silenced her by kissing her lips. As he broke away he whispered ” Eat and then pack away some clothes in one of the suite cases underneath the bed. We are leaving tonight for New York. He then leaned forward and kissed Adele one more time on the lips and pulled away and walked to the door.

Adele was in shock. What was she to do. She walked after Francesco and grabbed his hand “No. Please. Don’t do this. They are innocent. Don’t hurt anyone because of me.”

Francesco sighed and turned around “Let go Adele. You can’t blame me for wanting to protect you. No one should dare look at you, let alone talk to you. Now sweetheart let go of my hand or I will have to ... force you.”

Adele wanted to protest but a knock on the door stopped her. It was Costanzo’s voice “Francesco. Its me. Can I come in.”

Francesco spoke “Come in.” he then turned to his brother “What is it?”

Costanzo spoke “Hi Adele. You are looking alright today.”

Francesco raised an eyebrow “Answer my question. What do you want? I am about to go down teach some unruly guards some lesson for interacting with Adele. Can you believe it? Someone has approached Adele and spoken to her. Can you keep Adele busy here while I go down there?”

Adele was looking at Costanzo pleadingly as though asking him to do something. Costanzo cleared his throat “Erm, it was me actually. I spoke to her when I came up last night and you stayed down there with father. No need to act like this Francesco. You are scaring her. Don’t you see that?”

Adele visibly relaxed and mouthed a thank you. But Francesco growled “Of course. You have to spoil the surprise for her that I was going to give her.” He then turned to Adele “Why didn’t you say it was him. My brother is allowed to talk to you.” he then turned to Costanzo” Now tell me what you want.”

Costanzo spoke “Alright, alright. No need to give me that look. I came up to say that plans have changed. Father told me to tell you that we don’t leave tonight. We leave at noon. In an hour. So you better hurry packing up. I am all finished so I thought I come help you.”

Francesco spoke “I am all packed up to. What do you think? I am as keen as you to get back to New York. All packed up and ready to go. However now that there is so little time left I might go search uncle’s room. I am hoping to find something to help us with finding out our uncle’s plans for rescuing our mother or anything at all. You stay here and make sure Adele has some breakfast. The trip to New York is very long.”

Francesco turned to Adele “Let go of my hand now. I am not going to go after any guards, if you had told me the truth, we could have avoided this conversation. Now eat something while Costanzo will help you pack.”

Adele complied with a nervous smile and watched as Francesco walked to Costanzo he bumped his shoulder against his “If you make her cry again, you will regret it.” He then walked out and closed the door and Adele rolled her eyes as she heard him lock the door.

Costanzo smiled sadly “He is protective of you. Don’t get upset by it.”

Adele sighed “Thanks for saving me there. I followed Francesco outside last night and heard what had happened from another guard. I can’t believe how much trouble I was going to cause. I can’t thank you enough for lying for me.”

Costanzo spoke “To pay me back, have some breakfast and please whatever you do, don’t cry. You heard him.”

Adele walked to the coffee table and grabbed a pastry and took a small bite and sat down. “Why does he insist on making me eat.”

Costanzo sat down on Adele’s bed and sighed “Its because of his memories of our mother. There was a time, weeks before our parents got divorced that our mother became so depressed that she lost her appetite and lost so much weight from the stress. That’s a bad memory for Francesco so he is now sensitive to your eating habits around him i guess.. Doctors used to come to her room that was separate from my father’s room due to their marital fights. They used to beg her to eat so they won’t have to tell our father they were failing to do their job. My father maybe acting so cold now and talking about hurting our mother but back then he still loved her. He used to ... beat her sometimes but then he used to bang his fist against the wall the day after and hating himself for raising his hand on her. But once the divorce got finalised our father suddenly became full of hate for our mother and burnt everything that belonged to her and forbid us from mentioning her name. That’s not so bad compared to now. At least she was allowed to live back then but now our father wants to hurt her. I can’t believe how he has fallen out of love with her. our uncle reckoned, he blamed her for their divorce and not making their marriage work.” Then he looked away and went silent.

Adele spoke “I am sorry, I brought up that memory for you. I know it must be hard for you to talk about your mother when she is locked away in your father’s mansion.”

Costanzo looked up “Francesco has faith in our uncle to have set his plan in motion before he got drunk last night. But if our uncle hasnt managed to do anything and our mother remains locked up when we get to New York then .... Francesco has a Plan B. He thinks we can break our mother out together when we get there but I am really scared. If we get caught, our father would go crazy. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.” He then got up from the bed and took out a big suite case from underneath the bed and walked to the wardrobe and grabbed some of Adele’s clothes. he turned to Adele “Sorry. Its Francesco’s orders. I am supposed to help you pack.”

Adele stopped eating and looked at Costanzo worriedly as he was busy packing her clothes in the suitcase “Can you tell me about what your father will do to .... my parents and Angelo?”

Costanzo noticed the stress in Adele’s voice and turned sharply “Don’t worry about them. They are coming with you. My uncle had told my father about your family when he had brought up your name in their meeting. He had told him that he is forcing Angelo join his organisation in exchange for sparing the life of your family after your father attended that FBI meeting. So my father has no choice but to honour my uncle’s wishes. But the way my father looks at your parents is as the Rosario family doctors. So they have to come with us to New York. Don’t worry. Once my uncle recovers you will return to your home to this town again.”

Adele bit her lip “What about you and Francesco? Will you return to this town to your uncle’s ranch after your uncle gets better?”

Costanzo shrugged “I have no idea. Our father wants to send us to some boarding school in Nevada either in the next academic year or sooner. He will be the decider.” He then looked unsure and then after looking around he turned back to Adele “There is something you should know. My father does not like the idea of Francesco dating anyone so soon in his life. Now that he knows Francesco loves you, he would do everything in his power to make sure that Francesco gets separated from you and never gets the chance to see you again for a very long time. He thinks love makes him weak when he is supposed to be learning. I overheard him say things along these lines to our uncle about you and Francesco. So I highly doubt that my brother and I will ever be allowed back in this town to even see our uncle once we are sent to that boarding school. Our uncle may visit us every summer but we can’t come over here. Sadly Francesco and I have no choices in matters.”