Gino stood in the corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest. He had already discarded the suit jacket on the chaise in the corner. He had brought Chance into his bedroom, where the doctor was waiting. The examination process was only agitating him further. He worked so hard to stay calm in front of Chance when he woke her in the back of the car, but it immediately broke at the straight fear in her eyes. What did Lorenzo say to her to make all that he had worked so hard with her to build break so quickly? Where did all this anxiety come from? The doctor noticed there was scratches on her face, as did Giovanni when he first took her out of the car. They looked self-inflicted. And to her palm was deep cuts from her nails. Worried that this would happen again, he ordered that when the doctor was done, a nail technician would come in and trim her nails as short as possible. The doctor diagnosed that Chance had experienced a severe panic attack, on set by hyperventilating. He ordered that she should take some medicine, but Gino decided against it. He recalled in past conversations that she had always been a fan of natural remedies. The doctor understood the hesitancy and ordered for sage to be burned and a lavender to be drawn when she awoke. Along with that, there were fluids and a meal to be brought upon her finishing with the bath. As the doctor treated her palm and her face, Gino turned away, unable to watch anymore.
He blamed himself.
He hated that the only thing he sent her was a half-hearted letter, when nothing about what he felt today was half-hearted. He wanted to give himself some distance from Chance, to let her breathe, and allow him some sanity. He worried he was losing his mind with how much he loved her. How could he fall so deeply in love with someone he knew less than two weeks ago? He was not some pubescent teen. He was a grown man, a man who runs a country, and yet he was acting like some love sick puppy.
"Your majesty?"
Giovanni looked back to the doctor who looked worried, leaving Chance's side, much to Giovanni's dismay. "Do not leave her side unless you are finished."
"But you look pale, your majesty."
"Do I need to repeat myself, medico?"
The doctor froze, the sudden change in demeanor took him for a surprise. He cleared his throat, shaking his head. He turned back to Chance, finishing up with her.
"From now on, her life is more important than mine in your book, am I understood?"
The doctor didn't dare say no to his King. He answered promptly, "Yes, your majesty, I understand."
"Once you are finished, find me in my office. We will discuss future remedies regarding Chance's panic attack." With that, Giovanni left. The doors opened before him, the only thing on his mind was the terrified look in Chance's eyes. Those haunting words that came from her lips, she was going to fade away here. The very thought of her being so terrified made him sick to his stomach. For someone to make her feel so deeply troubled enraged him, even more so knowing that it was his own family, his own little brother. The doors to his office swung open by the awaiting house guards, bowing in his presence. There in the far corner of the room was his little brother, no longer a smug look on his face as Armando had told me he was wearing when he found the two in the train car alone.
"What are you doing in the corner there?"
"I wasn't going to hurt her, fratello. I swear." Lorenzo knew his brother loved him, but he also knew he despised people who hurt the ones he loved. It was clear to Lorenzo that Giovanni loved the girl, but he wasn't thinking. He wanted to scare the girl that was bothering his brother so much, and causing such a mockery of the monarchy he cherished. "I was just going to show you that she was more of a nuisance. She is making you look like a fool."
"You think I look like a fool," Giovanni's voice was deep, a baritone deeper than normal. It was hard for Lorenzo to read his brother, with how dark this room was, dependent on the light coming from the lamp on Giovanni's intimidating desk and the moonlight from the 30 foot arched windows lining the east wall. "Tell me, what else do you think of me, Lorenzo."
"That's not what I meant. Per favore, mi dispiace." Lorenzo was crying, his body trembling, much like how Chance was earlier.
"You put my fiore in danger today, when you pulled this spectacle. How dare you take her guards away from her, for your own pleasure. What would have happened if someone had hurt her? What if some crazed fanatic tried to kill her? Who would have protected her?" Lorenzo dropped his head forward, "You mentally abused her in that car, Lorenzo. You made her feel worthless. She did not want to enter the palace, she was scared she would disappear, a thought I assume you put in her head."
"I didn't say anything that was not the truth! Giovanni, she is a commoner. She was not made for this world. She doesn't know our culture. She will be thrown to the lions here. You think she deserves something like this? How many times will she be made a fool of in these walls and by our people before she throws herself off a bridge just like Lizabeth?"
It went silent.
The memory of Lizabeth came like headlights. A family friend who Lorenzo had loved dearly. The public hated her, believed her to be too ugly to be married into the royal family. Lorenzo found she had jumped off the wall of the Vatican City, her face smashed in on her impact.
"Lorenzo-"
"I don't want to talk about her." Lorenzo's voice broke, making Giovanni flinch at the sight of his brother opening a wound he had hoped scarred years ago. "I don't want you to experience what I experienced, fratello." The sound of desperation from Lorenzo's words was palpable. Giovanni could swear this whole palace was drowning in Lorenzo's sorrow and Chance's anxiety. Where did Giovanni go so wrong when it came to the ones he loved? How did he not see this coming?
"If that happened to Chance, I would follow behind."
Lorenzo stormed out of the darkness, his eyes wide with anger, "Take that back!"
Giovanni wished he could, but the truth was, he couldn't imagine living in this world where Chance didn't exist. He didn't know how he existed before, but he doesn't want to know, not anymore. Not after having her in his life for this short period. "It is the truth, Lorenzo. She is my life now."
"And what if you're not her life?"
"I would wait, if I had to wait my whole life for her, I would," Giovanni admitted. "What is the saying you used to say with Lizabeth, when you know you know, thank god I got it right with her."
Lorenzo didn't say anything to his brother, but he knew what Giovanni was talking about, at least a sliver of it. While Lorenzo loved Lizabeth, the night she jumped to her death, he had been spending a night with another woman. He had never made claims that he was faithful, nor could he ever promise such a thing. With his brother, if the way he had been acting the past 10 days was any sign of his devotion to Chance, Giovanni put Lorenzo to shame by a landslide. No matter the advances and touches, Giovanni was somehow immune. Tonight, Lorenzo got a sample of just why he was immune. His brother was in love, deeply, rooted thousands of feets below the surface in love.
"I will apologize to her in the morning."
Giovanni, who had planned to beat his brother the moment he stepped into this room, now only wanted to hug his brother. To give him comfort he knew Lorenzo craved since that fateful night, but he didn't move an inch as Lorenzo walked past him and out of the office. A part of Giovanni was still angry with Lorenzo, angry for placing someone he loves in danger.
Giovanni walked to his desk, sinking into his leather arm chair. A knock alerted him, he looked up to see one of the house guards bow and announced Arturo and Armando's arrival. He allowed them to enter. He looked at Armando, who had driven Chance today and had also reached the train she was on before it could depart. They both bowed and stayed bowed until Giovanni acknowledged them. He watched the two of them, his mind reeling over how the two of them would be implemented in Chance's detail from here on out. Even if or when she returns to the US.
The very thought of Chance returning to the US, forgetting about him, gnawed at him. No matter how many times he tried to forget this, it seemed to always creep back in. "You two will stay on as Chance's permanent protective detail." Armando and Arturo raised themselves from bowing as Giovanni's voice released them from their pose. "It may stretch to the United States as well."
Arturo and Armando figured as much. From the amount of death threats that were fueling in from the public, not just from Italy, but all over the world, the two figured such precautions were not out of the picture. From the way the guards had watched their King interact with Chance, it was clear to them, there was no way Chance's safety was not a priority of the royal guards. Salvatore, their head lead of the royal unit, had implemented measures that the palace could only hope would be enough to ensure her safety, because the safety of Chance meant the safety of the country. It was apparent to the palace just how much control she had over Giovanni. If anything were to happen to her, the country would so easily plummet into war. "I will expand on surveillance when she is alone. Continuous updates regarding her current status will be required. I expect you both will have a strategy plan for me in the next 48 hours, capiche?"
"Yes, your majesty," they both bowed once more.
Giovanni nodded his head, and with that, Arturo and Armando were dismissed. Giovanni relished in the silence of his office, his mind was buzzing with thoughts, all of which centered around Chance. How has he come to this point in his life, he wondered. Was he always this deeply involved with people? He couldn't remember the last time he felt so enraptured by another individual. He couldn't imagine loving someone so deeply and fervently as he loves Chance. Was he crazy? Perhaps he was, but he did not care. In fact, he had never felt as happy as he does with Chance in his entirety. It was like Chance had caused an epiphany. Like he was raised from the dead. "I don't know what I'm going to do when she goes back to the U.S.," Giovanni muttered to himself, burying his face in his hands. The signal that another individual had arrived brought Giovanni out of his thoughts. He looked up, hearing the announcement of the doctor, before he signaled for him to enter.
"Your majesty," he bowed, following the same structure as Armando and Arturo.
"Well?"
"Lady Chance will be fine. I have bandaged her hand, she should have it regularly cleaned. The nail tech is currently tending to her nail trimming." The doctor kept his head bowed as Giovanni listened intently. "May I suggest a therapist evaluate her?"
Giovanni was hesitant about that. Not because he didn't believe in mental health, he was concerned about how Chance would react to such a request. Would she think he was overstepping? Not only that, is this what she wanted. "No, that will not be necessary. She will decide what she wants for herself. What are other options?"
The doctor went down a detailed list he had crafted before coming to meet the King, seeking to please him with such an extensive list.
As the doctor finished, Giovanni dismissed him, once again welcomed to the silence of the office. His eyes dragged along the crown molding, as thoughts spiraled around him. The way Chance's eyes looked when he held her in his arms. The way her body shook in fear at the sight of the palace. Her voice, trembling. He had never seen her so scared, not even when she had her first anxiety attack in front of him that night in the car.
He stood up, determined to not be swallowed by his thoughts.
He found himself standing out of her bedroom, his forehead pressed against the wood. He didn't know what he was waiting for. Was it a sign? Her voice? His name? He couldn't figure out what was making him so hesitant to enter the room.
"Brother?"
Giovanni turned his head to the right, still having his head pressed against the door. His little sister was standing there, her weekend bag in her right hand, a cigarette and glass of what he assumed to be her favorite bottle of scotch in her other hand. She had been galavanting the past two weeks around the slopes of Switzerland, which was a relief to Giovanni, being that she was worse than Lorenzo.
"When did you get back, Sofia?"
She sighed, dropping her bag. Her attendant that was following her, obviously waiting for her to hand one of many bags she had brought with her, swooped down to carry it off. "Only minutes ago. I wanted to surprise you, but it would seem someone else has out-shined me." Her eyes dragged over to the door of which Giovanni was still hovering in front of. "Is the famous Italys flower in there as we speak?"
"Non metterti contro di me, Sofia." (Don't cross me) Giovanni's words were coated in warning, a side of Giovanni Sofia had never seen before for any of his past lovers.
"So it's true."
Giovanni groaned, sliding his hands into his pockets, already annoyed with this conversation. Her voice was dripping in condescension, a trait that got under Giovanni's skin. "What is true?"
"You're in love, and with an American of all things."
Giovanni sighed, "US American."
"US American, South American, English, Scandinavian...she is not Italian." Sofia passed her cigarette and glass of scotch to one of the other awaiting attendants, "But I hear she is gorgeous."
Giovanni frowned, confused as to how she would have heard that.
"Lorenzo may be an idiota, but he does have taste."
Giovanni nodded to the guards behind his sister, "You will stay out of this wing, along with everyone else." Giovanni straightened, hearing Chance's voice as she called out in what he could only imagine her dream. "Good night, Sofia." Sofia smirked, watching her brother, it was almost too fascinating to peel her eyes away from, but the feeling of the ominous royal guards behind and around her was too strong to ignore.
"Bene, bene, I'm going." She raised her hands in surrender, before taking one last glance to the doors. "See you soon, piccola."