Summary- Only one person ever fought for her freedom, and meant it at the same time. Claudia was never strong enough to escape her father, she was too young, and everyone was to scared; all except the one woman that took every risk: the Zacchara maid, Scarlette Giovanni. This tragedy tells the tale of what one's passion to save a life ca result in many things. Sadly though, there was no happy ending for this unconvient mother and daughter.
Sanguinity
Chapter 1
~Story~
The screams were muted threw the layers of brick, wood, and sheeprock. No one in the household said anything, they just cringed in fear of how terrible and heart wrentching the small girl sounded. Even though they were all mobsters, they still had somewhat of a concious, but weren't brave enough to save the abused and damaged child from her mob king father.
Claudia hated him. Anthony, her father, would beat her every chance he got. It happened even more when her mother, Domenica, ran off and left her there to 'fend for herself. There was no escaping his wrath. And the worst part was: She didn't know what she ever did to be such a burden to her father. Every night Anthony would come find her somewhere in their giant house and pull her to the basement by her hair, calling her cruel things and degrading her like a dog.
After four or five hours, Mr. Zacchara barged back into his office, leaving faint cries in the basement. He was fuming with rage, his face tomato red. Grey hairs were quickly replacing his jet black locks, showing how fast he was aging with all the stress he brought unto himself. "Shut the hell up Claudia and go to your room!" Anthony yelled throughout the house, making sure his daughter heard his command and followed threw with it.
Her foot steps weren't heard as she tiptoed up the stairs. Claudia was barely even seven and her whole life had gone down the drain. No body even cared, except her stepmom, who was to much of a coward to stand up to her husband about his abusive ways. There was one time when she did though, and the beatings stopped for about a month, but soon Anthony began to go back to his old ways.
Another man took his fare shares of hits: Trevor Lansing, the Zacchara family lawyer. Claudia was always telling her father about her suspicion about Trevor whenever Anthony was in a good mood, which usually was when watching Maria in the gardens in the morning. But as soon as she did, her father would cringe his nose, spit at her, slap her across the face, then get up and step on her foot purposely.
She had only started school about two years ago, and already hated it. Most children love to wake up and get ready in the mornings to see their friends, but not her. Not Claudia. She already knew how to apply makeup so she could cover up the nasty cuts and bruises. And when she couldn't, Anthony trained her all night to say some kind of excuse. Trevor had gotten contacts of all kinds of doctors and had Anthony agree to hire them. Those doctors, however, werent always used for the mob factors. They were also used to make sure Claudia was extremely healthy and people didn't catch on. The depressing part of that was when she had dentist appointments, the orthodontist was told not to give her numbing medicine or anything; which went for all the doctors. Though, Claudia hated the dentist the most, because her father would purposely punch her jaw, leaving her to see him once every two to three weeks.
As she laid in her bed that night, something felt different. She didn't know if it was the female voice she heard from downstairs, or it was the three year anniversary of her mother's unexpected departure. But the female voice was odd. Her father hated woman, unless it came to them pleasing him or making him feel powerful. So why would he be talking to a woman, especially one that wasn't Maria? Claudia wanted to pull herself up from the bed, but she was to weak and tired from the repeatitive beatings. The young child terrifyingly shut her eyes, scared that her father or Trevor would come back and continue what they started. Within minutes, her breathing slowed and she fell asleep.
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Claudia awoke to someone putting their hand on her back. The seven year old swiftly jumped to lay on her back and face the person: a woman. She studied how the fine featured lady kept her light brown tresses neat, and her turquoise pools calm, cool, and collective. The older woman stood up, giving Claudia the opprotunity to see her full attire: a skin tight, short sleeved white tee-shirt, dark blue jeans, and the glowing, red stilettos. Claudia found the shows odd, but very different and captivating. "Good morning Claudia, I'm Ms. Scarlette Giovanni. Your father hired me to be your nanny and the maid."
The young Zacchara bunched her brow, confused why her father would get her a nanny. Maybe he was planning on stopping the abuse? She kicked herself at the thought; her father was a cold, deadly mob boss. Claudia hesitated at saying anything, but was motivated my Scarlette's sincerity. "Nanny?"
"Yeah, you ever had a nanny before, kiddo?" Scarlette sat on the bed beside Claudia's legs.
"No," She unpolitly said, then corrected herself, "no mam..."
"Hey, don't worry about mamming me." Ms. Giovanni smiled the whitest grin Claudia had ever seen in her entire life. She was thankful the blinds were pulled shut or the sun would have flashed off of them and blinded her. But at least if she was blind, she wouldn't have to worry about seeing the damage her father had done in the mirror.
"But Daddy said if I don't use sir or mam he'll--"
"Discipline you? Claudee," Scarlette gave her her first pet name, "I know what your father does, you don't have to be discreed about it." The new acquaintance touched the top of the child's hand and reassured her.
"Discreet? Like, secretive?" Claudia broke down the new vocabulary word, and was awarded with a smile and nod of approval.
"You're very smart for a seven year old, Lil Miss Claudia. Ya know that?" She was already liking her nanny and how comfortable she was around her. "Well, how about we get you out of bed and ready for school?" Scarlette noticed how she quickly pulled away from her touch and cupped her cheek. "Hey, don't worry, I won't run away. I'm here to help."
"Me? Or Daddy and Trevors?" The older woman felt her heart stop and could feel it breaking at how much damage this child had already gone threw in her short life.
"I'm here to help you. You wanna know something?" Ms. Giovanni didn't even wait for a reply, "Last night, when I came for a job as a maid, I didn't expect to be a nanny either. But I'm glad I am, cause I'm gonna help you get the life you deserve. Sound good to you?"
The child nodded slowly, and got off her bed, then followed her new nanny to the bathroom.
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School was the same that day, except her makeup was better applied than when she did it. All Claudia wanted was to go home and spend time with Scarlette. But she knew the chances of her being alive were slim. Her father eavesdropped on their conversation that morning and killed her as soon as she left. But to her amazement, right as she walked in the door, Scarlette was there, smiling to her, and guards were whispering, saying how her father was out in town for a meeting.
"How was school Claudee?" The woman seemed like an angel, her eyes an unnatrual human shade, her smile so bright, and personality to loving. Scarlette was on a knee, her hands on the child's shoulders, and bringing her into an embrace. Claudia once again noticed how Scarlette was in red heels.
"It sucked." The child answered, causing the nanny to look down and chuckle.
"Come here and give Matringa a hug!" Maria called out to Claudia as she came into the room, her arms wide open. Scarlette took notice how Claudia didn't want to, but reluctantly gave her stepmother a embrace. She had heard stories of how Maria was to scared to stand up to Anthony, giving Claudia full reason to not like her for not protecting her.
"Should I go with Claudia to--" Scarlette was cut off by the other woman.
"You and Claudia should go walk around the property or something; get to know one another before Anthony gets back." There was that hint in there that told Scarlette that this would be some of the little free time that Claudia would get to relax and not worry. "Don't worry, Trevor is with Anthony."
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1.) Matringa- stepmother
2.) Sanguinity- hope
3.) Tresses- hair
4.) Pools- eyes
A/N- As you can tell, Domenica as left, and Maria isn't pregnant or had Johnny yet. I won't reveal too much, cause you know how I love to torture my readers. Anyways, thanks for reading, please review and have a nice day!