Part 12: Falling Apart
Lucrezia sat on her bed, all alone in her chamber. She had told Cesare about the jealousy that had driven her to wish Charlotte dead. At first, Cesare had understood as always, but when she revealed that it wasn't just a wish – it was a plan she had set in motion – he had been upset. It wasn't because he loved Charlotte or cared more about her than he cared about Lucrezia… it was more the idea that Lucrezia had wished to dispose of an innocent women, who had done nothing but marry and bed Cesare. Was any woman who slept with him to die then? And she would rip a child from its mother's arms, because of jealousy. On top of this, there was the alliance with France. Lucrezia had begged for his forgiveness, but he wouldn't come near her at first. Cesare was in fact about to leave, when she said the one thing she knew would make him stop.
"Micheletto will do it." She stood in the middle of her chamber and Cesare had his hand on the door, but he did not open it. He stood still, as frozen, and then he turned towards her. She did not know when he last saw Micheletto, but she knew he had another henchman now and that Micheletto had said he was dead to her brother.
"Did you order it?" Cesare asked from his place by the door and Lucrezia bit her bottom lip, uncertain of how to explain it properly.
"He came to me; he wanted to help us, Cesare. He cares… and he said he would take care of it. I agreed that he should." Lucrezia said and Cesare inhaled a breath. She wanted to know his thoughts and emotions right now; she could see how this tore him apart. Micheletto, his former friend and henchman, had come to her, and not him. And he cared, still, despite not working for Cesare anymore. The silence lasted too long, "We have to find him. We have to tell him to not do it." She finally added.
"Indeed we do." Cesare said in a dark tone and those were his last words to her this night. He'd turned and left the chamber and left Lucrezia all alone. This was not how it was supposed to be! She had made a promise to herself; that she'd make it so Cesare never wanted to leave her again. And now he had left, once more. Charlotte was still a hindrance for their happiness, despite that she was now leaving. Lucrezia wasn't much of a spider now, was she?
The next morning she opened her eyes, only to realize she was alone. When she sat up, she looked at the cases in her chamber; the cases that had been packed so she could leave yesterday. But she hadn't made it. Yet they were all still packed and ready. Lucrezia called for a maid to help her get dressed and ordered a carriage made ready. She would have to leave before she caused more problems for her and her brother. The sun had barely been up an hour, when Lucrezia sat in her carriage on her way to the home she'd shared with Alfonso before his death. She didn't push the curtains aside to look at the morning outside; she did not feel she deserved to see its beauty. She had ruined everything and now she was on the run, while she tried to think of how she could make everything right again.
