Giovanni spent his first day in Florence taking in the sights that he had missed for the years he had been away. He raced along the rooftops, his shadow startling the passers by below. During his stay, he was spending his nights in a small inn in the centre of Florence and often spoke to the owner of the place, asking about the events of the city over the past ten years. He hadn't heard much that had interested him but one story did.

"And a few days later, there he was, wrapped up in a rug, dried blood on his chest, hidden in the corner of the room."

"Oh, really?" Giovanni feigned surprise as the woman unknowingly told him of the day he left Florence.

"Sì." She nodded. "The woman and her son that lived there, they vanished."

"How strange."

He thanked the woman, hiding his smile as he left. Not that many people cared about the death of the landlord and so the mystery of his killers was never discovered. He was lucky that the people of Florence could never remember a face.

After stopping at a florists, Giovanni made his way to the cemetery of the city. As he approached the Auditore crypt, he noted its perfect condition. He was told that during the Pazzi conspiracy, many of those that stood with the Pazzi tried to deface the crypt, but night and day it was protected by the thieves and the mercenaries who greatly respected the late Giovanni and his family.

His steps echoed around the cold, stone room as he descended into the crypt. Either side of him were members of the family, starting at the oldest and finishing with the newly deceased. He scanned the tombs, seeing his grandfather's, a space beside him for when Maria died. There was Mario and Petruccio, and as he came to the end of the hall, he stopped.

"Here lies Federico Auditore da Firenze, 1456-1476." He read. "Here lies Elisabetta Auditore, 1457-1507. May you spend eternity with those you love."

Giovanni bowed his head as he placed the flowers on his parents graves. Silently, he thanked whoever put 'Auditore' after his mother's name.

"Happy birthday, Madre. At least you're together now." He whispered. "A lot has happened since you've been gone. Isotta and I are married now." He smiled, playing with the golden ring that nearly covered his mark that he received during the assassin initiation. "She couldn't be here today though. She's been ill and the doctor doesn't know what it is. I wish you were still here to tell me what an idiot I am, that she'll be fine."

He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry. But it was easier said than done as the painful memory of her death rose in his mind. All he could hear were her last words, over and over again.

"I love you."

"Giovanni?"

He spun at the voice, he concealed blade already sprung and pointed at the man that stood at the entrance. As he stepped down into the crypt, Giovanni peered at his face.

"Giovanni. I'm your grandfather, Davide." The old man said.

"What are you doing here?" Giovanni growled, wiping his eyes.

"I just want to talk." Davide held up his hands in surrender.

"What's there to talk about? You abandoned my mother!" He shouted.

"Sì, I did, but I have to explain."

"Go on then." Giovanni spat.

"I knew your mother was still seeing that Auditore boy after I told her not to. After I warned her. He was promised to another girl, her father being a maniac and nearly killed Elisa when he discovered them. Luckily, they got out of it, but that wasn't the end of it. I was the head of the thieves guild at the time and I knew more than some of the most influential men in all of Florence. I knew about the Pazzi conspiracy long before Giovanni did." Davide lowered his head. "I told him he was in danger, but he said that he had loyal friends that would help him. Uberto Alberti. I knew that he would betray the Auditores and so I left. I couldn't convince him. I couldn't watch them die. I couldn't watch my daughter suffer. She loved him too much."

Giovanni lowered his blade.

"I didn't know you even existed until after I was far away. I lived in Rome for years, hearing that you and Elisa had left Florence. I wanted to find you again but I knew that neither you or your mother would want to see me.

"The Borgia had control of the city and made work tough for an old, retired thief. I pitied those that had been wronged by them and helped in whatever way I could, giving money, food, training in the art of thievery. One day, I saw a burning house, the Borgia guards trapping people inside. I tried to help, and I managed to rescue a young woman, but her parents couldn't escape. They died."

"That was Isotta, wasn't it?"

"Sì. She said she was in my debt and I asked her to watch out for you, keep you safe."

"I know. I read the letter. And she told me that she visited you at The Sleeping Fox. That was why she stayed around me so much."

Davide shook his head.

"No. After a while, I realised that your fate and your mother's fate did not lie in Isotta's hands or mine, but your own. I told her her debt was payed. She stayed with you because she cared for you and that debt became something she would pay off all her life, no matter what I said. She continued to report to me what had happened, just to please a worrying, old grandfather." He smiled. "She loved you before you knew it."

Giovanni turned away, trying to take in the information. He had spent his whole life believing that his grandfather was a heartless coward, abandoning his family. He did not expect the truth of the matter. He didn't expect that he actually cared about them at all. He didn't expect that Isotta cared for him that long ago.

"Can you forgive me?" Davide said.

Giovanni looked over his shoulder at the old man. He had never met the man before, and so for all his life he had built an image of a cruel man inside his head. But the man in his mind and the man that stood before him were not the same people.

"I forgive you." He said, embracing his grandfather.

For the first time, both men felt a weight lift from their shoulders, a weight they didn't even know was there, they had lived so long with it. A smile grew on their faces as a happiness returned, a happiness that they had lived so long without.

"And I've had word from your wife, Isotta." Davide said, pulling away.

"Oh?"

The old man grinned, something that he hadn't done in a long time.

"She's pregnant."