After we left the jewelry shop, Helen suddenly remembered that she had something to pick up from the post office, and so we went there on foot (Helen refused to take the bus, even though it seemed as if her feet were aching by now). The post office was by via degli Arazzieri, just around the corner to one of Florence biggest museums, the San Marco museum. There was also a botanical garden nearby, and as we passed by, my gaze lingered longingly on several park benches and the soft looking grass.

Helen was busy talking rapidly on the phone, speaking in in italian so fast and fluent that it wasn't even possible for me to understand all that she said, but going by her tone of voice, something or someone was making her quite irate.

I cleared my throat politely, and she looked at me with fire in her eyes.

"Uhm, is it okay if I wait for you in the gardens over there while you go to the post office? I feel like resting in the shade for awhile." I said, and Helen blinked a few times before she replied in a hurry.

"What? Oh yes, of course. I'll be back very soon." she said, walking away as she was talking, her feet as quick as the speed of her voice.

Sighing with relief, I calmly crossed over the road and entered the gate of the gardens, an old iron fence surrounding it. Not that I didn't appriciate the company, but Helen seemed like a person who did not know when or how to slow down. And I hadn't really had the chance to see the city without being influenced by someone else.

White gravel crunched under my feet as I walked in, taken aback by the beauty of this place – it wasn't very big, but big enough to loose yourself from the busy crowd right outside the gates. Since it was a botanical garden, there was a mix of trees and flowers – plane trees already familiar to me, but also palm trees, orchids, ferns, cactuses and even some peculiar looking ones that I had never seen before. Everything was planted close together, giving you almost a sense of walking into a maze. Thick hedges obscured the view of the streets outside, effectively closing off any sign of urban activity. It was very peaceful here, and I had not met a single person so far.

Every new fork in the walkway was marked by a statue. Some of them were made of simple plaster and were not very remarkable, while others looked older, and made of marble or stone. As I continued my walk, I fished out the new necklace from around my neck and studied it, my water colored eyes squinting against the sunlight. It was made of real gold.

"A good luck charm huh?" I asked myself aloud, my voice sarcastic. It didn't sit right with me, these expensive gifts that I was receiving. I was just doing the job of an intern, and yet they felt the need to spend so much money on me. Or maybe it was just another drop in the ocean to them, that it meant nothing at all. I knew what the letter V stood for, I wasn't that dumb. It was the company logo, same as on all their postal papers.

Giving this necklace to me, was in a way branding me, marking who I belonged to – even if it was just on a base level. That was why it I didn't like it. I longed for my other necklace, the one I had not been able to find back home before I left.

I turned a corner in the garden, my hand skimming the leafes of a nearby tree. In front of me a small pool stood, its murky waters filled with seaweed and moss. This part of the garden seemed somewhat neglected, and stood in the shade of the trees above, only glimpses of light peeking through.

My hands suddenly felt cold, so I clenched them against the fabric of my shirt, trying to seek warmth. I was trying not to think about why I was feeling this way, why this knot in my stomach had appeared. I was good at hiding, at not even thinking about it – but the feelings were always there. I could never run from them, I had tried that too many times.

Anger was good. I could live with that.

It was actually a good thing, forgetting that necklace. I didn't need it, not the way a person should need something like that.

Nobody should be owned by someone else – that's what they teach you at school, when you're little.

But it has no meaning, not really. Some people are just lucky not to experience it. I was not lucky. I had never been -

"Rebecca! "

My head snapped out of the dark path my thoughts were leading me, the dark water in the pool so much a reflection of my own self that I was surprised to see another living person. I turned around, Helen standing a few feet away, phone in hand and a frustrated look on her face, her hand tapping restlessly against her side.

"Come on, its time to head back to Volterra." she said, motioning for me to follow as she walked us back outside on the busy street, exiting the gardens. She looked stressed and I had to ask if anything had happened while I was gone. She exhaled heavily while looking down at her phone, a deep-set frown on her beautiful, tanned face.

"Work, as usual. The masters called about an emergency."

"What sort of emergency?" I asked as we walked back to the car. Helen shrugged.

"Apparently something to do with place settings for an upcoming dinner party. Lots of important guests coming in, lots of preparations to do."

That made me stop on the sidewalk to stare at her, a look of utter disbelief in my face.

"And they called you in on a saturday for that?" I exclaimed, earning a few looks from people passing by. Helen did not like that, grabbing me by the arm, shaking it slightly as if scolding a disobedient child. Her brown eyes were dark as she looked at me, and I knew that I had once again said the wrong thing.

"Rebecca, I need you to understand something. I've been trying to make this clear to you before, but this company is special, and so are the men that control it. They rely on us for so much, and it is very important that we do exactly as they wish. Is that understood?" she asked, and I quickly nodded, not wanting her to be mad at me for long. But I still found it very odd.

"Yeah, I understand." I said clearly, and she let me go and we continued walking back to the car. But she was eyeing me in a way that was making me uncomfortable, but I tried to just shrug it off.