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Chapter 69

Ezio arrived back at the thieves' den later that evening. He noticed several of them perched on the rooftop keeping watch over the entrance, but he couldn't discern their faces. Upon his arrival, two of the figures stood up and effortlessly made their way down to him. One of them was Ugo, who spoke first.

"Still no sign of Antonio," he informed Ezio.

"He should be back by now," Rosa (who had been the second figure) added. "I'm starting to get worried about him."
"I'm sure he's fine," Ezio offered as he walked past them, visibly distracted by his conversation with Leonardo. It was good enough for Ugo, who had merely wanted to keep him updated, but Rosa followed him into his room.

"I'm concerned as well, but Antonio is a capable man" Ezio clarified as she closed the door behind them. "Whatever is keeping him, I'm sure he's dealt with worse."

"I know that," she admitted, "but I don't like when he's away longer than he is supposed to be, especially when we don't know where he went."

Ezio nodded, but both of them knew his thoughts were elsewhere.

"What did Leonardo want?"

Ezio sat on his bed and looked at her for a moment before looking down and sighing.

"Ezio?"

"I'm still trying to piece it together myself," he answered. "I may be much closer than I thought to getting the answers I've been seeking, but…I'm not sure if I'll want to believe them."

"What do you mean?"

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"What if-" he began and then stopped himself. She looked at him for an end to his thought.

"What if my father and brothers died for nothing?" he asked her. "What if my father was chasing the same phantom as these Templars, and they killed him for it? Is that where this will end? More deaths for a pointless cause?"

She didn't respond. How could she, he thought. What kind of questions were these to ask her?

"I'm sorry, Rosa. I don't know how I expected you to answer that." He got up, but she grabbed his hand and forced him back down.

"I don't know what you'll find tomorrow, and I don't know why they were killed, but that's not where this will end. It's more than that," she reminded him. "You've seen it yourself. These men take over cities, kill political opponents, rob their citizens! A few deaths are nothing compared to the damage they've caused in Venezia, let alone other cities. I meant it when I said that things are better here because of what you've done. I don't know where your fight with them will end, but I do know you can't stop just because you're afraid of what you'll find out. You know it too."

With that, she got up and walked to the door.

"Rosa, wait," he stopped her. She turned in the doorway.

"Sì?"

He pulled out the shipping manifest she had given him earlier.

"Where did you get this?"

"I stole it from Antonio's office," she confessed. "I just happened to find it. It was buried under pile of papers."

"I thought you couldn't read."

"Antonio taught me how to pick out a few things in shipping manifests, remember? This isn't the first time we've been interested in those docks."

"Won't he be upset with you when he finds out it's gone?"

"I won't tell if you won't."

Ezio stared at it again. "Why didn't Antonio tell me he had this?"

"He might have been distracted," she suggested with a shrug. "Maybe he was going to tell you when he returned from his trip. Before it got delayed, I mean."

He nodded, but he still wasn't entirely convinced she was right. After she closed the door, he fell asleep wondering what his day would have been like if she hadn't found it.