NOTE: HI THERE! I HAVE ANOTHER CHAPTER READY. I WANTED TO ADD THIS ONE TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, BUT I WAS TOO EAGER TO PUBLISH IT ALREADY SO I MADE IT A SHORT ONE AS TO GET BACK TO PUBLISHING THE STORY. HOPE YOU LIKE IT! I HAD SOME ISSUES TRYING TO UPLOAD THE FILE TO PUBLISH THIS. I HAD TO COPY AND PASTE THIS CHAPTER INSTEAD, HOPE IT DOESN'T LOOK TO FUNKY TO READ. ALSO, I WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO THOSE WHO HAVE ENJOYED THE STORY SO FAR. THE LAST REVIEW I RECEIVED WARMED MY HEART.
Vieri waited eagerly for the Fra Giocondo to arrive at the church, leaning back in his seat while tapping his legs. He had spoken to the priest before on many occasions, mostly about his relationship with his father.
Vieri knows he is the only one he can trust because he can understand him. This meeting now has to do with why the girl whose family, one who he despises at that, he has saved from public humiliation would refuse to give him the appreciation he deserves.
He stood up to greet Giocondo as he gracefully approached the young man. "Good afternoon, son." Giocondo said warmly.
"Hello Fra, thank you for taking the time to speak with me." Vieri said, followed by an exaggerated bow.
"Of course," The older man smiled gently. Vieri's theatrics never passed his observations. "So, what is it you would like to talk with me about?"
They both began to stride down the long hallway. "My marriage is in ruins!" Vieri said, staring at the ceiling in over dramatic despair. "My wife refuses to give me any affection. All she does is whisk me away like nothing! I saved her pitiful family from execution and in return I asked to marry her in exchange for my good deeds. A family I hate at that!"
"And yet, you saved this family you said you hate so much and even decided to marry this girl?" Giocondo asked curiously.
"Y-yes I did." Vieri stumbled, averting his gaze to the floor. Feeling like an idiot suddenly in front of the priest.
"For what reason may I ask?"
Vieri sighed. "Fine...I might as well admit it. I wanted to get back at her brother for taking my woman."
Fra Giocondo furrowed his eyebrows, trying to understand this situation. He had to refrain from shaking his head. "This brother taking your 'woman' does not sound like a reason to marry his sister. I assume this was an agreement between you and the girl?"
"Yes, it was." Veri admitted proudly, a smirk tugging at the side of his lips.
"Do you love her Vieri?"
That question caught him completely off guard that the smirk was pulled right off Vieri's mouth.
Well...it wasn't necessarily love that made him do this. But like...ok, why did he care anyways and why did he ask that for?!
Is the Fra trying to one up him? Oh no, nobody one ups Vieri de Pazzi!
The young man threw his hands up in the air. "What does love have to do with this? I tried to win her affection with the gifts, and the clothes, and the jewelry. And I realized she has been giving them to the servants. Then when I ask why she did it, she will say, 'Well since you gave it to me it's mine now, so I can do whatever I want with them, and I wanted to give them away.' How is that right?! Does she know how much money I spend on that stuff?" He exasperated with his hands flailing in the air in frustration. He nearly forgot he was in a church. "And she didn't even sleep in the same bed with me on our wedding night! Our wedding was a disaster too."
The priest spoke with a chuckled tone. "Ah, using gifts to win a girl's attention. Not uncommon among young men like you, but it takes more than nice things to get a girl to like you."
Vieri raised an eyebrow. Don't all women love getting spoiled with gifts? He thought to himself. "Like what?"
"Well for once you should try talking to her, have a decent conversation about anything." Giocondo explained. "Who knows, you might have something in common."
"Well, I don't think we have anything in common at all." Vieri replied folding his arms across his chest. "At least I'm not a spoiled brat like she is, always having her papa to run off to."
Giocondo pressed his index finger against his lips, thinking about the irony in this boy's rather haughty response.
It took everything in him not to ask, "Are you sure about that?" But this would cause more problems than it needs to.
Besides Vieri's situation with his father is quite a distressing one. If the Pazzi family already hated the family of the girl he married, Francesco is definitely going to give his son an even harder time than what he has done before.
Giocondo started to feel sorry for the boy once again.
"Son, if you want this marriage to be worthwhile can I tell you the best gift you can give to her?"
Vieri started to feel confident now. "Alright, so what is this great gift? I have plenty of florins to spare."
They both stopped and the older man folded his hands in front of him, while looking at the young one before him in earnest.
"Respect. That is the best gift to give to your wife."
Vieri frowned as he stared at the priest like he has never heard of such a thing.
"H-how can I respect her when she doesn't even respect me?"
"But she took your hand in marriage did she not?" Giocondo asked. "Even if she knew it was an obligation for what you did."
The younger man flinched. The priest was supposed to be on his side! Good thing Claudia is not here, she would have rubbed it in his face.
Giocondo must have noticed his confusion because he placed a hand on Vieri's shoulder. "Think about this figlio. You show a girl the respect she deserves, especially a good one, in a matter of time they will learn to respect you."
Vieri looked down to the ground, pondering on this idea. His frown was still evident in his features.
Marriage is a lot more complicated than he thought.
"Thank you for this meeting, Fra. Now I have some business to take care of. Until we meet again."
"Of course, son. Until we meet again." Giocondo said placing his palms together and taking a bow before the younger man. Vieri did the same gesture before turning to walk off for his next meeting.
As Giocondo watched him leave, he silently hoped and prayed that the boy would take heed of his advice.
Some random secret underground...
Francesco sat at his desk inside the underground chambers awaiting his son for a meeting. No one knows about these chambers besides a few of Francesco's closest allies. This is the location where they go to discuss certain matters and plot plans that no one other than the ones who go there know about. And whatever happens in the chambers stay in the chambers.
Getting rid of troublesome foes, such as Giovanni Auditore, was one of those confidential plots only the walls of the chambers have caught wind of. Walls can't talk, but people can.
Because of this, the execution plot did not go as planned, thanks to Vieri.
And Francesco de Pazzi was not happy about that at all.
His fierce green eyes darted towards the door when he heard footsteps. Vieri strutted confidently towards his father. Francesco's cold stare did not faze him, he was practically used to it by now since he's seen it so many times.
"Hello father. Good day, no?"
Francesco was in no mood for pleasantries. "Sit down." He growled.
Obediently, Vieri did as his father commanded and sat in the chair cross-legged in front of the desk.
He nearly flinched when Francesco pounded his fists against it. "How could you do this? Embarrass me like this?!" Francesco snapped. "Executing Giovanni Auditore that day might have been our only chance to rid of him, and you go behind my back and release him!"
Vieri spread his hands out defensively. "Father how many times have we handled things that way? We keep it up and eventually someone will find out-
"Don't fool me boy." His father interjected coldly. "I know you did this for some stupid revenge on Giovanni's thug son over that Vespucci wench, not that you fare any better."
The older Pazzi pointed a straight finger at the younger one. "You need to learn how to act like a respectable being and stop acting like a damn thug yourself."
Vieri sucked in a breath as his eyes slid down to the ground, no longer baring to watch Francesco's eyes searing into his own. He may be taller than Francesco, but his father had a way of making him feel so small when he speaks to him in this way.
Francesco let out a huff then stood up. "Now come, there is business to be taken care of."
Later that evening...
Vieri returned home just in time for dinner. Claudia was expecting him to greet her with his usual cocky grin and she was ready to get annoyed about it.
But this time he acted differently.
He was suddenly quiet. He didn't even bother to speak to her nor look at her, much to her surprise.
He obviously wasn't in a good mood. Part of Claudia wanted to ask him if he was okay, but then she also could care less if she could have peace of mind.
After a couple of minutes, Vieri excused himself from the table. Perhaps he did not have much of an appetite either.
Claudia watched him storm up the stairs then heard the faint noise of a door slamming.
She looked at the maidservants, who were just as confused as she was about his behavior.
"Scusi." She told them before standing up. "I'm going upstairs."
"Signora, I wouldn't bother him if I were you." One of the maidservants suggested. "He seems very upset; I don't want him to-
The Auditore girl gently held a hand up to stop the maidservant. "Don't worry. I know how to handle him very well. And we both know what will happen if he even tries to hurt me."
Without any further explanation, Claudia began her way up the stairs and stood in front of Vieri's closed door to his room.
She placed her hands on her hips and took a deep breath, all the while rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
Why I'm I bothering to do this? She thought. And... why should I care?
Claudia may not like him, but...
She could make an effort to care just a little.
Just a tiny bit...
Just a tiny weenie bit...
She sighed, then then raised a fist to knock on the door.
"No, I'm not hungry." Vieri barked. "Besides, she would probably rather eat alone anyway."
Well, at least he was honest about that.
"It's Claudia."
Silence was heard on the other end. She assumed he was not expecting her to knock on his door, the last person he'd ever suspected to check on him.
"Ah, and what do you want?" he finally asked.
Claudia spread her hands out, shaking her head once again. "Can I come in?"
She could hear a muffled frustrated grunt coming from the other side. "Whatever I guess."
This time, she refrained from rolling her eyes. Because the whole time standing there, she rolled them so many times they may be lodged at the back of her head if she kept doing it.
She opened the door and slowly stepped inside. Vieri was sitting outside on the porch, sulking at the view. She quietly walked out to the porch, allowing the comforting breeze to blow against her dress and surf through her hair.
The sky was emanating a light indigo hue. The sun was out of sight, but it was not completely dark yet.
Claudia slightly leaned over to one side to get a glimpse of Vieri's face as he leaned back in his chair with his arms folded in front of his chest.
Yes, he was upset but also seemed...a bit saddened.
"What's wrong with you Vieri?" she asked, trying to sound plain as possible in case he got any ideas.
"What do you care?"
"I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't."
The Pazzi boy gave her a glare then focused his attention on the view.
He shifted in his seat before hesitantly answering her. "If you really care to know, it's my father alright? He's such an asshole!"
He angrily swatted a hand in the air while continuing. "No matter what I do for him, he's just never satisfied. He treats me like he treats his henchmen rather than his flesh and blood. 'Vieri do this, Vieri do that. Vieri you always do something stupid to embarrass me.' It pisses me off!"
Claudia's facial features softened as she listened to his rant. She knew his father was indeed an asshole the way he acted at the wedding, but she didn't think it was this bad.
"Well, some fathers can be a bit harder than most. Then there are some who are more affectionate than others too."
She thought about her father. Giovanni can be tough at times, maybe not so much on her because she's his la mia bambina as the only girl in the family. But still, he was always affectionate towards his children so that they knew they were loved.
Perhaps Vieri never really experienced that. "My father is far from affectionate." He responded. "I've never once heard him say that he is proud of me."
Claudia noticed the hurt coming from his tone, and when she took the gumption to take a chair and sit next to him, she saw the hurt in his face as well.
For someone who's always so boastful and cocky, it was a rarity to see him look so vulnerable and innocent.
"Vieri, I'm sure your father does love you. Maybe he just doesn't know how to express it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't value you as his son."
He shifted again and scoffed. "I have yet to see that."
They both sat in silence for a while. Claudia was at a loss for what else to say to make him feel better. Vieri obviously would rather not talk anymore.
Finally, she spoke with an idea in mind.
"You know, we still haven't eaten dinner yet."
"I think I'm too mad to eat." Or so he thought before the rumbling of his stomach said otherwise.
Claudia suppressed a smirk. "Stay here, I'll be back."
Vieri turned to look at her. "Wait, you heard that?"
The girl snickered walking out the door before he could get an answer and went back into the dining room.
The maidservants were still there, looking almost worried.
"Is everything alright Signora?" One of them asked.
Claudia smiled warmly. "Everything is just fine. I think we are going to eat upstairs. Besides the night is quite beautiful, no?"
She gathered a few dishes she could carry with her and headed back up the stairs, but not before letting the maidservants know that they could help themselves to the dinner they prepared.
She did have a to suppress a gag when she heard one of them say, "Aw, so romantic."
Carefully balancing the dishes, she spotted Vieri standing in the middle of the room. When he saw her, to Claudia's surprise, he was gracious enough to take some of the dishes from her.
She almost smiled at him. Almost.
"Come." She directed him to go back out to the porch with her. They both sat down and prepared to eat their meal.
Vieri looked from his plate to Claudia a few times before he took a piece of bread and placed it in his mouth.
He couldn't believe she was sitting here with him, willingly at that.
Although she tried not to look at him too much, the look of surprise from him was not ignored. She also couldn't ignore that this was the closest she'd ever been near him since she kicked him the crouch after tricking him into an embrace.
Vieri better not press his luck with this one.
After a while though, he seemed a little more spirited, his mood no longer in gloom.
Claudia was then about to reach over to grab the wine bottle, she didn't notice that Vieri was going to do the same.
They were both caught off guard when their hands briefly touched.
She stared at him wide eyed, he stared at her with a ghost of a smirk.
Then, pulling herself out of this shock, Claudia snatched the bottle away.
"Don't even think about it Vieri." She spoke.
The fact that she spoke so sweetly yet had the glare of someone about to go on a murderous rage made Vieri freeze in place.
He managed to give her a nervous smile before sitting back in his chair. Watching her pour some of the wine for herself then pouring more into another glass for him.
This time, Claudia did give him a smile. The deadly glint never left her hazel eyes.
Silence filled the air again as they continued eating while viewing the beautiful hillside.
Vieri wondered if there was any way he was going to win with this girl. In the meantime, he was just going to enjoy this moment. For now.
Translations
Fra- Brother
Figlio- son
La mia bambina- baby girl (there were different variations for this term, if there's anyone who speaks Italian have a better one let me know)
Scusi- excuse me
Signora- Mrs.
