I stared at him for a few seconds.
“Is that so?” I replied.
“Yes.”
I smiled faintly. “Then you can tell Dad I’m going to bother him now.”
I walked right past them.
One of the guards looked ready to block me, but his partner immediately caught him by the arm. They knew better than to try to forcibly stop me outside Dad’s room.
I opened the door.
Dad was sitting behind his desk. Carlo stood by the window with his arms folded across his chest, while Lorenzo was on the other side of the room reading something.
All three of them turned toward me at once.
Dad raised an eyebrow. “Alessa.”
“I want to talk.” I didn’t care about their reaction.
“I’m busy.”
“I don’t care.”
Carlo lowered his head, as if trying to hide something that looked suspiciously like a smile. Lorenzo simply closed the document in his hands.
Dad stared at me for a long moment. “You look more and more like your mother when you’re angry.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about Mom.”
“Then what?”
“About The Lady.”
The room fell silent.
No one answered. Clearly, they were each waiting.
I looked at each of the faces in front of me. Carlo stared at the floor. Dad remained silent. Only Lorenzo continued looking at me without averting his eyes.
I pointed at Dad’s desk. “I want to know what it means.”
Dad leaned back in his chair. “Not now.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t need to know yet.”
I let out a quiet laugh. “Interesting.”
“What?”
“Everyone always says things like that to me.”
I stepped closer to the desk. “I don’t need to know about San Aurelio. I don’t need to know who sent that letter. I don’t need to know why Lorenzo came aboard this ship. And now I don’t need to know who The Lady is, either?”
Dad didn’t answer.
I fixed him with a sharp look. “If none of it matters, why do all of you look afraid whenever you hear that name?”
Carlo finally moved. “Miss Alessa.”
I turned to him immediately. “Captain, if you’re also going to tell me I don’t need to know, you’d better keep quiet.”
Carlo shut his mouth and abandoned whatever he had been about to say.
Dad sighed. “Sit down.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“Alessandra.” His tone changed.
I recognized it. That was the voice of Don Valerio D'Averrano, not my father’s voice. Usually, that was enough to make me obey.
Not this time.
“No.”
Lorenzo suddenly spoke. “Just sit down.”
I turned to him. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to be here for a while.”
I studied him for a few moments. “You know something.”
“A little.”
“How little is ‘a little’?”
“Enough to know you won’t stop asking questions.”
I pulled out a chair and sat down. “Good.”
Dad rubbed his temples. “Lorenzo.”
“What?”
“Don’t make this worse.”
Lorenzo looked at Dad for a moment. “She’s going to find out on her own anyway.”
Dad fell silent.
I leaned back in my chair.
“So?”
Lorenzo looked at me again.
“The Lady is a title.”
I furrowed my brow.
“A title for whom?” I asked again.
“A woman.” Lorenzo answered briefly again.
“What kind of woman?”
“A woman who holds a particular position within the family.”
I looked at Dad.
“The D'Averrano family?”
There was no answer. But that was enough.
I stood.
“So there was a woman who held a special position in our family?”
“Once,” Dad replied.
“Once?”
“It hasn’t been used in a long time.”
I slowly shook my head.
“Why has that name only appeared now?”
Dad looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
I almost laughed.
“Dad, you’re really bad at lying.”
“Alessa.”
“You really don’t know?”
I pointed to my own chest.
“That letter mentioned The Lady. Everyone changed immediately. Lorenzo knows something. San Aurelio turned into a fortress. And you still want to say you don’t know?”
Dad stood.
“I said I don’t know who sent the letter.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer I can give you.”
I was about to fire back, but Lorenzo stood first.
“There’s something you need to see,” he said firmly.
I turned to him.
“What?”
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
“Old D'Averrano records.”
Dad immediately looked at Lorenzo. “No!”