Chapter 5. Understanding The Preys.

"Miss Rose? Miss Rose?" I snapped out of my reverie when I realized Ms. Carla had been calling me.

"Ugh?" I replied quickly.

"You don't need to do this. It's the job of the maids to help me out in the kitchen," she said with a smile as I looked down at the towel in my hand.

"Besides, you are doing a bad job," she added with a nervous chuckle as I smiled.

It was obvious my mind wasn't on cleaning; I was thinking about yesterday with Valerio. If I don't do anything, I will be thrown out. No money. Nothing!

I had come downstairs to help her take care of the kitchen so I could clear my mind, but I was just snapping every now and then.

And the thought of losing such a huge amount.

"How was dinner yesterday?" Ma Carla asked with a careful gaze.

"With the young master Valerio?" She added as I sighed heavily and shook my head.

"It ended up in ways I didn't imagine, Ms. Carla. Valerio is quite hot-tempered," I said in frustration.

"Ah…" She chuckled. "If you see Valerio as hot-tempered, how would you deal with Mr. Valentino?"

"He's worse?!" I asked as she nodded with a sorry smile.

"The boys are giving you a hard time," she said as I rested on the kitchen counter.

"You can't imagine," I replied. "I don't know how people who have the same blood running through their veins could hate each other like this." I shook my head.

"You don't know?" Ms. Carla asked.

"Know what?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"The reason for the bad blood between them?" She replied.

"Ah…" I nodded. "The media says-"

"The media doesn't say the whole truth, miss," she interrupted as I stared at her intently, prompting her to continue.

"I have lived and taken care of them for a long time, except the young master Valerio started living here two years ago," she shrugged. "I can say I know a thing or more about them."

"Ah, really?" I asked, a glimmer of hope rising within me.

"The reason I have survived staying with them long enough is that I studied them and understood what they wanted. They are not such bad people as the media paints them to be. I don't mean like bad people, like spoilt brats and all sorts of names," she chuckled lovingly, as if the Sabatini brothers were one of a kind. As she spoke about them, her eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Valentino has always been a good kid. Nice and considerate. I took care of him as a baby, and I can say he is the sweetest soul I have ever met," she said as I made a mental note of the Valentino I have met in the past. The picture she was painting, I was finding it hard to accept.

"The same Valentino I know?" I asked in disbelief as she nodded.

"He loved his father more than anyone in the world. He was his role model. Not until…" She paused and stared at me for a while. "His mother's death. On their 10th anniversary, the master and his wife were supposed to have a little celebration of their own. But on that day, it rained heavily, so the master informed his wife that he would be coming home a bit late due to the traffic caused by the heavy downpour. Then I don't know what sort of message she got later on, but she flared up and got mad, broke things around her. Then she picked up her car keys and left the house in a hurry. Meanwhile, Valentino, who was just a kid then, was watching his mother the whole time.” She paused and watched me as if taking note of my expression and continued.

“She had left her phone when she went out. Valentino knew the message his mother received was what made her mad because he eavesdropped, so he checked it. He saw what a kid was not supposed to see," Ms. Carla said as my anticipation grew.

"His father was in bed with another woman on his parents' anniversary," she added as I gasped.

"Oh my god."

"To make it worse, the woman in question was Valerio’s mother, his mistress," she said calmly as I felt my heart sink.

"When his mother had left home in a hurry, she got into an accident, leaving poor Valentino motherless. In one night, he lost both his parents. I couldn’t imagine how a six-year-old would handle such a blow," Carla said in a solemn tone, as the events of that day looked fresh in her memory.

"If Valerio was the master’s son, why did he only start living here two years ago? Is it because he is a bastard, and that's why he wasn't entitled to anything?" I asked.

"I’m not sure of all the details, but all I know is that the master got married again afterwards. Crazy enough, he didn't marry Valerio’s mother. He got married to a popular actress who is Vicente’s mom. As for Valerio, the chairman only recently found out about his existence. I don’t know if the master knew about Valerio before he died. The boy has lived in an orphanage all his life," Ms. Carla explained as I nodded.

"And when the master re-married?"

"Life wasn't the same for Valentino," she started again, as if enjoying the story. But I was grateful someone was around to give me information like this. Even though I wasn't a real psychologist, one thing I learned from the streets was knowing your victim before trapping them.

"Vicente's mom never liked the chairman, who was madly in love with her. She married him for the fame and riches," Ms. Carla moved closer to me, as if the next statement was meant for my ears only in case they were being eavesdropped on.

"There were some rumors at some point that she cheated on the master, causing people to gossip if Vicente was a true Sabatini," she moved back to her position and continued.

"But a DNA test cleared everything. That didn't stop the rumors of her infidelity," she added.

The brothers have a really interesting past, I thought calmly.

"Is remarrying his mom the only reason Valentino despises Vicente?" I asked. What was I thinking?

That was a good enough reason, but I still thought there was something.

"Of course, it's normal. But the master did something wrong to young master Valentino. He sent him alone abroad, a six-year-old who lived without any family member in a strange country after his mother died," she sighed and shook her head.

"I am surprised young master Valentino still has a heart. I would grow up to be a spiteful man if I were in his shoes," Ms. Carla said as I drew in a deep breath.

"He didn’t grow up any different," I commented even though I knew it wasn't his fault.

"Cut him some slack, he is not a bad person, I promise you," Ms. Carla said as I gave her a thankful smile.

"Thanks for the information, Ms. Carla," I held her hand as she smiled in return. "Anytime. You can tell me how I can help. I want to see the boys happy again."

"I will try my best," I said with a smile and turned to walk away.

These boys have a complicated past. How am I going to make this work? I asked as I walked absentmindedly until I bumped into something hard.

"Ouch!" I groaned in frustration as I looked up to see the thing or person that hit me. I was quite enraged when I found out.