The Crimson Statue ( gxg )

𝐗⎢Life Line

ARMANDO MATEA DESPISED HIS JOB. But the money was good and his family needed it so he stayed. It didn't change the fact that he constantly feared for his life. Or the fact that he constantly felt the need to bleach his ears after hearing the colorful tirade of insults spawn by the intimidating occupants of the car. After all, it is literally his job to drive those of the Di Fazio family. Today, he feared for his life more than he had ever before. 

It was the first time he had seen Zaira Venezia Di Fazio angry.

"-Stronzo. Your worthlessness appalls me. Why don't we drive to the nearest doctor, hopefully he can cure the blindness that seems to have plagued you, making you unable to catch a fiend as they danced right under your nose," Zaira paused from her rant, seemingly to catch her breath but rather attempting to collect herself once again as a single though blazed in her head.

'Which secret does she wish to show?'

And her mind didn't see  it in the innocent way.

"I deeply apologize, signora. The window has been......stuck after a certain - incident  that occurred earlier this morning and it is yet to be fixed. It is entirely possibly for those who wish to place something without arousing suspicion," Armando said, peaking at the fuming woman through the rear view mirror wincing at the added salt to the wound as her hair that had been meticulously fixed flowed freely in the wind of the ajar window.

Neither did he want to elaborate on the reason for the window's unfortunate position. That would certainly signal his death. Both luckily and sadly for him, Zaira was smart enough to realize just what the incident was. After all, she had been dealing with such incidents for a while now.

The curses that she uttered would make even a sailor wince, but she paid no mind and neither did Armando. Deciding that her reasons for verbally slandering the man who employed him were just and didn't deserve to be reported like Signore Di Fazio had asked. In all honesty, he despised the man for all the vile things he has done. Alas he was too much of a coward to act upon his dislike. Well, either a coward or simply someone with common sense. 

Still, he was much more afraid of the woman in the back of the car. Not once in his five years of working with the family did he ever see her display any emotion. But now the woman was raging in the back of the car, stabbing the back of his seat as she muttered obscene curses. It was enough motivation for him to add a little more pressure on the accelerator and cut down the usual route time in half. Needless to say, he was more than happy when they had reached the polished black gates of the Di Fazio manor.

The guards stationed outside the mansion let them in instantly once they caught a glimpse of Zaira. If their boss was a good man, they might have prayed for his safety. But the man was an asshole so the guards simply stood off to the side and hoped that Zaira didn't know about her father's scandalous deeds. Not for his safety of course, rather on the off chance that they accidentally breath too loud for her liking and decides to shoot them in the foot for that. 

None of that would ever happen, but rumors tend to get exaggerated over time. The speculations on why Zaira did not live in the same part of the manor as her family rivaled that of children's fairy tales. Some believed Zaira was a witch who cursed her father after finding out about his illicit affairs which led to her slight separation from the family. Though the guards knew it was all false, their heart couldn't help but thump a beat of fear when the unnervingly poised woman came to view.