THE BLACK CINDERELLA

Chapter Five

Thomas Fitzwilliam:

    To protect what we
Truly care about.

While looking through his papers that night,
Wandering if he had been too hard on Ada, his phone rang.
  Without looking at the number or anything he picked you.
 
"Who may I be speaking to?"

A small snort from the caller's end was heard  as a voice spoke.

"Vito, drop that British accent in the graves"

Thomas stared at his phone and saw it was his younger brother.

"Armando.." he said.
Surprised at the phone call.

Armando who wasn't in the mood to exchange pleasantries went straight to the point.

" Cos'è questo?(what is this?)
I knew you as the kind of person that kept things to himself, why do you let your daughter expose everything on camera Vito?"

His thick Italiano accent giving way to his disappointment.

Thomas tried to act confused.
"What do you mean?"

Armando wasn't the type to waste time, it's how he had always been. The kind to just tell you something and make sure he was clear enough to not repeat himself.

The exertive way he handled things and everything made people wonder if he was really the last son of the Maranzano family.

"You are in danger, if anyone gets a spiff of that price, You should have kept this from her Vito, alot is at stake you know that, everyone calls it Cinderella and it would be easy to assume that you know the location to the treasure."

She had asked for Five archeologists, Thomas thought to himself and felt that Ada had or might have actually found something out by herself and it saddened him that it was not his doing. He had hidden everything so how did she get her hands on it.

"I will find a way to take down the video" Thomas manages to say.

Wondering what Armando thought of him now.

"You better do cause if it reaches you know who..."

Thomas cuts him short.

"Mi dispiace (I am sorry) your elder brother wouldn't let anything happen to you"

Trying to sound assuring didn't exactly help but Thomas felt it was the only thing to do.

Ada's life and Armando's life were what he held now In his arms.

They were both the finders of this project and Ada had made it known to the world without realizing that everyone would get the hint.

The call was cut after the greetings and Thomas called some media companies managers and asked that they take down his daughters birthday videos.

He however hoped that would solve everything for him.
As he slouched back in his office seat when a sudden memory about Chidinma came in mind.

*******
It was her 14th birthday  at that time and he had bought a certain birthday gift for her which to him seemed like he hid pretty well in a small box tucked away in his cupboard a week before the day.

When he finally brought it out to show her the necklace that he had got her, she seemed less surprised than he expected and he asked why.

"I hate surprises Vito, and it's not my fault cause for the past one week, you have been acting funny like a rabbit stealing carrot for himself"

The metaphors she used were sometimes weirdly funny.

"I felt you were hiding something so I searched your room and I found the small brown box and I opened it, yes I saw this necklace and have known for the past one week that you were going to give it to Me"

Thomas sighed.

"So much for a surprise"

She laughed .

"Maybe you made the mistake of hiding it, you should have kept it in plain sight, I would have easily overlooked it."

He was a bit confused at the things she said but she continued anyway.

"I searched for something that was hidden, it's why I was able to find it cause it was as I assumed 'hidden'. Vito, if you want people to not find what you keep hidden from them, hide it in plain sight in other words don't hide it too. "

She continued.
"If that necklace was hanging on the lamp or something, I would have spotted it but I wouldn't have guessed it would be for me., It's an old trick I learnt from my mum before she passed"

****

It all came to Thomas now and he Wondered why he hadn't taken Chidinma's advice. As Ada had to find out about it.

He finally stood up to go back to his room.
He was passing the Ethereal room which was two doors to his room and  stopped as he overheard Ada and Simon's voices.

                                  .