The Medici Girl

Breaking Out

"Put her in there!" Francesco de' Pazzi's voice rang out through the jail at the top of the Palazzo della Signoria. The two men that held on to a struggling Contessina tossed the woman in with no inclination of reluctance at the other man's order. "I should've slit her throat when I had the chance."

"She is a stubborn one for sure." Jacopo de' Pazzi said looking at the woman in the cell before him. The guards did not bother to undo the ropes that held her wrists together in front of her before they slammed the wooden door shut. "She did some damage I see." The older man looked at the scratches Contessina put on his nephew's face.

"Now that she is in here and unable to bite or claw we should stick to the plan. I've told Stefano and Antonio to go into seclusion until the Assassin is rooted out. Bernardo is going to leave for safer waters until I give the word." Contessina listened to them carefully knowing this information could be of use later. She regretted her actions in the Duomo now. Not running away when Ezio yelled at her to do so was a poor decision and allowing her anger over Giuliano's assassination to get the better of her was an act of stupidity. "Come, we have work to do Uncle. I have an assassin to catch."

Contessina stood there in the dark cell that Giovanni and his two sons once occupied only a couple of years ago. It was cold and there were no comforts other than a cot to lay on and a chair in the corner. She asked herself over and over again what she had gotten herself into, but she clearly had no answer. Another wave of pain coursed through her at the thought of Giuliano's lifeless and bloody corpse laying in front of the altar in the Santa Maria del Fiore. It was a senseless act of brutality that should not have taken place, yet it did and when Giuliano was unarmed.

An unarmed man cannot expect to properly defend himself from his enemies. Contessina felt tears come to her eyes as she went to the chair in the corner and pulling it to the small barred window. When she lowered herself down on the wooden chair it creaked with her weight as if it were going to fall apart under her at any moment. She wondered if this was how Petruccio felt when he was caged in the same cell with his father and Federico. She thought about how the young boy could have sat in the corner crying while his brother did what he could to console him. She wondered if her fate would be the same as the Auditore, except Ezio. She wondered if Francesco de'Pazzi would have really slit her throat or if it was a bluff.

If Francesco was willing to do so, then he was no better than his son and Contessina regretted her words to the Pazzi earlier in the day. She never thought she could hate anyone as much as she hated Francesco de'Pazzi in that moment. She fought back tooth and nail when he dragged her out of the cathedral which was how she got the bruise on her face and a bloody nose, but she bit him hard on his hand. It was not until he called in his guards that she tried to fight back even more, but was stopped when they forced her onto the ground. Francesco held a blade to her throat and threatened her so she complied much to her dismay. What was she to do? She was unarmed and a woman. Giuliano taught her how to defend herself, but he did not teach her how to hold her own against several men.

How could she have been so stupid to put herself in danger? The thought constantly ran through her mind along with images of Giuliano being stabbed to death right in front of her. Along with those images where the ones of Petruccio, Federico, and Giovanni at their execution. She could no longer keep the tears at bay when she thought of how this could be her last night on Earth. Contessina could no longer hold back her sobs as she grabbed on to the bars and held on to the tight as sobs wracked her body. This was a nightmare in every sense of the word.

In the dark streets of Firenze, Ezio made his way past all the chaos that was slowly becoming a riot. People were gathered in the piazza wondering if the rumors of Lorenzo de'Medici being killed by the Pazzi were true. Ezio knew they weren't, but it seems the Pazzi had taken over the Signoria and trapped the current Gonfalonier within its walls. One rumor was true; and that was the rumor of Giuliano de'Medici. He had been killed on consecrated ground, blessed by a Pope at the request of Cosimo de'Medici in payment for reclaiming Roma.