8 A Beautiful Play

After dropping the hurt shop assistant off at the hospital, waiting for the results of the tests, and

settling the bill, Alessia finally made her way home. It was already evening when she reached

the front gates of the manor.

"As soon as I get in, I'm going upstairs for a nap!", Alessia thought to herself. Unfortunately, this was not in the cards for her this evening.

When Alessia came through the front door, she fell upon a beautiful play. In the living room, sat her entire family awaiting her arrival. Her grandfather sat in an armchair, his eyebrows furrowed. To his right, sat her mother and father, looking both worried and angry and to his right sat her uncle and aunt, along with Caterina who was weeping loudly.

"Good evening, everyone. Is everything alright?"

After greeting her family, she turned to her cousin with her eyebrow raised. Caterina looked at

her wrongfully, before bowing her head and sobbing even louder.

"So, you cause problems for my daughter, embarrassing her in front of others, and then you

have the nerve to ask what is wrong?!" Victoria's voice was full of tears and righteous anger.

Alessia was confused, that is until she laid eyes on Caterina's tear stricken face. Of course.

Maybe Caterina wasn't as dumb as she seemed.

Caterina looked on at the scene with concealed glee. Let's see Alessia get out of this. After the humiliation she suffered at the mall, she instructed the driver to bring her home, and cried to her mother, embellishing a few details here and there, making Alessia out to be the bad guy. Now she was about to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

With little bravado, Alessia immediately walked to the middle of the room, and kneeled in front of

her grandfather. She stared down at her lap, looking small and pitiful. Grandpa Leo was very

surprised, but even more disappointed . It seemed that what Caterina had said was true. Now

he would have no choice but to punish her. Alessia's parents were upset but could do nothing

but wait to hear her side of the story, while Caterina and her mother were ecstatic. This was the

Alessia they knew; small and pathetic. Unfortunately for them, Alessia was quick on her feet.

"Grandfather, I know that as her elder cousin, I should have taught Caterina better! The way she acted in the boutique was shameful and will reflect very poorly on the Cargona name, so I tried to mitigate the damages as much as possible. I know that I didn't do the best job. I'm sorry, Grandfather!"

With her words, Alessia had managed to paint a picture of what had transpired within the store.

Grandfather's eyes widened in surprise, before narrowing. Someone was lying, and trying to

make a fool out of him. That would not be tolerated.

Sensing the change in his demeanor, Caterina paled, her tears forgotten, as she stood up

hurriedly.

"No, she is lying Grandpa, you can't believe what she says! She yelled at me in the store,in front of all those people, humiliating me! She chose the words of strangers over me, her cousin! She is the one who disgraced the family name, not me!"

" Are you calling my daughter a liar? If she said it happened that way, then that's the way it happened!"

Victoria also leaped up, defending her daughter, while her husband sat silently by her side, uninterested by the conversation. Amara stood up walking towards her daughter, pulling her up off the ground.

"If your daughter isn't the liar then who is? Ha, like mother, like daughter." She retorted coldly

walking her daughter to the couch where she sat.

"That's enough! I will give the liar a chance to confess. If you confess now, I will let this incident go. If not, you will be punished." Grandpa Leo's voice boomed through the room, interrupting the argument. He waited for someone to speak up, but when no one did, his face darkened and he huffed.

" Fine then! We wait."

With that, he sat silently, his aura oppressing all those in the living room. No one dared to move from their seats silently waiting for whatever Grandpa Leo had planned. Alessia sat calmly,while Caterina got paler and paler by the second.

After 20 minutes passed, Noah walked into the room followed by a small group of people. His eyes narrowed as they slid past Caterina and softened when they landed on his sister, as he made his way to his grandfather's side.

"I gathered a few witnesses from the mall to explain to us what happened today,Grandfather"

In front of the family, stood the same employees from the boutique as they one by one, recounted the events of the day.

After they had finished speaking, a quiet older couple made their way to the front of the group.

Alessia was confused, not remembering these people from the boutique. Noah spoke up once again.

"These are the parents of the young lady that Caterina assaulted."

The father stood silently holding onto his wife, who was trembling in both anger and sadness. She pointed a shaky finger towards Caterina, who sat dumbfounded at the situation she found herself in.

"You monster! You couldn't spare my daughter at all? What did she do to deserve this? You will pay for this!"She sobbed, her voice heavy under the weight of her anger.

Caterina paled, and Grandpa Leo's eyes darkened. So, Caterina was the liar! She had gone into the shop, wreaked havoc, hurt an innocent girl, and then came home to blame her cousin.

Victoria pointed an accusatory finger at Alessia.

"You hired these actors didn't you?! What they say can't count as proof! My daughter is definitely innocent!"

She had complete faith in Caterina, not knowing that she had come home and lied to her face.

Grandfather was once again conflicted, wondering whether or not to trust the tearful couple. Caterina felt relief for a moment when Noah began to speak up.

"If Grandfather doesn't know if he can trust these people, he can certainly trust in this."

With that, Noah brought a laptop to Grandfather's lap, playing a video. The rest of the family crowded around to see what was being shown. There, on the screen, was security footage showing Caterina harassing, threatening, and pushing around people in the store. Noah played video after video, showing her atrocious behavior over the years. The final video showed Alessia stopping Caterina's reign of terror.

Alessia was impressed. So, that's what her brother was off doing, huh? She glanced at him, then smiled sweetly while raising her hand for a high five. Stone faced, as usual, he raised his hand to hers. Meanwhile, Victoria's face turned white and Caterina began to stutter.

"N-no th-this is-"

"Shut up, you insolent child! Kneel. Now!"

Grandpa was so angry, that heat radiated from where he sat. Caterina had no choice but to kneel. Her mother tried to plead for her, but Grandfather was in no mood to hear it.

"Is this how your parents raised you? You thought that it was acceptable to use our family name to act out? Not only that, but you decide to come home and try and frame your cousin. What do you have to say for yourself?!!"

Caterina, sat there trembling, unable to say a single word. How did it turn into this? It was supposed to be Alessia kneeling, not her.

"Caterina, you need to apologize to the family of that girl you hurt, as well as your cousin!"

Caterina's eyes widened in disbelief, she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

"Apologize? To these lowly people? Absolutely not! Never! Lower myself for scum, I could ne-"

The words had barely left her mouth, when a hand came down across Caterina's face. She fell from her knees, sprawling across the floor. She held her face in disbelief, looking up at the man who stuck her.

Her father!