The Slave of Pleasure
Chapter 64

Rachel

I watched, still a little dazed, the exchange of looks and ironic comments between Vincenzo and Nancy. My head was heavy, probably the effect of the wine hangover, and the mess around us didn't help at all. The house was destroyed - and I had vague memories that both of us, Nancy and I, were to blame for it. But the strangest thing was that Vincenzo, despite everything, didn't seem the least bit angry. On the contrary, he was relaxed, even making jokes while talking to Nancy, something I had never seen before.

I didn't understand the dynamic between the two. Vincenzo had always been a serious, reserved man, someone who rarely let his guard down, and now he was there, exchanging jokes with the nurse. A nurse who, until then, I only thought had shown her professional side to others besides me, and who was now lying on the floor, cross-legged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The tension inside me was growing, mixing with confusion. I couldn't organize my thoughts properly, everything seemed like chaos both inside and outside of me. The mess in the house perfectly reflected the mess in my head. Breaking the silence that was already bothering me, I asked: "Medicine?... What are you talking about?"

Vincenzo looked at Nancy with a restrained smile. "Should I tell you or should you tell me..?"

Nancy, in her typical irreverence, just shook her head and replied: "I was going to tell you when the time was right... you gossiper."

I was even more confused. What do you mean? What was she hiding? Vincenzo continued to eat the fruit Nancy had brought, as if this was a trivial conversation.

"What do you mean the right time?" - my voice came out more irritated than I intended. It was too much to process at once. We were all there, in the midst of the destruction that I knew I had somehow helped to cause, and there were still more secrets behind the situation.

Vincenzo finally turned to me again, but without stopping to chew on the fruit. "Nancy destroyed my house. I could do whatever I wanted to you two for that." He said it with an annoying ease, but the look he gave Nancy made me realize there was something more to it, some inside joke I didn't understand.

"What are you talking about?" I asked again, my patience almost at an end.

He paused to pick up another piece of fruit before finally saying, "Nancy has multiple personality disorder."

"WHAT???" my head seemed to spin faster with this new information. I didn't know how to react, and my mind was struggling to process the idea. What the hell? The nurse who had taken care of Vincenzo, the one I had spent so much time with, now had this huge secret?

Before I could ask another question, Nancy grabbed an apple from the basket and threw it in Vincenzo's direction. He caught it with an almost sloppy skill, as if he was already used to her reactions.

"I was going to tell you, okay?" Nancy said, still in that carefree tone. "But, you know... it's kind of complicated to explain..."

I didn't know whether to laugh or worry. It was too much to handle at once. The destroyed house, Nancy's personalities, Vincenzo's laid-back manner... Nothing made sense, and it seemed that the more I tried to understand, the more confused I became. What the hell was going on here?

While I was still trying to put the pieces together, Vincenzo and Nancy acted as if it were any other day. My body was tired, my mind exhausted, and as much as I wanted answers, everything seemed to get even more complicated. Sweat was running down my forehead, the result of a mix of confusion and disorientation. Everything was happening too fast, and things simply didn't make sense. Vincenzo, without looking at me, extended his finger as he finished eating a handful of grapes, and began to speak with impressive calm.

"I know everything that happened here," he said, his voice low but firm. "I know everything is very confusing for you, but I'm going to reorganize your thoughts." I stood there, frozen, listening to every word without being able to process it very well. Beside me, Nancy leaned back, resting her hands on the floor in a carefree way, as if all of this was the most common thing in the world. "I love it when he does that..." she murmured, which only confused me even more. What did she mean by that? Vincenzo, not letting himself be distracted, continued, now with a seriousness that caught my attention. "I remember everything now. I had a memory lapse when we were in the car. Remember? My nose bled, you tried to take care of me as best you could, and I asked Dr. Afonse to come here." I remembered the scene immediately. Vincenzo's nose bleeding, the desperation I felt when I tried to do something. The fear that something more serious was happening. I nodded slightly, but he wasn't even looking at me.. He continued as if he were recapping for himself as much as for me.

"I went up the stairs with you, and then, in my room... everything got confusing. Dr. Afonse diagnosed me with selective memory loss, a result of the car accident. He recommended total rest, gave me medication, and I blacked out. I slept for two days straight, without eating or drinking anything. My body became dehydrated, weakened."

I listened in silence, trying to process the amount of information he was pouring out. He had slept for two whole days; no wonder he was weakened. But how did he know all of this? He seemed to remember every detail, even the moments when he was unconscious.

Vincenzo continued, without missing a beat, his voice precise and calculated. "You took care of me while I slept. The first day, you ran the house. The second, you went out in the morning to go shopping and came back at night... with that one."

He looked at Nancy. She seemed slightly uncomfortable for the first time, but soon returned to her carefree posture, without taking the smile off her face. I still didn't know how to react.

The silence that followed was heavy. Nancy and I remained completely still, listening to Vincenzo's precise explanation, trying to fit each piece of this puzzle together.

"Somehow, you two became close in a matter of hours," he continued, without changing his tone. "You came here so that Nancy could check on me and confirm that I was recovering well. This was at the request of your attorney, Rachel." I was stunned. He had deduced everything, with frightening precision. How did he know all of this, as if he had been conscious the whole time, even though he was unconscious?

"You decided to drink to celebrate my rapid recovery," he continued, now with a hint of irony in his tone. "You overdid it and ended up completely destroying the house."

Nancy tried not to smile, but I felt the weight of guilt. The mess around us, the overturned furniture, the destruction. It all made sense now, but in a way that seemed worse than I had imagined.

"And now... here we are." He finished with disturbing calm.

I didn't know what to say. Words failed me. The only thing running through my head was disbelief at how quickly this had all gotten out of control. I looked at Vincenzo, then at Nancy, and then back at the destruction around me. What else could I say?