The Confession That Created A Ruthless Monster
#TheNovel - The Mad Schemers - S1E7
Subscribe - New episodes every Thursday at 6AM EST
Episode 1 - Conspiracy, Death, and Executions
Episode 2 - The Miracle That Inaugurated Horrific Times
Episode 3 - You Will All Be Executed Brutally
Episode 4 - An Honorable Man Executed with the Disgrace of the Wretched
The central staircase, which you'd see as you entered the Medici Palace, wound down in a perfect square. It was supported by epic deeds of the de Medici family, sublimely drawn in paintings nailed to the walls with golden, pompous frames—a reminder of the power exerted for ages.
Lorenzo and his advisors were coming down the stairs, embraced by the sublime coming out of those paintings like a pleasant scent that covered Lorenzo's soul with a veil of power. Suddenly, past the main entrance, those same stairs turned into a round spiral, and the golden frames turned into gray, cracked walls of the basement—witnesses of souls in agony, usually disappearing in the dark and never coming back to light.
"This way," the guard said, his chin up to show his pride in his achievement. He received a gentle touch on the shoulder and a smile. That was the very first time Lorenzo had shown any sincere emotion since his brother's assassination precisely a week prior. The man pointed to the door of a cell—one narrow piece of metal with only a tiny window at the top made of three thick bars. "Sir, you are safe to step in. He cannot move."
The guard opened the metal, rusty door with a strong pull with two hands. The slow movement and the metal squeak brought Montesecco's consciousness back. He covered the top of his eyes with his trembling hand to better focus on the figure before him as if a light had abruptly burst into that dark cell. Lorenzo stood there; a sense of pity and rage hit his body. I will kill him with my hands, he thought, right now. But that was not the wise choice, and he knew it.
"My lord, I promise I didn't participate in all this," Montesecco said anxiously, "I told them this was a stupid idea." He continued with the rush of someone who didn't want to hear what the other had to say, for he knew in his heart where all this would end. Lorenzo kept staring at that man. His silence felt like a stabbing for Montesacco, who had brought his arms onto his lap and was now curving on his belly—a pain that felt like a slow stabbing death.
"I know that you didn’t participate in this.” Lorenzo said softly. “Who are 'them'? You know I am the only one here who can help you," he added with a trembling calm. The guard looked at him with surprise. Getting that man alive cost them a full-on military operation and now he wants to help him, he thought. But that's the difference between soldiers and leaders, so the guard remained still and listened to learn. Montesecco felt a sense of relief for a moment, but he remained skeptical. Does he have other choices? Likely not.
"The two Francesco, the Pazzi and the Salviati, had this STUPID idea." Montesecco made that stupid feel bold, another attempt to convince his lord of his opinion, that the act was nonsense and brutal. He seemed to know the details that had tormented Lorenzo for a week. Sweat started to drop from Montesecco's forehead. "Girolamo Riario was then the one getting the approval from his uncle, Pope Sixtus." He paused; his voice trembled when he mentioned the name of a man whose power extended beyond this Earth.
"Keep going!" Lorenzo exclaimed with confidence as he crossed and rested his arms on his chest. “They had planned to have you two killed the day before the Easter Mass, during the banquet you hosted, by poisoning your food. But then you two didn’t show up, because Giuliano was ill,” Montesecco added. That was the confession Lorenzo had sought, and rage hit him again, deep inside, but none of that was visible because you don't give that pleasure to your enemies, even when their life is in your hands. Hearing those names was not surprising, but what bothered him was his ineptitude to foresee these events that had taken an international turn. "Those two young idiots!" Lorenzo screamed while tightening his fists. He could not bear the idea that his brother fell under the obsessive ambition that only young men can afford, oblivious of any consequences. An ambition that had persuaded the head of a family, Jacopo de Pazzi, and the Pope himself to take active part in it.
"They could not even stand seeing you walking around the city. They said, 'Hubris walks before you,'" Montesecco continued referring to him and his dead brother, enraging Lorenzo even more as he perceived personal hate beyond political matters. Lorenzo turned to look at the guard and laid his eyes on his dagger hanging from the leather belt. Montesecco followed that scene and raised his hand toward Lorenzo as if to stop something that had not happened… yet. "There is more, my Lord," he said with the soft tone of someone asking for forgiveness. "One of the men at the Cathedral was Bernardo Baroncelli." Lorenzo narrowed his eyes at that name. I think I know of him, he thought. "That man who failed as a merchant first and now as a man," Lorenzo shouted as his memory came back. "Did he think he could restore his fortune with this stupid thing they put together?" Lorenzo screamed outrageously and grabbed that man's chest by his tunic with tight fists, his face standing an inch from his. "And I guess that the King of Naples is behind that useless man?" Lorenzo asked, but that was more of a statement than a question, as he knew. "And so he sided with the Pope, for he was his only chance to have a place in history because we all kept him out of anything." he connected dots quickly; his words came out in a sharp burst, punctuated by the slight spray of spit that escaped from his dry mouth. That conversation consumed him; there was too much to process and tolerate.
"Do you know what I do with treacherous mercenaries like you?" He shoveled Montesecco with innate violence, turned to the soldier, slipped his dagger out of the belt, and dug it straight and deep into Montesecco's neck. You could hear the cracking sound of broken bones, a guttural mix of gasping and gagging, and see blood spraying all over. By instinct, Montesecco grabbed Lorenzo's trembling hand who was holding tight on that dagger's handle; Lorenzo’s jaw clenched so tightly that the muscle along his face twitched and strained. That spilling blood didn't bother him, who didn't blink once and saw that man slowly dropping lifeless in a silent scream with eyes and mouth wide open. Lorenzo stood up tall, dropped the knife, and felt a sense of relaxation pervading his body from his spine. And with a paranoic, sick calm, he turned to his soldier and said: "Behead this asshole, attach his head to a horse, and let it wander from the street of Florence." No pity, not even for a body without a soul. The soldier nodded and felt proud of his lord, for mercenaries lived of these emotions. "Ensure that everyone on this FUCKING earth knows what happens if you are against me, against my family," he yelled, taking a deep breath and looking down at his shaky, bloody hands. Montesecco’s gasping had stopped.
An eerie hush descended upon the dungeon.
His advisors didn't say a word. They had observed that scene with horrific surprise. That astute and intelligent man turned into a monster, a killer. Maybe that was needed, Polizano thought. And while Polizano's eyes were stuck on that man on the ground, in a pool of blood, Lorenzo woke him up with a slap on his shoulder. "Write what we agreed upon as soon as possible. Also, let Milano and Venice know. This shit is affecting anything around Florence, east and south." Lorenzo looked possessed by the way he spoke. Poliziano and Gentile nodded and left in silence to reconvene in Lorenzo's office.
The walk upstairs didn't feel magic anymore. What they had witnessed in that basement was horrific—but that's what dungeons are for in those beautiful palaces. Lorenzo closed his eyes, took a deep breath and stepped out of that cell without turning back—all was left behind.
Subscribe - New episodes every Thursday at 6AM EST
Episode 1 - Conspiracy, Death, and Executions
Episode 2 - The Miracle That Inaugurated Horrific Times
Episode 3 - You Will All Be Executed Brutally
Episode 4 - An Honorable Man Executed with the Disgrace of the Wretched