“I know—” I stop short, shaking my head. Goddamn cameras.
“What happened to the girl like me?” Mia asks suddenly.
“What?”
“You said you’ve seen Mateo with girls like Meg, and you saw him with one girl like me. Why didn’t it work out with her?”
“She wasn’t loyal. She turned on him.”
“Well, she couldn’t have been like me, then,” she says simply, and I love her more. I want to hug her and take her home with me and force him to make her my new sister-in-law right now. We can all fly to Vegas and get it done.
Bye Meg.
She can be a maid again and fluff Mia and Mateo’s pillows.
Stupid poacher.
I can’t do any of that, so I just smile at Mia. “You’re right. My mistake.”
Mia follows me to the door, but when I get there, my mind sticks on something she said, the one thing I never did understand—why Mateo did what he did to her. It made no sense, and he never explained it to me. He knew he could’ve seduced her instead, but he didn’t. Why?
“What was the diabolical plan?” I ask, turning back to her. “The reason he… hurt you?”
“Oh. It was a loyalty test. He wanted to hurt me and try to make me hate him, then he sent some cops—at least, I guess they were really cops—to try to get me to talk about him. I didn’t. So he tried again. I didn’t know it was a test, but I warned him instead of trying to turn him in, so I passed.”
He gave her the fucking Beth test. Completely unfairly since Mia didn’t even care about him to begin with, and accelerated, since he never did anything like that to Beth to make her hate him… but he gave her the Beth test.
She passed the Beth test, then he turned around and let her go like an idiot.
Bet his maid wouldn’t pass the Beth test. The damn maid can’t even handle knowing what he did to Mia, so she certainly wouldn’t stand by him at his worst.
She’s so not right for him.
I have to fix this.
Chapter Twenty Seven
When I get to Mateo’s study, he’s sitting down with Adrian, having a drink.
He does not look excited to see me. It almost makes me smile. He knows I’m here to pester him, he just doesn’t know why.
I address Adrian. “Can I borrow him for a minute alone?”
“Be my guest,” he says, rising from the wing chair.
I wait until he’s out in the hall, then I ease the door shut, standing against it and staring at Mateo.
“What is it this time?” he asks mildly.
I guess I could begin a lot of different ways, but the whole way over here I went over each and decided to start nice and simple.
“Why do you think Mia lied to the maid for you?”
“Her name is Meg,” he reminds me. “She has a name.”
“I don’t care. Why do you think Mia lied to her?”
“The same reason everyone else has for not crossing me, Francesca: fear.”
I nod, gaining confidence. “Fear?”
He nods. “Is that all?”
“Not even close.”
He rolls his eyes, leaning back in the chair. He reaches over and grabs the glass he must’ve abandoned on the end table before I came in and takes a sip, like he needs it to deal with me. “Oh, good.”
“Did you tell her not to say anything?”
Mateo shakes his head nonchalantly. “Not recently. I did tell her once I’d kill her if she spoke out against me though. I didn’t mean she had to cover my ass within the family, I meant to law enforcement. She probably didn’t know the limitations of the threat.” He shrugs, like it doesn’t matter. “It’s just common sense though, isn’t it? Meg may have told her she wouldn’t tell me what Mia said, but if Meg happily occupied my bed last night, then talked to Mia today, and didn’t want anything to do with me tonight…. Well, fuck, I wonder what happened.” He rolls his eyes. “Mia isn’t that stupid. She understands I would know if she told Meg the truth.”
“And you would’ve punished her?”
“Not for that, no, but Mia doesn’t know that. If she wanted to tell Meg I hurt her, that would’ve been her right, but I don’t think most people in my situation would share that sentiment, so why would she assume otherwise? I thought she might tell if she got the chance, but her decision to keep quiet makes more logical sense. It also benefits her if I’m preoccupied with Meg; I’m someone else’s problem that way, less chance I’ll swing back in her direction,” he adds lightly.
I’m already shaking my head. “You’re wrong. Mia didn’t lie for you out of fear. She did it from a place of love.”
Heaving a sigh, he says, “Francesca, of course you assume that—”