I’m not sure how to tell her I’m working for Mateo again. I don’t know if she’ll be pleased or disappointed, and I’m not even sure which I prefer.
“What’s this?” she asks, smiling at me before her gaze moves to the white plastic covering the hanger dangling from my hand.
I hand it to her, and she wastes no time peeling it off. I’m rewarded with a little gasp of pleasure when she sees it, and I’m relieved she seems to like it.
“It’s beautiful, Adrian; thank you,” she says, surprising me by moving in to hug me.
I wrap my arms around her, hugging her back, but it only makes me think about last night. I’m tempted to apologize, but I stop myself. I probably shouldn’t have had so much to drink, or pulled her against me in bed like that, and I definitely shouldn’t have done it without a shirt on. But I did, and it’s done, and she’s in better spirits today, so I’ll ignore my own reservations.
Pulling back, she tells me, “I did my assignment.”
I’d honestly forgotten about it. Nodding as if I didn’t, I say, “Good. I’ll read it after dinner.”
“I wrote a little in mine, too,” she tells me, finally releasing me and taking a step back. “It’s very pretty, thank you for thinking of it.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
I already feel tired, and I’m not looking forward to meeting up with Colin later. Actually, he hasn’t even verified he’ll show up, and he better, because if I haul my ass to the bar and sit there by myself, I’m gonna be pissed.
“I gotta go out later,” I tell her.
“Oh, okay. Do you want me to go?” she asks as she heads for the bedroom to change.
“Nah, it’s a… work thing.” I grimace, scratching the back of my neck, figuring there’s not going to be a better opening. “I have to help Mateo out for a little bit longer.”
There’s silence, and then her head pops out into the hall, the dress clutched to her chest. “What?”
“There was an assassination attempt. Another one. A more… effective one.”
Her entire face goes white, and my stomach drops. “Is he…?”
“No,” I say quickly, shaking my head. “They hit Meg instead.”
Her jaw drops and she moves into the hallway, slowly releasing a breath.
“She’s okay,” I add, still watching her more closely than I should. I already know she has a fascination with Mateo; I shouldn’t make it worse for myself by trying to find evidence of it.
Elise nods, but I’m relieved to see she looks pleased to hear that. “People really need to stop trying to kill him,” she states.
“Maybe if he’d stop giving them reasons,” I say, rolling my eyes.
A little smile tugs at her lips and she pops back into the bedroom to change.
Actually the funny thing is, as many people as there are with actual motives to kill Mateo, I don’t know why Antonio Castellanos has such a hard-on for him. He’s always been cold, since there aren’t a lot of kind-hearted mobsters heading families, but it seems to me he’s getting old and starting to lose his foothold within his own crew. There have been rumblings for a few months now that his family has started eyeing up his eldest son as a replacement—ruthless but charismatic, like Mateo, and more importantly, an ally to Mateo. Content to split territories like we’ve been doing with Castellanos for years, until he started getting increasingly greedy.
Of course, Salvatore Castellanos, heir apparent to the Castellanos family, isn’t exactly on Mateo’s good side these days. As of right now, we’re not even sure where he is. The old man and the son have both been lying low since the attack on Mateo, in the event there’s retribution.
Which of course there will be.
My phone buzzes and I look down to see a text from Colin. “See you then.”
I drop the phone in my pocket, wandering in the kitchen to see what Elise is cooking.
I don’t know if this is a good idea, either. Colin tends to be a bit of a charmer where ladies are concerned, so he’ll probably get on Mateo’s nerves being around Meg all the time. At the end of the day, McGregor’s a professional though, so I think it’ll be okay. I can’t really spare anyone in our family until I make sure they can all be trusted.
It’s a sad day when you have to bring in a freelancer because you don’t trust your own people.
Mateo needs to get his shit together. Or, I guess I need to get his shit together, since I went and offered to come back until I get things resolved.
Right now my priority is wrapping things up as quickly as possible.
Elise emerges from the bedroom with a smile on her face, doing a little spin to show me her new dress. “Like it?”