Once Burned (Morelli Family 3)

The mood in the whole house is solemn. Mia and Vince showed up, none of us thinking to tell them dinner had been canceled. Joey shows up, but upon hearing there’s no mandatory dinner tonight, he heads to Mateo’s study for a liquid dinner by himself.

Elise looks at the cassata cake Mia picked up from the bakery for dessert—my favorite. With Mateo in the state he’s in, there’s just no joy in the house.

Approaching Elise, I touch her shoulder. She jumps, spinning around as if she doesn’t know who to expect. I drop my hand, ducking my head.

“We should probably just go,” I tell her.

Mia grabs a knife, spinning around to slice into the cake. “Well, wait. You have to at least have some cake. We brought this specifically for you.”

“It was a nice thought,” I tell her. “This isn’t how any of us expected tonight to be, so we might as well just call it.”

Mia’s shoulders sag with defeat. “At least let me wrap some up for you to take.”

Elise goes to a cupboard near the pantry and digs out two paper plates, then she grabs aluminum foil and comes to help Mia pack the cake.

“I like cassata cake,” she says, glancing at me over her shoulder.

A ghost of a smile tugs at my lips. “Fine. We’ll take some cake.”

Mia cuts off two enormous slices and Elise wraps them. Dropping the knife into the sink, Mia turns back to me, bracing her hands behind her on the counter. “You’re not even going to go say goodbye to him?”

“He’s busy,” I point out.

She rolls her eyes, unimpressed. “He’s not too busy to say goodbye.”

I don’t like goodbyes anyway, but I don’t bother further defending my decision. It’s weird to think about, but I’ll probably never even see Mia after tonight.

“I’ll say goodbye to you,” I tell her.

“I still think you should say goodbye to him. He’s going to feel abandoned.”

Normally Mateo wouldn’t give in to the feeling of abandonment mere mortals succumb to, but in light of all this happening with Meg, and because it’s me, she’s probably right. Of course, I don’t think he’ll feel any less abandoned because of meaningless words like “goodbye” or “I guess it hasn’t been so bad keeping you alive these past five years,” so what’s the point?

Elise grabs the cake, but she’s watching Mia with a look I can’t quite peg. Like she’s trying to understand her, maybe? Trying to relate.

Glancing at me, Elise points out, “I didn’t really say goodbye to him either.”

“Do you want to?”

This question makes her uncomfortable. Her gaze moves from my shoes to Mia’s arm, then drops back to the expensive Tuscan tile covering the kitchen floor. “I don’t know.” Almost apologetically, she glances at me. “I have lived here a long time.”

I stifle a sigh, nodding my head. “Fine. We’ll say goodbye.”

“I don’t know,” she says again, fidgeting with the foil wrapping edge of the plate. “Maybe we should just go.”

I don’t understand Elise’s feelings for Mateo. I know it’s something she’s struggled with for years—more so since Mia forced her eyes open. She doesn’t confide in me anymore though, least of all about him, so I can’t be sure what she’s feeling now, knowing she’s really leaving, and she’ll really never see him again. One would think that would be a good thing—finally leaving the home of a man who has enslaved you for six years. While on a rational level it’s hard for me to swallow her conflicted feelings, psychologically I understand it’s not so simple. I’m committed to accepting it, even if it annoys the hell out of me.

Not to mention, Mateo has a primal effect on women that no textbook need explain. One look at Mia provides solid evidence of that—she should hate Mateo, but here she is, worried about him feeling abandoned. It’s like they can’t help but care about him, no matter what he does.

I don’t normally envy Mateo, but I wish I could have that effect—just on Elise, no one else.

Since I don’t and he does, I find myself following Elise to Mateo’s goddamn surveillance room.

Never having been inside the small room before, Elise’s eyes widen slightly, taking in the many screens. Mateo is parked at a desk behind the largest one, a pair of black headphones on as he listens to accompanying audio.

Upon seeing us enter the room, he presses pause and removes the headphones.

“You taking off?” he asks, rising.

I nod. “Yeah. Thought we’d say goodbye.”

Elise fidgets again, toying with her own hands since she’s not holding anything now.

Nodding, he comes out from behind his spy station, brushing past us to let us all out of the cramped space. The door opens up into his study. He pushes it shut behind him, and it just looks like a panel. Joey glances up from his wing chair, where he’s drinking and playing on his phone, but Mateo dismisses him with a flicker of a glance as he heads to his desk. Retrieving a small rectangular package wrapped in glossy silver paper, he hands it to Elise.