I’m lucky I didn’t trigger bedlam last night by bringing up Beth. The longer I’m in the room keeping an eye on him, the less concerned I am.
Mateo comes over to the cart for a refill since I didn’t keep a good enough eye on his glass, and I use the pocket of privacy to ask, “What’s wrong with Adrian?”
Mateo rolls his eyes, grabbing his decanter and filling his own glass. “The talk with Elise didn’t go as well as he hoped.”
My eyes widen. “She said no?”
He replaces the decanter. “Doesn’t matter. I told him not to worry about it; he still has a few more months. He’ll get her eventually, just not today.”
“But if she doesn’t want to go…”
Mateo rolls his eyes. “I could sell condoms to a nun, Francesca; I can sell Elise on Adrian.”
“This is your fault, you know,” I remark. “You shouldn’t have let her have even a little bit of hope. She’s going to pass up a great guy to nurse a hopeless crush on you.”
His eyes twinkle with amusement as he meets mine. “Gee, thanks.”
“You have to fix this,” I tell him, seriously.
“I will,” he says, like it was already a foregone conclusion.
“I could talk to her,” I offer. “She knows how great Adrian is, but I could totally talk him up if you want me to.”
Mateo shakes his head, taking a sip of his drink. “Don’t bother. Scaring people off is my specialty; I really don’t need any assistance.”
At least he’s self-aware, I guess.
I spot Adrian’s empty glass again, so I grab the decanter and go over to fill it for him.
Adrian’s normally the easiest person during drinks—he frequently gets his own, because his mom was a maid and he doesn’t like women serving him. Not tonight, though. Tonight he doesn’t move from his chair and he runs my ass off keeping his glass full. I feel so bad, I want to hug him. He’s not really a hugger, so I don’t, but I want to.
Finally, I refill the last drink and head for the door. Dinner starts soon, and I need to get back and make sure Mia and Cherie have things running smoothly without me. I probably shouldn’t have left them to their own devices. Cherie knows how to handle dinner, but Mia’s still fairly new. I’m glad I did, though. I feel a lot less anxious about my own problems.
I make it out into the hallway, presumably in the clear, and then I hear Mateo call out behind me, “Francesca, one more thing.”
My heart stops.
All of a sudden sweat breaks out across my forehead. Mateo doesn’t chase people out into the hall. This cannot be good.
I swallow, then I slowly turn back to face him. “Yes?”
He glances back into the study, then pulls the door shut behind him, separating us from the people inside. Oh, God. He doesn’t want anyone to hear. This is going to be so bad. I’m so busted. He knows. What am I going to do?
Only he doesn’t drop the bomb I expect, maybe a smirk laced with malice as he casually tells me to tell Salvatore he says hi.
Instead he says, “Have Mia bring me my dinner tonight.”
It takes a few seconds for me to legitimately wrap my head around this order. What? Why? She’s Vince’s girl; she’s only supposed to serve Vince. This order doesn’t make any sense. My brain literally can’t process it.
“What about Vince?” I ask, my mind searching for purchase in this unfamiliar territory, but I just can’t. For 28 years I’ve been in this family, serving them on Sundays for over a decade, and I’ve never encountered a request like this one.
“She can serve him, too. She’ll serve both of us for now,” he says.
For now?
I’m still drowning in confusion, but the only possibilities I can reach are bad. Really bad. Dread rolls over me and I recall other words I spoke last night, about how he needs to move on. This is so not what I meant.
He doesn’t wait for me to argue with him though. He doesn’t explain himself, because he doesn’t have to. His order has been issued, so he takes a step back and opens the study door, dismissing me with a nod and going back to his command post.
Chapter Twenty Two
A pall falls over the Morelli homestead.
It starts slow, with Mia serving Mateo at dinner. It’s unprecedented so no one entirely understands what it means, but we all know it can’t be good. Vince definitely knows it can’t be good. He’s been paranoid about Mateo trying to break them up to begin with, but now this? It’s aggressive. It’s intentionally embarrassing for Vince, and even though I know Mateo isn’t fucking Mia, it makes me wonder if he’s about to.
I try to avert the crisis I may have partially triggered. I try telling Mia it will be fine, to just keep her focus on Vince. I know Mateo can be pretty damn convincing if he sets his sights on something, but I hold out hope that he doesn’t really want Mia, he’s just playing some kind of ultimately harmless game. I hope Mateo is only baring his teeth, only threatening. I hope he won’t really bite anyone, but he dashes those hopes in grand fashion.