I hate being coldly methodical, but given my actual survival is on the line, I will. I’m already selling out my brother’s weaknesses so I can sneak out with his enemy, so whatever else I’m going to do can’t be worse.
I invite Mia out to brunch.
I do like Mia, so it’s not entirely underhanded, but I don’t invite her because I like her—I invite her because I need her to like me. Because when the dust settles and all this is over, if my brother is still standing, I need someone to advocate for me. Something Mia said struck me the other day, about how my brother gave her everything she asked for. When he told me about Mia leaving, he said he wanted her to leave. She says it was her idea. Now, I don’t know which version is the truth, but upon thinking it over, since he hurt her, I can’t think of a single thing Mateo has denied her. She wanted to go back with Vince, so he let her go back with Vince. She wanted to move out of the mansion, so he gave her a house. She presumably wanted freedom from this family, so he told her if she and Vince break up, she’s free to leave us behind. He even told me he thought Mia would be relieved that he was preoccupied with Meg.
The list could probably go on, but I’m not privy to every detail.
I’ve seen enough to get the idea: maybe my brother does give Mia everything she wants. He wouldn’t publicize that. He wouldn’t even tell her that; he doesn’t like anyone thinking they have power over him. But some people do. Beth did. He did the same thing with Beth. Mateo isn’t typically the sort of man to do a woman’s bidding, but he did hers. Whatever Beth wanted, Beth got. The only thing he refused to give her was her freedom back, once she decided she didn’t love him anymore.
I tried to give him advice there, too. I thought he should’ve let her go. Even if he didn’t mean it, even if he would’ve ultimately dragged her ass back, he should’ve given her a chance to miss him. Set her free, let her think he was done with her, and see if she changed her mind and wanted to come back.
He didn’t listen to me. He never listens to me.
It’s kind of awesome that Sal does, even if I hate everything about what we’re doing. I told him his plan was bad, he respected my opinion, and let me help make a new one. Team work. Mateo totally should’ve embraced my ideas.
Too late now.
It makes me sad, but the writing is on the wall at this point.
“This was a good idea,” Mia says as she uses her hand to smoosh her BLT down to a more manageable width. “We should do brunch more often.”
“Agreed.” I feel a little bummed though, knowing that won’t happen because now I have to hide away with Sal.
Suddenly turning sideways, Mia sticks her leg out to the side of the table. “I forgot to show you these beauties.”
I can’t help smiling at the white lacy Louboutin heels my brother must’ve have sent her. “A new present?” I ask.
She nods, watching me a little more closely than is typical of Mia. “Did you tell him about that talk we had?”
“I—No, of course not. I mean, I just told him I didn’t think you kept quiet out of fear. He thought that was why you lied.”
She narrows her eyes as if unconvinced, but she doesn’t seem to care, either. “Well, he upped my rewards, so I thought maybe you did.”
“Your rewards?”
She nods, taking a sip of lemonade. “When we moved out of the mansion, the presents obviously stopped. Since I lied to Meg, he started giving me presents again. But since you and I had that talk, he sent these, another pair of white sandals, and he’s decided to pay my tuition in the fall.”
I can’t even contain my pleasure. I feel bad that he’s going to kill the maid, but Mia can lick his wounds from this latest betrayal and make him all better. She’ll never betray him, so he’ll never have to deal with it from a romantic partner again. I don’t know what we’re going to do about the maid’s daughter. I guess she’s young enough and just a girl, maybe we can keep her like Dad kept Adrian. Mia likes kids. She can be an adopted daughter or a next generation maid or something.
“How’d Vince take the upswing in presents?” I ask, bringing a spoonful of soup to my lips.
“I don’t think he’s noticed, thankfully. He’s under a lot of stress right now with all the work stuff that’s happening. It’s starting to stress me out, too. I don’t know how this stuff works. Have you guys had anything like this happen before?”