Entrapment (Morelli Family 7.5)

I stare at my brother, wanting to jump down his throat and tell him he’s way the fuck out of line.

The thing is, he’s right.

I do have a responsibility to my family, and I am making a foolish decision because I want to keep Mia. I didn’t mean to, it certainly wasn’t the plan, but instead of growing her hatred of me, I saw her softening and changed paths. I decided to keep her, and I started behaving accordingly. I’m the reason Mia isn’t going to talk, and I’m supposed to be the reason she will.

“That girl knows too much,” he states, his tone somewhat calmer since he can see I’m listening. “Beth didn’t know much, so she didn’t have much to say. That’s not true of this girl. She can single-handedly fuck every last one of us. I’ve never even met the fucking girl and she can ruin my life. We aren’t going down because you decided you like this girl. That’s not happening. If you can’t get the job done yourself, let me know and I’ll take it from here. I can make her hate me in the next 24 hours, I guarantee it.”

Now I have to resist the urge to glare at him. I keep my expression clear, but inject steel into my tone so there’s no question how serious I am. “No one touches Mia but me.”

“Then handle it. Because if you don’t handle it yourself, I’m taking this to Dad. You know, the actual boss of this fucking family.”

“You’re not taking shit to Matt,” Adrian states, jumping in now and standing, staring down Dante. “You don’t get to jump the fucking line. That’s not how this works.”

Dante spreads his hand, as if innocent. “We all listen to Mateo. But if it were to happen Mateo couldn’t take care of his fucking business, no one could blame anyone for acting on Dad’s orders. Something tells me his orders on how to handle the girl would be a lot less lenient.”

“Do not fucking threaten me,” I tell Dante. Now I glare at the asshole.

“Then handle your shit,” he says, enunciating each word slowly.

“He is handling his shit,” Adrian states. “I’m the only one the girl has any real dirt on. The leaked information was all fake, just to set her up. If I’m satisfied that she isn’t going to talk, then you should be. It’s my ass on the line, not yours.”

“Bullshit,” Dante says. “Vince was there. She can place Vince at the scene of that crime, not just you.” Now Dante pints his finger at me. “If he wants to fuck you, he’ll talk. And I don’t know or care what you’re doing to his girlfriend, but my sources say he wouldn’t pass up the chance to fuck you over right now.”

He’s got me there, too.

“This was your fucking plan, Mateo,” Dante says, meeting my gaze. It’s not the anger that fazes me, it’s the wavering trust I see flickering in his eyes. Dante and I don’t always see eye to eye on everything and I certainly don’t trust him, but he trusts me. Regardless of our differences in leadership style, he trusts me to take care of this family, to make choices that are respectful of the responsibility I have to them. I always have. Beth was my one fuck-up, the one time I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. I should’ve taken more steps to make sure Beth was trustworthy before I let her into our lives. I should have kept a better eye on her when I knew she wasn’t happy to ensure that, regardless of how she felt, she wouldn’t try to harm my family.

I failed them.

Now I’m doing it again. I’ve done this the wrong way. I didn’t know what I was working with—my plan would have been different if I had known Mia better when I made it. She took me off-guard these past few days and made me consider possibilities I haven’t in years. If I’d known her, I could have been braced for all her softness. I expected her to fight, to be angry, to resist. When she didn’t, I didn’t know how to react and I let us fall into… well, almost a relationship. She just asked to meet my daughter today, for fuck’s sake.

I finally nod, slowly. “You’re right. I went off-plan. I’ll fix it.”

Dante eases back, the tension easing out of his shoulders.

Meanwhile Adrian tenses up. “Mateo, no.”

I hold up a hand and cut him off. “No, he’s right, Adrian. The right thing to do is to test her. I can get her back to where I need her. It won’t be hard. I know most of her weak spots already. I know how to hurt her.”

“Come the fuck on,” Adrian says, losing his patience with me. “Haven’t you done enough to that poor girl?”