Mateo knows all that.
He’s probably already gone over all this prior to our meeting, and he’s just going through the motions for me now. He’s already determined what he’ll do; nothing I say will actually have an effect. He’s probably already thought through ways he can use me in the future, now that I’ll be a direct line to the other side.
I’m still glad he’s alive, but he’s such a scheming bastard.
“I’ll have to talk to Salvatore first,” he informs me, putting his glass down on the desk and crossing his arms over his chest. “You need to stay out of my love life. I’m with Meg, not Mia, and Mia doesn’t have my protection so she shouldn’t have a target on her back either.”
“Do you love Meg?”
“I do,” he answers, without hesitation.
That wasn’t exactly the response I expected, and certainly not so quickly. Consequently, I can’t hold back a brief frown. “Enough that you don’t think about Mia anymore?”
Instead of answering that one, he raises his eyebrows. “This is the opposite of what I want. No more of this. You have to retire from meddling in my love life. I have it under control and I can manage without your help.”
“Without my help, you’d still think Mia’s keeping quiet out of fear.”
“Without your help, my life would be less complicated,” he states.
“No, you complicated things with the damn maid. If you would’ve let me get involved before instead of telling me to stay out of it, I could’ve figured all this out and helped you patch things up with Mia months ago.”
“Perhaps, but that didn’t happen. I did meet Meg. And I do love Meg. And you need to butt out.”
“Does Meg love you?” I ask, since I still have one more point to make.
“Yes, she does.”
“Does she really? All of you?” I ask, a little more pointedly. “Have you told her the truth about what you did to Mia?” When he doesn’t answer, I take that as a no. “Vince said something to me once, something that really resonated. He told me that Mia knew the absolute worst thing he’d ever done, and she still loved and accepted him. She could look in his darkest corners, and they wouldn’t scare her off. Somehow you haven’t scared Mia off and she knows how flawed you are; she knows you have it in you to be callously malicious. Mia has seen you at your worst, and she still sees something in you worth protecting. If you can’t say that about Meg, I think you’re with the wrong person. And Mia is damn sure with the wrong person; Vince knows the worst thing she’s ever done, and he does not accept her despite it. He makes her pay for it—for you—every chance he gets.”
Mateo is silent, but visibly irritable; I’m touching a nerve.
So I touch a little more.
“I also think you’re setting yourself up for Beth-like pain down the road,” I add. “You’re lying to Meg about who you are, and she’ll figure it out eventually. Maybe she knows some of what you’re capable of, but the fact that you know she’d abandon you if she knew the whole truth? That’s not exactly a solid foundation. If you think I’m wrong, tell her. See if she stays. I think you’re trying to pick the safe bet, and you’re wrong. Meg is not the safe bet.”
“Are you done?”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt again,” I tell him. I don’t add that I think he’s a couple heartbreaks away from becoming an irredeemable monster; that won’t help. “I want to see you happy and well-loved. I know Mia would never hurt you. I can’t say the same for Meg.”
“She took a bullet for me,” he states.
I smile, but there’s no humor in it. “So has Mia. Quite a few, actually.”
Mateo rolls his eyes, retrieving his drink from the desk and throwing the rest of it back. “I’m going to ship you off with Castellanos just to get you out of my ear.”
Now I grin in earnest. “I can live with that.”
“Does he know you’re a meddler?”
I nod vigorously. “He finds it endearing. Proof of how much I care about people. Maybe you’d see it that way too if you weren’t so cynical.”
“Let me guess,” he says, lightly mocking. “I’d be less cynical if I had Mia?”
I shrug, trying and failing to look innocent. “You said it, not me.”
“And I’m the shit-stirrer in this family,” he mutters.
I put my hands out like scales. “Shit-stirrer, harbinger of fate… who’s to say where the line is drawn?”
Chapter Thirty Three
Salvatore
I’m more than a little relieved when Francesca emerges from Mateo’s study in reasonably good spirits. I thought he’d be cruel, and since she inexplicably loves the bastard, that would hurt her. Frankly, I’ve been dreading her coming back out since she walked through those doors without me. Last thing I want is a pissing contest, like Adrian said, but I’m not going to let him subject my girl to his abuse, either. I don’t give a fuck who he is.