Chapter 2 Dinner day 1 act 2
I know you don’t expect what is coming. I know you think all your secrets are buried deep and sleep peacefully. I have already dug them up and woken them from their slumber. Now I will lean back and watch how you desperately fight to hide them again.
Milo
I hated family dinners. They were usually boring affairs, meant to let the women show off their latest shopping spree and for the men to pretend not to talk business. At least when Great-Aunt Gia attended, I could talk to her. She was the only good part of this family, and now she was gone as well. He adjusted the cuffs on his shirt. It hadn’t come as a surprise that the old woman had passed away. She hadn’t been well for the last couple of years. It didn’t make it any less of a tragedy, in my opinion. I looked around the drawing room and stopped myself from sighing.
“Miss Young,” the butler announced, and I saw my salvation stepping through the doors, presenting herself for all of us to appraise her. Not bad looking, not bad at all. The auburn hair and pale skin with a sprinkle of freckles might not be in style, but it was charming. A voice in my mind told me I had seen her before, that she was familiar. As the family gawking was over, I made my move and introduced myself. I was happy to find that she was pleasant company. She didn’t try to pretend to fit in, didn’t make excuses for being someone who wasn’t family. Then I went and screwed up. How was I to know she was Rita’s cousin? That is when it clicked. She looked a little like Rita. Not enough for me to have made the connection straight away, but enough for that annoying voice to pick at it.
“If that is the Don, and that is his mother, I’m guessing the man next to her is his father?” she asked me after the lawyer had left.
“Yes, Maximus,” I said.
“Then who are those people?” she asked, glancing over to an older man and woman with a man and woman in their early twenties.
“That is Julius Rimi, the Don’s uncle. His wife, Jessica, and their two children, Nero and Julia,” I let her know.
“The entire family, or is there someone who hasn’t showed up?” she asked.
“Everyone is here; no one would turn their back on the Rimi money,” I told her.
“It’s all very impressive and a little overwhelming,” she said, looking around. I saw her eyes looking at the dresses and jewellery of the other women.
“Don’t feel like that. The clothes and sparkling stones are just decorations to distract you from the cesspool underneath,” I whispered. Nancy’s eyes grew bigger. She was a sweet woman. She didn’t belong here. This place would end up corrupting her, as it did with everyone. Maybe that was why I was here? To keep the filth from her. Tea time passed with Nancy and me being left alone. Sometimes it paid off to be a part of the side of the family no one wanted to acknowledge.
“I’ll head back to my room to rest for a bit,” Nancy told me.
“I’ll see you at dinner, don’t forget,” I said and gave her one of my rehearsed smiles. She gave me a shy smile and nodded. As she left the room, I got ready to leave as well. No idea to hang around.
“Milo.” I stopped and turned around.
“Don Alexander,” I said, inclining my head a little.
“Who is she?” he asked.
“Nancy Young, Rita’s cousin,” I told him. I had the pleasure of watching my cousin go pale.
“Rita’s?” he asked. The usual power was gone from his voice.
“Yes. Apparently, they weren’t on speaking terms when Rita passed. I wonder why Great-Aunt Gia invited her,” I asked, enjoying every moment of his struggle.
“My grandmother and Rita were close. Maybe it was her way of making sure Rita was remembered,” Alexander said. I hummed and nodded.
“Alex, I want to leave,” Ava whined as she walked over to us and grabbed Alexander’s arm.
“Not now, Ava. I’m talking,” Alexander said, the impatience clear in his voice.
“But I’m bored,” she said. How Alexander could stand more than five minutes in this woman’s company, I would never understand. If the rumours were true and this affair had started before he lost Rita, it made even less sense. Rita understood her role and had class. She would never have belittled herself to whine at a family gathering.
“I really have no other information to give you, cousin. You now know everything I do about Miss Young. I will retire to handle some business. Please excuse me. I will see you at dinner,” I said. I walked out of the room before someone else in the family remembered I existed.
Back in my room, I relaxed, took off my suit jacket and tie. I wasn’t used to these rituals. But when in the Rimi manor... I sank down at the small desk and unlocked the drawer with the letters my man Oliver had brought me earlier. As soon as old man Rimi had understood I wasn’t as easy to control as my father, the family had sent me back to the old country. They needed someone to monitor the family’s businesses there. It was a position that gave me an air of having been given a status by the family, without actually giving me any power. Now I needed to handle the business from across the Atlantic Ocean. Frustrating, to say the least. On top of everything, my gut was telling me something would happen during dinner. I knew Great-Aunt Gia well enough to know that she wouldn’t make the trouble of gathering everyone if she didn’t have something she wanted. I gave up on trying to get through the letters. I would have better luck with them after the dinner when I got the answers. I made a lap around the room and ended up on the balcony overlooking the garden. In the rose garden, Uncle Julius and Jessica were arguing. Unfortunately, they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying. It wasn’t an uncommon sight. Since Uncle Julius had brought Jessica home, they had always argued. It was another woman I didn’t understand how she got picked. Her husband had worked hard to hide her past; too bad he couldn’t hide her manners. They were like a big, flashing lighthouse. I shook my head and headed inside. My life in Italy had at least been nice and quiet. Well, as nice and quiet as a life in the mafia could get.
