Page 46 of Sweet Prison
I squeeze the cuff of my long sleeve and look away. Yeah. Of course it won’t happen again. As if someone like him would ever be attracted to someone like me.
The ring of the doorbell breaks the silence.
“That must be your household staff. I’ll let them in,” I mumble and run away.
***
Sitting across from me and Massimo, the reno company’s consultant, Mr. Jeffrey King, looks up from his tablet and smiles.
“I’ve jotted down all of your requests and I’m happy to say we can take on this project. The timelines might need to stay a little flexible to accommodate all the variables, however, we should be able to finish the job within two months.”
I steal a quick look at Massimo. He’s leaning back with an arm laid over the back of the couch and glaring at the rep.
“I need it to be done by Thursday.”
The man nearly chokes and shifts uncomfortably. “I am truly sorry, Mr. Spada, but the earliest I can have someone here is tomorrow, and it’s absolutely impossible to complete the renovation of a house this size in five days. Even if I could bring all of our teams onto this project simultaneously, we will still need at least six weeks.”
Massimo’s facial expression transforms from bored indifference to a menacing scowl. He leans forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and gets into the guy’s face. “I said, I want it done by Thursday.”
“I completely understand your frustration, Mr. Spada, we simply can’t—”
Massimo’s hand shoots out, and his fingers wrap around King’s throat. “I don’t think you understand,” he growls as he pulls the man toward him.
Grabbing Massimo’s knee, I give it a little squeeze. “Maybe they could push it a bit and get it done in a month. Would that work?”
Massimo’s hold on the consultant’s neck loosens, but he doesn’t release him. “No. The Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening.”
“Then, we’ll have the workers overhaul the ground floor first so it will be finished by Wednesday night.” I shift my focus to Mr. King. “Is that doable?”
The poor man is tugging on Massimo’s thick wrist with both of his hands, trying to free himself, while his eyes flit between me and Massimo. “Absolutely. No problem at all.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze Massimo’s knee again. “Let him go.”
The moment Massimo releases the rep, the man scrambles to his feet and hightails it. I wait to hear the telltale slam of thefront door, then cross my arms under my chest and turn toward Massimo. He’s staring at the floor between his feet but otherwise appears unaffected by what just happened.
“I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room.”
His jaw hardens. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do. Last night, when you exploded at the cleaning crew, I thought you were merely stressed. Then, this morning, you lost your cool during the staff interviews. And now this.”
The fiasco with the job candidates that the staffing agency sent over was epic. Massimo started questioning them about all sorts of bizarre things, including how well they could handle firearms. Saying that most of the people were shocked, is an understatement. And when every one of them withdrew their application and asked to leave, Massimo exploded.
“I sometimes have a hard time controlling my temper. That’s all,” he says with a shrug.
“Well, you’ll have to start managing it better or the capos are going to bury you.”
His head snaps up, eyes finding mine.
“You know I’m right,” I continue. “No matter how good you are at handling the Family business, if anyone thinks that you’re mentally unstable, you’re done. All the work you’ve put in over the years will be for nothing.”
He doesn’t say a thing, just watches me with a haunted look in his eyes. And I… I just want to embrace him and tell him that everything will be okay. But he was more than clear this morning. He doesn’t see me the same way I see him, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t make him fall in love with me. Still, I’ve chosen to stay with him regardless.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
“That I’m royally fucked-up? Would you have agreed to come with me if I had?”
“Yes.”