Chapter 14 - The Snake in the Grass
|
Evelyn was not a woman who accepted defeat gracefully.
As the guards moved in to pull Rockford up from the floor, Evelyn suddenly stood up, smoothing her dress, a desperate, manic look in her eyes. She looked at Mateo, attempting to use the last weapon she had always relied on: manipulation.
“Mr. Moretti,” Evelyn said, forcing a sickeningly sweet tone. “You are a powerful man. A man of refined tastes. Surely you don't actually want her.”
She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Adelaide.
“Look at her face,” Evelyn sneered. “She’s deformed. She’s a freak. She only married you because nobody else would ever want her. If you take our company, you don't need her anymore. Take Chloe instead. Chloe is beautiful. She would make a proper trophy wife for a man of your stature.”
Chloe, desperate to save her own skin, actually stopped crying and puffed out her chest, looking at Mateo with a pathetic, hopeful expression.
The entire room went dead silent. The capos held their breath.
Adelaide felt a brief, familiar sting of insecurity at Evelyn’s words, but before she could even react, Mateo began to laugh.
It was a cold, terrifying, humorless laugh that echoed off the high ceilings.
Mateo slowly stood up. He walked down the length of the table until he was standing directly in front of Evelyn. The stepmother shrank back, trembling under his towering presence.
“You think beauty is a smooth face and a nice dress?” Mateo asked softly, his voice dripping with venom. “Your daughter Chloe is a beautiful, empty shell. She would betray me the second a richer man walked into the room. She has no loyalty, no brain, and no spine.”
Mateo reached back and grabbed Adelaide’s hand, pulling her to his side.
“My wife is a queen,” Mateo stated, his black eyes burning into Evelyn’s terrified face. “Her scar is a mark of survival. She is smarter than every man in this room, and she is fiercely loyal. I wouldn't trade her for a thousand of your vapid daughters.”
May you like
He turned to the guards.
“Throw them out,” Mateo commanded. “No coats. No cars. Let them walk back to Boston in the rain.”
