UNHOLY DESIRE

DEIRDRE

It hadn’t been more than two hours since Matteo had given me the time I needed. I emerged from the room, my luggage in tow.

As I reentered the living room, I spotted Matteo, Lucia, and Kendall. Kendall rushed towards me, her ice cream cone forgotten in her hand.

“Mama!” she exclaimed, gripping my legs. “You look so pretty.”

“Thank you, baby,” I replied, tousling her hair.

Matteo came over to me, leaning in. “You look good.”

I nodded. It wasn’t the first time he’d complimented me, and I doubted it would be the last.

Matteo had changed into a different outfit. Instead of the brown two-piece suit he’d worn earlier, he now sported a tailored navy blazer matched with a crisp white dress shirt. He paired it with well-fitted khaki trousers and a complementary brown leather belt.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Lucia approached him, adjusting the navy blue silk pocket square, then gestured to the brown loafers he wore.

“What?” Matteo asked.

“You promised to get me one,” she reminded him, and Matteo nodded in acknowledgment.

Though Matteo had called her family, I couldn’t shake the feeling that their relationship ran deeper. She fixed his pocket square, and he was about to fulfill a promise to her. Maybe I was reading too much into it. I couldn’t deny a pang of jealousy towards Lucia, as Matteo was remarkably attentive to her.

Matteo knelt down to Kendall’s eye level, taking her tiny hands in his. “Will you be good for Aunt Lucia?”

Kendall nodded, then furrowed her brows as if just realizing that we were both dressed up and standing before her.

“Going somewhere?” she asked. “I want to.”

She turned to me, her hands raised in question.

“We’ll be back before you know it,” Matteo assured her, prompting a sigh from me.

Kendall crossed her arms over her chest, and her lips formed a pout. I half-expected a tantrum, but to my surprise, she remained calm.

“I’ll bring you lots of toys,” Matteo promised. “And we can visit any place you want.”

“Toys?” Kendall’s eyes widened, her head tilting as if she was considering something. Her eyes sparkled, and she nodded. “Even Disneyland?”

“Even Disneyland,” Matteo affirmed. “Wherever my little flower wants to go, we’ll go.”

“Yay!” Kendall cheered, wrapping her arms around Matteo, who glanced at me with a triumphant look.

It was odd. I’d never seen Kendall so agreeable. She’d never let me leave without a fuss before, always voicing her displeasure. But now, she seemed to be on board with everything Matteo said, which was a bit strange.

Matteo checked his classic Rolex wristwatch, then turned to me. “We need to go.”

I nodded. “I love you, Kenny. Be a good girl.”

“Bye, Mama, Daddy. I’ll miss you,” she waved.

I would definitely miss her. It felt like I was leaving her for an eternity rather than just a few days.

***

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to leave Kendall?” I asked for what felt like the hundredth time as we headed to the port.

I didn’t recognize any of the locations we were passing. Despite having been in Miraval for three years, I only knew a handful of places – my workplace, my home, and now Matteo’s penthouse.

“Don’t you think we should take her with us? She’s just a child, and I’m not sure how well she’ll do with strangers.”

“She’ll be fine,” Matteo replied gruffly. Then he added, “Besides, it’s too risky for Kendall to travel with us.”

“How risky?” I started to ask, but grimaced as the car came to a sudden stop.

“Much more than you can imagine,” Matteo said. I wanted to press him for details, but he opened his door, and when I tried to open mine, he stopped me.

“Stay in the car and don’t leave unless I tell you to,” he instructed, then turned to the driver. “You should follow my earlier instructions as well.”

“What’s happening?” I frowned, but Matteo had already closed his door and was walking away from me.

“What’s happening?” I inquired of the driver. Since I didn’t know his name, I pressed him for it.

“I apologize, but I need to understand why we’re in the car and not outside,” I questioned.

“The boss needs to have a discussion before anything can proceed. It can become dangerous from here,” he explained. “By the way, I’m Roy, pleased to be at your service, ma’am.”

“Deirdre,” I replied, though I doubted an introduction was necessary. Matteo had taken it upon himself to talk about me to everyone he knew without my consent.

“The boss is approaching,” Roy informed me.

I leaned toward the wound-up window to catch a glimpse of Matteo striding towards us.

He opened the door with a sigh, then turned to me. “You’ll be taken to the room we’ll be using. Make yourself comfortable.”

“And what about you?” I asked, noting his exhaustion. Since I’d arrived at his house, I doubted he’d managed to get any sleep.

“Are you concerned for me?” Matteo smirked at me. “I thought you never cared.”

“What?” I furrowed my brow, feigning innocence. “Why should I care about you? I just need to make sure I’m not meeting my end today.”

“No one would dare lay a hand on you,” Matteo’s eyes darkened. Not in a lustful way but in a dangerous one. “I’d do whatever it takes to protect you.”

It sounded enticing to see Matteo so fiercely protective of me, but I didn’t want anyone to die because of me, and I knew he was capable of such a thing.

“Take this,” he handed me a wristwatch. I shook my head, displaying my own functioning one on my left wrist. “I already have a working one.”

“This one has a surveillance camera and a microphone. I need to see and hear everything that’s happening with you,” he explained.

“Isn’t that illegal and an invasion of privacy?” I questioned.

“Perhaps, if I did it without your knowledge. However, I’m informing you about it, so I don’t think it counts as such,” he reasoned.

Observing Matteo, he didn’t appear to have any sinister motives behind giving me the wristwatch. Plus, my unfamiliarity with the location left me feeling cautious, so I accepted it from him.

“I’ll join you in a moment,” he murmured, brushing his lips against the corner of my mouth before exiting the car.