Page 23 of Cavaliere

I smirk at her stunned face. I know I just threw a lot at her, but I’m thinking this is the way to get her to listen. She hasn’t opened that smart-ass mouth once. “Be a good girl for me, tesoro,” I call over my shoulder as I head out of the bedroom.

Wren may know me as Matteo, but she doesn’t know me as the boss.

Chapter

Seventeen

WREN

“Bitch!” Delaney yells at me as soon as I step into DD’s. “Where the fuck has your hoe ass been?”

Every person sitting at the rail is trying to act like they aren’t listening, but I know them all better than that. Nosey fuckers. It still doesn’t stop me from avoiding all eye contact as I make my way to the back to put my bag away before I start my shift.

Matteo lost his mind, thinking I was just going to sit around his house and wait for him to come back like some sorry housewife.

So, instead of resting, I waited for him to leave and snuck out when some guy that I’m pretty sure was supposed to be watching me passed out in the living room with a game on. A very fancy living room, I might add. Honestly, the whole house is fucking huge and fancy. Huge and fancy to the point where I didn’t feel like I could relax even if I wanted to. Even his towels felt like I wasn’t good enough to be using them.

I’m not really sure how long I have until Matteo realizes I’m gone, but I figure I’ll at least have enough time to make a little cash. I know my piece of shit landlord is going to charge me for every little thing that was damaged.

“You better have a good fucking reason for not answering my million calls and texts!” Delaney exclaims as she comes up behind me in the breakroom. “No joke, I was about to start my own FBI search party tonight after work.”

“I’m sorry, bitch,” I say as I slam my locker door shut and turn to face her. “It was just a really crazy twenty-four hours. I should have called you.”

“Oh my god! Your face, bitch! What happened to your face?” Delaney leans in, eyes wide.

Oh fuck.

When I quickly stopped by my place before coming here, I could still see faint bruises through the makeup, but I chalked that up to the ugly fluorescent lighting in my bathroom. No one looks good in those conditions. It’s like when you think you slayed your makeup, and then you get into a car and look in that mirror only to notice you didn’t blend shit.

I’m an idiot for thinking the dim lighting in DD’s would be enough to conceal it from Delaney. That girl would be able to pick my butthole out of a lineup. She’s bleached it enough times to know. I should have checked to make sure my makeup was still in place. Stay in place setting spray, my ass.

Delaney crosses her arms as she raises her eyebrows and cocks a hip out. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Start explaining, bitch!”

I don’t even know where to begin, so I start from the break-in. She knew the other stuff—kind of. By the time I finish, we’re just staring at each other—Delaney with her mouth as wide open as it was when I first started explaining and me just staring back, not knowing what else to say.

“How could you keep this from me?! You should have called! I can’t—” Delaney pauses her rant and looks at me like she’s thinking about something. “Did you say the guy you helped that also ended up helping you's name is Matteo?”

“Yeah. Kind of weird, right? I helped him, but now he just keeps popping up and saving me. Like some knight or something. He just shows up and swoops in.” It’s kind of weird how I’ve never seen him before in my life, and now he’s everywhere.

“Bitch,” Delaney says with wide eyes.

“Bitch,” I echo.

“Bitch, Matteo!” Delaney throws her hands up in the air, looking at me like I’m a fucking idiot.

“Am I supposed to know who Matteo is?”

“Yes! Matteo Adduci! The sexy knight that you’re describing sounds just like the men my vibrator and I have fantasies about.”

“Again, am I supposed to know who Matteo Adduci is?” Because right now, all this man is, is getting on my last fucking nerve.

“The Adducis?” Delaney exclaims, looking at me like I’m losing it. “Like the Mafia family? Come on, girl, we work in a bar! I know you hear people talking. Plus, Cain has some sort of thing with him. What that is? I’m not really sure. I just sometimes overhear stuff when I count my drawer down in the back.”

The Mafia?