AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fifteen
Daphne
Imight live at Emerson’s house, but that doesn’t mean I can skip dinner at my parents’. Technically, I could. I’ve missed some dinners before. This one’s important. This one’s proof that Emerson hasn’t kidnapped me again.
So I agree to be taken by Emerson’s driver, who is also going to meet with Leo’s driver and Gerard in case they need to coordinate in the future. The three of them chat by the SUV while I run up the front steps of the mansion I grew up in.
I never thought it was over the top when I was younger. It is, though. There are gargoyles. Even Leo’s house doesn’t have those. I didn’t question this house until I started thinking of Leo’s house as home, and not here. Then I moved into the city and realized how absurd it is to call a castle or a sprawling mansion a house.
Just inside the front doors, one of my father’s men takes my coat. He nods in the direction of the dining room. I’m still three minutes early, but I’m the last one to arrive. Leo and Haley are here. Lucian’s brought Elaine. Carter and Lizzy flew out already. Eva. Sophia. I go around the table for quick hugs. Leo pulls me into an empty seat next to him with Eva on my other side.
“See?” I tease. “Everything’s fine.”
“It is not,” Leo counters. “Tell your boyfriend to make up his mind on security. It’s been days.”
“It’s been, like, two days.”
There’s a weird rushing sound in my head. My boyfriend? Is that what Emerson is? It doesn’t seem like a strong enough word. Then again, I can’t go around saying that he acquired me like a piece of art. Or that I painted him like one.
Boyfriend?
It’s so normal. It’s what I would have called him if we’d met another way. If I call him that, does that turn what we have into something acceptable?”
“How have you been?” asks Eva. “Everything going okay at Emerson’s?” She flashes me wide eyes. Leo told her what happened, then. Or Carter. Or both of them.
“Yeah, but we have to talk soon. Also—”
I don’t get a chance to whisper my question to her because our father arrives. I get a second’s warning that it’s about to happen, because Leo takes his arm off the back of my chair and turns. Just a little. Then everyone else is turning their heads to see our father’s face.
His mood is like the weather. I didn’t have to pay much attention to it when I was small. Leo was always doing that. And there was always someone to make sure I had a raincoat or snowpants.
Tonight? It’s hard to tell. My dad’s expression is stern, his eyes dark, but I can’t tell if it’s because he’s angry or because he’s been drinking or because that’s just how he looks.
Leo knows. He shifts forward in his seat, blocking me from view a little more.
“How was the board meeting, Dad?” Eva asks.
“A waste of time,” barks our father. He’s still annoyed about not being the CEO of Morelli Holdings. Other businesses ask him to sit on boards. He advises them, and he’s well paid for it, but he doesn’t like it. “Is there some kind of delay?”
The servers are already rushing to put food on the table.
“Now that you’re here, we can say grace,” says Lucian, who’s sitting the closest to our father. He’s not actually going to pray. I’m sure he’s not until he folds his hands in front of him and bows his head. “Bless us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive…”
“Christ,” Leo murmurs under his breath. But he follows along. When Lucian lifts his head, Leo shoots him a what the fuck look across the table. Lucian flicks his eyes up, just behind Leo. If I turn my head, I can see what Leo can’t. One of the servers is new, and she’s really nervous. Something’s going on with her serving tongs. He bought her time.
Since when does Lucian care about servers?
Lucian catches me looking at him with narrowed eyes and makes the sign of the cross, like an asshole.
There’s clinking and murmured thanks while everyone gets water and wine and their servings of coq a vin. Leo waves the server with the Brussels sprouts straight over me and to Eva.
“I’m serious,” he says. “Why is he dragging his feet on hiring? I can do it if it’s going to be a problem.”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask him.”
“Tonight?”
“Oh my god. Yes. Tonight.” I lean forward over my plate. “How are your classes going?”
