Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN RED
Mia didn't look at the crate.
That was the hardest thing she'd ever done.
Matteo watched her the way gamblers watched cards.
Waiting for a twitch.
A glance.
Anything.
She gave him nothing.
"I think you have me confused with somebody."
Matteo smiled.
"Your apartment burned down last night."
Mia's face remained still.
"Did it?"
"Excellent."
"What?"
"Roman always liked brave people."
Mia's hand tightened around the tray.
Matteo leaned toward her ear.
"They usually die first."
Then he stepped away.
"Come."
"Where?"
"You wanted answers."
"I didn't say that."
"You came into my building wearing a false name."
His smile sharpened.
"People rarely do that because they're satisfied with their current level of information."
Two security men appeared behind her.
Tomas whispered through the earpiece.
"Go with him."
Mia wanted to argue.
Instead she followed.
Matteo led her away from the ballroom into a private corridor.
Roman remained behind.
That was the plan.
Get Matteo separated.
Get him talking.
But nothing about Matteo's expression suggested they were controlling the situation.
They entered an office overlooking the city.
A woman stood by the window.
Red dress.
Black hair threaded with silver.
Perhaps fifty.
Perhaps older.
Her face was striking, elegant, unreadable.
Mia stopped.
The woman looked at her as if she'd been expected.
"Serafina," Matteo said, "meet Roman's little miracle."
Mia's skin went cold.
The woman from Saint Agnes.
The one who had placed the medallion around Roman's neck.
Serafina Orsini.
She studied Mia.
"So you're the one."
"The one what?"
Serafina ignored the question.
"Where is Roman?"
Mia smiled.
"According to this whole gala, he's dead."
Matteo poured himself whiskey.
"She's funny."
Serafina didn't smile.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Serafina walked closer.
"You smell like him."
Mia blinked.
"That's a deeply strange sentence."
"You cared for him."
Matteo turned.
Interesting.
Serafina reached toward Mia's hand.
Mia stepped back.
"Don't touch me."
The woman's expression changed.
Not anger.
Approval.
"He trusts you."
Mia remained silent.
Serafina looked at Matteo.
"You didn't tell me this."
"Because it doesn't matter."
"It matters very much."
"Why?"
Serafina's eyes returned to Mia.
"Because the curse should have erased his human attachments."
Mia's heart kicked.
"What does that mean?"
Matteo's expression hardened.
"Enough."
Serafina ignored him.
"By the sixth month, he should have forgotten language."
Mia stared.
"By the seventh, faces."
"No."
"By the ninth moon, there should be nothing left but the animal."
Mia couldn't breathe.
Roman never told them.
Maybe he didn't know.
Serafina moved closer.
"But he remembered."
Mia thought of the first night.
Cookie listening to every word.
Counting rent.
Understanding jokes.
"Why?"
Serafina smiled faintly.
"Because somebody treated him as a man when he no longer looked like one."
Matteo slammed down his glass.
"This is irrelevant."
"No," Serafina said.
"It's inconvenient."
The men stared at each other.
Mia saw it.
Matteo was afraid of her.
Not physically.
Of what she represented.
"You're losing control of the curse."
Matteo stepped toward her.
"I control everything that happens in this building."
Mia smiled.
"That's what insecure men always say immediately before finding out they don't."
He slapped her.
The room went silent.
Mia's head snapped sideways.
Her cheek burned.
Matteo froze.
Serafina looked almost bored.
Mia slowly turned back.
"Feel better?"
Matteo's jaw tightened.
Behind him, one of the security guards glanced toward the door.
Mia noticed.
Fear.
Not of Matteo.
Something outside.
Then she heard it.
A growl.
Low.
Close.
Matteo heard it too.
"No."
The office door exploded inward.
Roman hit the first guard chest-high.
The man crashed into a bookcase.
The second drew his gun.
Tomas appeared behind Roman and struck his wrist.
The shot went into the ceiling.
Matteo backed toward the desk.
Roman walked into the office.
Blood showed along one shoulder.
Mia stared.
"You're hurt."
Roman didn't look at her.
His eyes remained on Matteo.
For the first time since Mia met him, Roman didn't look like Cookie.
He didn't even look like an animal.
He looked exactly like the man in Tomas's photograph.
Matteo whispered, "Roman."
The medallion at Roman's throat glowed faintly.
Serafina went still.
Mia saw it.
"So did you," she said.
Serafina whispered, "It shouldn't do that."
Matteo grabbed the gun from the desk.
Roman lunged.
"Don't!" Serafina shouted.
The medallion flashed.
Roman screamed.
His body twisted midair.
When he landed, he had hands.
Human hands.
Bare feet struck marble.
The transformation continued.
Black fur vanished.
Bones shifted.
Seconds later Roman Vescari stood in the center of the office.
Human.
Breathing hard.
Wearing nothing except torn remnants of the harness Rosa had modified and the silver medallion.
Mia forgot that guns existed.
Matteo forgot too.
Roman looked at his brother.
"Miss me?"
Matteo fired.
Mia screamed.
Roman moved.
The bullet grazed his ribs.
Tomas shot Matteo's weapon from his hand.
Security alarms erupted.
Roman grabbed a fallen jacket and wrapped it around his waist with the dignity of a man who had apparently decided nearly being naked during a gunfight wasn't going to embarrass him.
Matteo stared.
"How?"
Roman's voice came rough but strong.
"Disappointed?"
"You can't change back."
"I've heard that a lot."
Roman stepped closer.
Matteo backed away.
"Eight months."
Roman's expression became terrifyingly calm.
"You know what I learned in eight months?"
Matteo said nothing.
"Which restaurants throw food away after midnight."
One step.
"Which alleys stay dry during storms."
Another.
"How people treat something they think can't understand them."
Matteo's face tightened.
"And I learned something about you."
Roman stopped inches away.
"You were always weak."
Matteo swung.
Roman caught his fist.
The brothers stared at each other.
"You needed Elias."
Roman twisted his wrist.
"You needed Serafina."
Harder.
"You needed twenty men in a church to do what you couldn't do yourself."
Matteo gasped.
Roman leaned closer.
"You needed magic."
"Roman," Mia said.
He stopped.
His head turned.
One word.
His name.
From her.
The fury in his face eased.
Matteo saw it.
Mia knew immediately she'd made a mistake.
His gaze moved between them.
Understanding arrived.
"Oh."
Roman released him.
Matteo smiled.
"Oh, Roman."
"Don't."
"Now I understand."
Roman stepped toward Mia.
Matteo laughed.
"The great Roman Vescari."
His eyes settled on her.
"Fell in love with the girl who fed him scraps."
Roman went still.
Mia did too.
Nobody spoke.
Matteo's smile widened.
"That's almost beautiful."
Roman's hand closed around his throat.
"Say one more word about her."
"Roman!"
Tomas pulled him back.
Serafina grabbed Mia.
Roman turned.
A knife appeared at Mia's throat.
"Enough."
Roman froze.
Serafina's arm tightened around Mia.
Matteo rubbed his neck.
"You should have stayed a dog."
Roman's eyes became murderously cold.
Mia felt the knife against her skin.
"Let her go."
Matteo smiled.
"Why?"
"Because this is between us."
"No."
He walked toward Mia.
"This was between us eight months ago."
He touched Mia's cheek where he'd struck her.
Roman lunged.
Serafina pressed the blade tighter.
Roman stopped.
Matteo looked delighted.
"Now it's much more interesting."
Then the office door opened.
An elderly man entered.
Everyone froze.
White hair.
Cane.
Perfect black suit.
Roman whispered one word.
"Father?"
Mia's eyes widened.
Tomas looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
Matteo's face drained of color.
Because Vittorio Vescari—the father whose funeral Roman had attended three years earlier—was standing in the doorway.
May you like
Alive.
And smiling.
