Chapter 22: Chapter 22

C H A P T E R - - - - F O U R T E E N - - - - S E L E N A

“I think I know exactly what’s going on here,” Matteo said, practically snarling now as he stepped a little closer to her.

Selena stood her ground, refusing to back up or yield any space to him, the knife in her pocket giving her strength, even though she knew she could really only do minimal damage with it if it came down to that. He would prevail in a physical fight. No, instead, she’d have to do something she hated. She’d have to scream for help. But not until he actually got physical with her; otherwise, she’d lose her job and Reidan in one fell swoop.

“You’re fucking my brother. You met him, what, a few days ago? And already you’re letting him in your pants? You haven’t even done me once. What’s up with that?”

Selena shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe I don’t fuck around with losers. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.” She knew it was foolish to taunt him at a time like this, but some part of her wished he’d just attack and get it over with. She could handle him if she had to, but the anticipation, the gradual build-up of fear inside of her was too much to take.

Matteo clicked his teeth, making a popping sound from deep inside his mouth with his tongue before smiling again, cheerily, like she’d said something hilarious. “Funny. You’re a funny girl. I like that. I like you, you know, in general. You’re a pretty hot girl with a good head on your shoulders. So, I trust that you’ll listen to me when I tell you this because I’m not fucking around.”

He paused, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to let her talk. Either way, Selena didn’t take the bait, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him silently instead.

“You fucked my brother. What’s done is done. You can’t take that mistake back, no matter how hard you deny it, baby. So, let me tell you what’s got to happen now. You’re going to fuck me, too. In fact, you’re going to stop doing him and focus on me exclusively.”

“Why the hell would I do that?” Selena snapped, beyond denying the sex with Reidan at this point. There was no point. Matteo knew the truth anyway, even if he had no idea about the exact nature of their relationship.

“Because pretty soon I’m going to be the boss, babe,” Matteo said, his eyes twinkling with something between mischief and satisfaction, like he’d already won their argument and gotten her to agree to fuck him. “And you want to keep your job, don’t you?”

“Wh-what?” Selena whispered, unable to raise her voice any higher under the weight of the fear that suddenly crashed down over her head.

“You heard me,” Matteo said, but then he went on to repeat himself anyway. He probably liked the sound of his own voice, Selena figured. “You sleep with me, soon, or you won’t have a job anymore. And you can’t afford to lose this position, right? What are you going to do instead? Be a bookkeeper at a coffee shop somewhere? Or actually serve the coffee? How’s that going to keep your dad alive?”

“How do you know about my dad?” Selena asked indignantly. She’d never talked about her personal problems at work before, except a little bit with Giovanni here and there before he died. But he never would have talked to his son about it. He just wasn’t that kind of man.

Matteo shrugged, apparently unwilling to give her a satisfactory answer. “I have my ways. You shouldn’t worry about that. Instead, I suggest you focus on the problem standing in front of you. Now, I don’t want to fuck you right now. I’m not really into sloppy seconds, if you know what I mean. But you better get ready to fuck me soon, and it better be good. Otherwise…” He trailed off, shrugging again and smiling meanly at her, his eyes reflecting the moonlight shining down from above in the ugliest way imaginable, as if there was some nuclear bomb inside of him, just ready to go off and consume everything that Selena was.

Selena stared as mean and cold back at Matteo, wanting him to be perfectly aware of how much she hated him. She’d always disliked him, always found him rather disgusting, just based on the way he harassed all of the women in the office. But now it was beyond that. He’d never made threats like this before, or she would have found herself looking for another job a long time ago.

It must be because of Giovanni, Selena realized. He never would have done this if Giovanni were still alive because he would know that he wouldn’t be able to get away with it. But now that his father is gone…. nothing will stop him.

Except for Reidan, of course, she realized belatedly. Maybe Reidan would protect her, despite the fact that they’d only known each other for a couple of days. They’d really connected, bonding in a way that Selena had never expected. He could keep her safe, defend her from his brother.

“So, what do you think your brother is going to say about this when I tell him that you’ve been threatening me?” Selena said, narrowing her eyes at Matteo, who looked unbothered. “Do you really think you can just get away with saying this kind of shit to me? Reidan is the boss now. Not you.”

“Not for long,” Matteo muttered under his breath.

“What? What does that mean?” Selena asked, feeling her pulse start to pound in her throat, fear collecting at the bottom of her stomach.

“Nothing,” Matteo replied dismissively, waving his hand as if she was imagining things. “Nothing at all. But to answer your question, nothing’s going to happen to me. Because you’re not going to tell my brother a thing.”

“What? Yes, I am. I’m going to do it right now,” Selena said, turning on her heel and beginning to march up the hill, back in the direction of the apartment building, where Reidan was probably getting ready for bed.

But before she could scale the hill, Matteo’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, keeping her in place in much the same way as his brother did earlier. Chills reverberated inside of Selena’s bones, freezing her in place even as she felt Matteo’s hot, sickly breath hit the back of her exposed neck. “You’re not going to tell him shit,” Matteo whispered into her ear. “Because if you do, something might just happen…”

“You’re not going to kill me,” Selena said, even though she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she sounded. Who knew what Matteo was really capable of, seeing as how he was essentially conning her into fucking him?

“No,” Matteo agreed. “I’m not. But something else might happen, something that would be worse than death for you.”

“What?” Selena asked, feeling utterly confused.

“Let’s just say, I’d hate for something bad to happen to your father,” Matteo said casually before stepping back and removing his hand from her shoulder. “That’d be a real shame. I know what that feels like now—losing a father. It’d be terrible for you to experience that.”

Selena slowly turned back around to face the little shithead that was threatening her, swallowing the bile that cropped up in her mouth as a result of Matteo’s words. “You’re not serious,” Selena said, forcing as much confidence into her voice as she could possibly muster. She couldn’t show him how afraid she really was, how much she’d shaken her. In reality, her fingers were still shaking around the handle of the knife in her coat while her other hand balled up into a fist, preparing to strike the little man in front of her at the first sign of trouble. “You’re just fucking around with me.”

But Matteo just shrugged again, raising his eyebrows skeptically at her. “Who knows? I’m a fucking mystery. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But you can’t be sure, can you?”

“I can tell someone that you said this to me,” Selena recalled the fear and cold certainty she’d felt earlier in the day when she was going over business information with Reidan. “I could go to the fucking cops. You don’t even know all that I know.”

But Matteo didn’t look intimidated, not even in the slightest. “Go right ahead, Selena. You just do that, and then you see what happens.”

“You can’t hurt my father if you’re in jail!” Selena argued, her voice getting higher than she’d intended, starting to feel panic sweep over all of her internal organs, making every muscle in her body clench up.

“I can’t, no,” Matteo said, nodding at her encouragingly like she’d just made a really good point. But he was mocking her, because then he smiled sharply and added, “But the men I have watching over him might.”

“You’re bluffing.” Selena shook her head and turned on her heel again to head back up the hill. This time, Matteo didn’t follow her or try to stop her.

“You just keep telling yourself that, Selena. I’ve been pretty bored lately anyway. Maybe I’ll head over to your dad’s place myself, pay him a little visit. I’m sure he’d like to hear all that you’ve been doing with your employers.”

“Fuck you!” Selena shouted over her shoulder, continuing to struggle up the hill in her heels.

“You will. And soon,” Matteo said, right before the sound of his footsteps informed Selena that he’d walked away from her, in the opposite direction, towards the main road. He probably had a car waiting for him to take him back to the Bianco compound.

Selena kept walking until she was sure that Matteo was gone for good, taking her knife from her pocket and bracing it between her fingers, ready if anyone jumped out at her from the shadows again. “Goddammit,” she muttered as she stared up at the lights of the penthouse apartment above. “God fucking dammit!”

What should I do? Selena wondered silently, the cold handle of the knife contributing to the trembling of her fingers. Should I tell Reidan? Could he really protect me? And what did Matteo mean when he said he was taking over? That he would be the boss soon? Are there people in the Bianco organization willing to defect over to Matteo and overthrow Reidan’s control?

She couldn’t be sure. Even though she’d worked at the Bianco compound for over a year now, she didn’t really have any relationships with anybody there except for Giovanni, who was gone now. Maybe Matteo was just pretending—acting like he had a lot of sway in the organization, lots of men under his control, when really, he was just pissed that his father had passed him over in favor of Reidan.

But on the other hand… Mama Bianco was definitely a lot closer to Matteo than she was to Reidan. As far as Selena could tell, her older son hadn’t talked to her at all in the entire time that Selena was working for the family. That didn’t bode well, as Mrs. Bianco was the longest-running authority figure in the entire organization at this rate.

Fuck. Selena turned back around and headed downhill, then stopped before she got to the road, hiding in the shadow of a large tree in case Matteo was still watching her. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Even if she did tell Reidan, she had no reason to trust that Reidan would believe her word over his brother’s.

Despite the fact that the two men clearly competed with each other for their whole lives, they were still family. That had to take precedence over a fuck buddy, no matter how deeply they’d connected with their bodies. If Selena were in Reidan’s position, he’d probably fire her right on the spot just for the crime of accusing Matteo of such a terrible thing. Selena couldn’t even blame Reidan for it. After all, they’d only fucked once, and they’d only met a few days prior. Reidan had no reason to take her word over his brother’s, even if she didn’t have any reason to lie.

Slowly, terribly, a sick sensation of certainty sunk down over Selena’s head, removing any and all doubt, any and all hope from her system. She couldn’t tell Reidan. That much was obvious to her now. The risks were too high, and there was no reason for Selena to believe that Reidan would or even could protect her if Matteo’s brags about the men under his control were anything to believe.

Selena began walking away from the protective shadows of the trees around her, heading further downhill toward the road where a town car was indeed waiting for her, a servant opening the door to the back seat as soon as he spotted her. Selena faked a polite smile and told the servant thank you as she slid into the vehicle, then pressed her head against the opposite window, staring down at the city below.

“I’m fucked,” she mumbled as the car roared to life, rolling in the direction of her home.