Page 24 of Let Vengeance Be Mine

“Maybe.” Matteo shrugs. “And her name is Aria,” he corrects her.

“My apologies.” Her smile tells me the apology she makes is fake but I nod to accept it, anyway.

“Matteo, I have something private I wish to discuss with you.”

“Of course. Head into my office. I’ll be right there,” he tells her, and after she picks up her glass from the table, she presses a tight kiss on each of my cheeks before she walks back out to the hall.

“What the fuckare you doing?” Matteo barely gives her a chance to leave before he spins me around.

“Entertaining your mother, by all accounts.” I hit back, he has no right to be mad at me, not after what I’ve just had to endure.

“I didn’t mean that. I meanthat.” He points to the glass on the table. “A little reckless, considering what condition you might be in, don’t you think?” He raises his eyebrows at me.

“She ordered them, I couldn’t exactly tell her that I might be carrying your child, could I? Matteo, that was hell. I had no idea what to tell her.”

“I’ll deal with her, In the meantime, you go upstairs and wait for me in your room,” he orders, still looking mad as he marches off toward his office. I want to chase after him and slap him for treating me like a child, but the thought of being faced with that woman again has me, huffing in frustration and taking myself back upstairs.

MATTEO

Ifind Aria in her room, sitting in the chair that's placed in the corner, with her arms folded and a scowl on her face. She looks pretty when she’s angry, and that makes me want to punish her even more.

“Come.” I go straight to her, taking her hand and dragging her up on her feet. Then, leading her into the bathroom, I take the pregnancy testing kit from my back pocket and start opening the box.

I can see the confused way she’s looking at me from the corner of my eye when I neatly unfold the instruction leaflet and lay them out on the basin unit.

“You want to do that, now?” She doesn’t look angry anymore. She looks nervous instead.

“Yes,” I answer, taking the plastic stick in my hand and removing the cap from the part she has to pee on. My eyes gesture to the toilet and she makes that sarcastic, little laugh that sends me fucking crazy.

“While you're in the room?” Her eyes stretch in disbelief when she realizes I’m not going anywhere.

“Matteo, I’m not gonna pee in front of you.”

I remain silent, stepping toward her so my body presses against hers and forces her to start walking backwards.

“This is ridiculous.” She shakes her head, making a laugh that sounds much more nervous, now. Then a shocked gasp echoes around the room when I grip the waist of her yoga pants and drag them down to her knees.

“Sit.” I glance over her shoulder at the toilet that’s directly behind her, and despite the defiance on her face, she does exactly as she’s told.

“I’m not going to be able to do it with you watching me like that.” She snatches the stick from my hand, and I nod my head curtly before I turn my back, to give her her privacy, and cross my arms while I wait.

“Make sure you get it on the absorbent—”

“I figured that!” she snaps. And it doesn’t matter how furious I am about what I saw downstairs, I can't help smirking to myself.

“There, done.” The sound of the flush has me turning back around, where she presents me with the stick and a sarcastic smile. I take it from her and place it on the basin unit along with the instructions.

“Now, what?” she asks, reaching on her toes to try and look over my shoulder at the result. The test takes three minutes, according to the instructions and I can think of a good way to pass the time.

“Now, we talk about the fact you were drinking.” I frown.

“I told you what happened. Your mom ordered the drinks. I was getting worked up by all her questions and so, I took a sip.” She reacts to my silence by continuing her rant. “It tasted vile, I wasn’t going to drink anymore. I wasn’t thinking…I mean we don’t even know if I’m pregnant, yet. I’m not even a day late.” She makes another not-so-sly attempt to look past me at the result.

“It was a careless thing to do. I should take you over my knee and make your ass flush, for it.”

“Well, are you going to?” The sassy, little smile she makes implies that she likes the sound of it.

“Depends on what the result of this test is.” I clench my jaw. I’ve been feeling nervous all morning, way more nervous than I expected to be.

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