Chapter Seven
Massimo entered hishome, and he didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t to hear shouting.Not yelling shouting, but excited squealing, and then full-blown laughing.He was pretty sure he heard his father as well.He heard his sister, and of course Adelina.This was not a noise he was used to coming home to.
Closing the door, he made his way toward the sound, not to the office or the library, but the dining room.
“Oh, come on, there is no way that is a cat!”
For the first time in a very long while, his father actually sounded happy.
“Dad, come on, it’s a cat.Look, there is the body, the tail, and the whiskers.”
Massimo entered the dining room, and the table had been pushed to one side.They had an easel, with a large pad of paper, some cards, and pens, and from the number of sheets pushed to the back, it looked like they had been playing for quite some time.
“Ah, my son has returned.You won’t listen to me, Bella Bear, but you might listen to him.”
It had been a lifetime since his father had called Isabella, “Bella Bear.”In fact, not since his mother had gone.Isabella looked so damn happy.He had not seen his father smile in a long time, and Massimo’s wife was between the two.
She was flushed in the face, and moved toward him.“Good evening,” she said, and touched his cheek, at the same time kissing his other.“We were just attempting to play a game of charades and Pictionary.”
“Attemptingbeing the operative word,” his father said.“We tried to decipher the actual cards, but none of us got it.Then we attempted our own—movies, then songs, and finally beings or things.We’ve had table and chairs.Your sister thinks that looks like a cat.”
Massimo looked to the drawing, and it might look like a cat, but it was a close call.He frowned.
“Seriously, Massimo.I should have known you were going to take Dad’s side.”She scrunched up her face.
“Now that you’re home, I’ll let Albert know we’re ready for dinner.”
“Ugh,” Isabella said.
Vincent laughed.“Come on, Bella Bear, I am sure we’re going to have plenty of time to enjoy this, and for you to learn to draw cats.”His father stood and put his hands on her shoulders, gripping them.
He didn’t know what he expected to come home to, but this was not it.His father had been dead set against him marrying Adelina.
“Dad, I need to talk to you,” Massimo said.
“Are you good to clean this up?”
“Yeah, of course.Adelina will help me.”She waved the two of them off, and they made their way into the office.
“What’s up?”he asked.
Massimo told his father of everything that had happened that afternoon, including the burning of the money.
“You burnt it?”
“Yes.”
“Nice one,” Vincent said.“What is your next plan?”
“I want to reach out to King and Vigo.”
