15
MATTEO
“Kill him,” I said, nodding to Klaus.
We’d grabbed some of Ivanov’s men trying to get into one of my facilities. That wasn’t going to fly with me. My men captured them and called me.
Ivanov liked to do this. Send men in. Test me. Then let me know my sins wouldn’t go unpunished. This had been going on for many years.
Someday, I hoped to put a bullet in his head. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that my father allied with him to kill Delilah and Gianna.
Someday, I’d have my revenge.
Until then, I’d settle for taking out his random rats.
I turned my back and heard Klaus’s gun go off and him telling the men to clean it up. Alessio was busy with Fox, or rather, Evan.
I went outside and stared into the distance, my mind on Bianca. She was a plague on me, it seemed. I didn’t like it. I didn’t hate it either, and I suppose that’s where the problem was.
“Your mind is far away,” Klaus said gruffly as he joined me outside.
“It would seem so,” I murmured, tearing my focus away from a squirrel scurrying about with his cheeks packed full of seeds.
I turned to see Klaus stuffing his gun back into his jacket.
“Does she know?” I asked, nodding to the spot where his gun was now hidden. He was still avoiding discussing this woman he was spending so much time with. I knew I could find out everything about her, right down to her favorite color, but I opted to let him have his privacy. I trusted he would come to me when he was ready. We never kept secrets, and if we did, we never kept them for long. I suppose when I consider it, I was keeping Fox being alive from him on Sylar’s orders, so I couldn’t really get mad at him for something like a woman who likely wouldn’t last past the month.
“She knows what I do,” he answered, looking past me, knowing exactly what I was talking about.
“And she’s OK with it?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s not something we openly discuss.” He sighed and looked at me.
“Still not going to tell me her name?”
He shook his head. “I’m not ready. I don’t even know if this is going to go anywhere. For now, I am simply enjoying her company.”
“What do you two do when you’re together?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Talk. Laugh. She tells me about books she’s read, and I tell her about things I’ve done.”
“And sex?” I prompted.
He shifted, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “I-we… we’ve only done it once. I think I went too fast in that respect, so I’ve backed off. She wasn’t ready. She’s been through a lot.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do we need to take care of the ones who harmed her?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “She would not like that. She’s a sweet woman. Even if she’s been hurt, she still cares about others. It’s quite admirable.”
“She sounds like a good one.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “I look forward to meeting her.”
“She cooks,” he said as he opened the door to the SUV. I got in behind him and settled against the leather seat.
“Yeah? Is she good?”
“She’s incredible.” His blue eyes glittered. “I have never had anything so amazing. I truly am honored for her to even look twice at me, all things considered.”
I smiled at my friend. He’d had a rough go of it, much like Alessio and I had. I wanted the best for both him and Alessio, but life kept knocking us down. I was under the impression that Klaus had stopped looking for love. Although I was sure he never started. To see his eyes sparkle as he spoke about someone was… different. I was happy for him.
