“I know that as well.”
He studies me. He has my patience when he wants it and his mother’s ability to see too much beneath the surface.
Sometimes, looking at him is difficult.
Not because he resembles Anna exactly. He does not. They are nearly copies of me.
“Nove mesi a farvi, e poi sembra che io non c’entri niente,”Anna would joke.Nine months making you, and then it seems that I have had nothing to do with it.
No, it’s not her looks that Matteo has.
It’s her perception.
“Was the meeting successful?” he asks.
“With Murray Legal?”
He gives me a look. “Unless you had another meeting today with a corporate compliance attorney you brought in personally.”
“Successful enough.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I am still deciding.”
“No, it means you already decided and are now deciding how much of that decision to admit.”
I take my espresso and sit at the island across from him. “You have become irritating.”
“I was raised by you. It was inevitable.”
That does make me smile.
“She’s good?” he asks.
The question is simple.
My answer should be as simple.
Yes, Victoria Murray is good. Better than I expected.
Younger than most attorneys I would trust with a company this large and complicated, but it doesn't seem to be a deterrent with her. There is steel in her.
“She is direct,” I settle for. It’s not like me to avoid.
Matteo waits.
“She does not frighten easily.”
“Useful.”
“Dangerous.”
He tilts his head slightly. “To us?”
“To herself, maybe.”
That earns me a longer look.
