“What the fuck?” I heard Dior mutter.
“Everyone, meet Catalina and her son Enzo,” my mother said, pointing to both of them.
“What is this, Victoria? I thought you said it was just going to be you,” Catalina said, turning to my mother with a very annoyed expression. “I should have known better than to trust you,” Catalina said, folding her arms, glaring at my mother.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You and Enzo needed to be here. Come and sit and have breakfast with us. After all, you are both family,” my mother said, taking both Catalina and Enzo’s hands, leading them over to the table.
“Have a seat; let me introduce you to everyone formally,” my mother sure was a piece of fucking work. I looked at poor Enzo, who didn’t know what the fuck was going on.
“Catalina? As in—” Sofia said, pointing at me before she looked back at my mother, who nodded enthusiastically.
“Victoria, what is this? You never told me that you were going to invite them here,” Dior said, sounding both hurt and shocked. I shook my head at her simple ass because I told her this would happen.
“Hello, Miss Dior,” Enzo said, greeting Dior with a shy wave.
“Hello Enzo,” she replied. Enzo then turned his attention to me, but he didn’t greet me as he did my wife. He just sort of eyed me, unsure.
“Please, help yourselves to whatever you like,” my mother said, pointing at the breakfast items on the table.
“Why did you invite us here, Victoria?” Catalina asked, annoyed by the games my mother was playing. I, on the other hand, planned to keep quiet until I saw exactly where this was going.
“Well, it’s only right that we rightfully meet another Ricci and that he gets to know us,” my mother said, pointing at Enzo, who frowned as he turned to his mother. It was obvious that she still had not told him about me. So hearing what my mother was saying was perplexing to him.
“Mamma, what is she talking about?” Enzo asked.
Catalina’s face grew rigid as she stared at my mother, who was now smirking at her. I’m not sure what my mother told Catalina to get her to come here, but I knew one thing: it hadnothing to do with the truth. She gave Catalina one idea, and it was clear she was acting on another idea. I sighed softly because I knew this would happen once I learned what Dior did.
“Enough of this. This is not the way, and you know it,” I addressed my mother, letting her know that her little stunt was very childish.
“Oh, isn’t it? I guess it’s only the way when you and your father travel to Italy and find out that you may have a son, and yet you two come back and say absolutely nothing!” My mother slammed her hands down on the table. She turned to her husband and eyed him with contempt.
“Victoria, we needed time, and then we planned on filling you in. Why couldn’t you just wait?” Tomasso said, rubbing his temples as if he'd just gotten an instant migraine.
“I explained to you that Enzo knows nothing about Phillipe. You promised me that you wanted to talk business, just between the two of us. I arrive to see that you sabotaged me, never again, Victoria,” Catalina said, getting to her feet. “Come, Enzo,” she signaled for her son to follow her lead.
“And you promised years ago that I would never see your face again. You seduced my son when he was barely legal and almost got him killed. I paid you decent money to get the fuck on, and here you are pulling a stunt claiming that child is Phillipe’s. Come to fuck on Catalina, we both know you’re fucking lying,” my mother was now on her feet and challenging Catalina with her cold eyes.
I, on the other hand, sat in stunned silence at what my mother had just confessed. She paid Catalina to stay away from me? When did she fucking do this?
“Do you think I planned this? I had no idea that Phillipe would show up at my cafe. I was just as shocked as he was, and I for certain had no idea he would find out about Enzo. You had absolutely no right to do this.” Catalina said, pointing at my mother, then turned to her son and grabbed his hand.
I watched as Catalina all but dragged Enzo off his chair and began walking toward the front door. I stood up to go straighten out the damage my mother had obviously caused. Before I left to go speak with Catalina, I looked down at Dior.
“Do you get it now? I told you, you don’t know Victoria. I told you what you did would come back to bite you in your ass because you do not know my mother,petardo(firecracker). Do you understand why I said I would deal with it and then let you know the outcome? Enzo is innocent in all of this. You, I’ll deal with you when I get back,” I said the last part to my mother before I walked away.
I briskly made my way in the direction Catalina had taken off to. Just like my mother, Catalina had some explaining to do.
Chapter Seven- Dior
I was so angry I could scream. My face burned from anger and embarrassment because Victoria had me fooled; she tricked me into giving her Catalina’s number. She never once told me that she was going to invite both Catalina and Enzo over here.
I could do nothing as I watched Buddha go after that woman. This was the second time I had to witness him choose that bitch over me, and I was over it. I knew I couldn’t go after him; I was the cause of this. I had no choice but to allow him to go behind his precious Catalina.
“Amore mio(my love), what have you done?” Tomasso said, turning to his wife. Angry lines creased his forehead as he glared fire at Victoria.
“What have I done?” Victoria said, pointing at her chest. “You and Phillipe dare keep something like this from me. I am your wife, and that is my son, whom that pedophile took advantage of. Don’t you ever question the lengths I will go to protect my children. I hate that woman with everything in me, and you know that, yet you kept the fact that you both saw her in Italy!” Victoria’s voice rose, and that was when Tomasso put his foot down.
“You don’t raise your voice at me, woman. Especially when you’re wrong. I never met Catalina in Italy. Buddha did, then he let me know, and we decided to deal with this Enzo issue on our own before letting both you and Dior know. That’s the first thing. The second thing, you need to stop acting as if Phillipe was not a grown-assuomo(man) when he started screwing Catalina. Your son took the risk to get involved with that woman, and he paid dearly for it. Now, I’m leaving for the day, and maybe I’ll be back tonight, or maybe I’ll go sleep in a hotel,” Tomasso put hiswife in check before he looked over at me as though he wanted to smack the taste out of my mouth.
