INFIDELITY | Book I

25. Heat.

Chapter 25:

The distant chatter was the only thing from keeping the room from going completely silent. My very own thoughts began to jumble around, trying to keep everything organized. Now we had to start from scratch so it wasn't much to hold on to. That's not enough time.

"Why a month?" Nicholai played his role well but on the inside he was fuming. I would be too if someone tried to write me off to the she devil herself.

"You want less?" Gerardo was ahead of his time, I credit him for that. "You wanting to settle down, and what not, shouldn't be a problem. The sooner the better yes?"

"Isn't this exciting!" Amelia babbled on and on about  the bridesmaids, the cake filling, what should she wear, if she should lose weight. But we all were stuck on this one month strategy. There was no negotiation to be had without looking suspicious so Nicholai took it without another thought to process it. "It seems your right."

"Ah!" Gerardo clapped his hands before rubbing them together, sounding like sand paper- he was clearly satisfied. "Shall we order?"

This dinner was toxic to say the least: Sergio and Riana seemed to have been bickering, Sage and Alice weren't getting along for what seemed like no apparent reason. To the left of me, I had a couple planning their wedding. Michael, who eyed everyone as if we were going to jump him at any second and Levi who was bending the sliver ware before unfolding it. The only normal ones sitting that the table were Crixus, Lorenzo, and myself.

"So Olivia.." My name was called and I placed my fork down before looking to this so called Michael. "You're close to the Corsetti family?" He dared to ask.

"Who's asking?" It was a rhetorical question, I'm sure all four of the family members wanted to know.

Michael leered at me before he tried again. "Myself of course." His smile was crooked, was that a rotten tooth or a gold cap? I couldn't make it out.

"I don't quite remember meeting them." That was true. "But we were childhood friends, I believe."

"You don't remember?"

"No."

He pried again. "May I ask what happened?"

"I had a concussion." My answer was bland. He was asking me too many questions for me, we weren't going to get to know each other on a personal level. "Shouldn't you be quizzing Nicholai instead of me?"

"Oh I am." He folded his hands under his chin before he tapped his thumb against his jawline. "But I know everything I need to know about him."

"You shouldn't have a problem filling Amelia in then." I tried to go back to my food but his next words almost signed his death certificate.

"How's your brother?" He tried to get a rise out of me and he calculated me as if I was a hard math equation to solve. He must not have did good in school. Pressing my thumb down on my fork, seeing my thumbnail turn a mixture of white and dark pink. I blinked slowly. Everyone was waiting on my response. "Great, thanks for asking."

"Do forgive me for shooting him it was nothing personal." Personal... They had a thing for using that word like it was the only expanded vocabulary they had. Micheal Beneventi just made the top of my list and he didn't even know it; his sister was a hard close second.

Then something happened that confounded me. Nicholai's warm but rough hand came to rest on my left thigh, the pads of his fingertips rubbing into me before he squeezed just once like he knew that would calm me down. My mind went somewhere different from what it was previous on.