25 An Indiscretion

I can hear the racket inside my house just by standing on the front porch. There’s music and laughter coming from inside, the lights from every floor are on and I can see thru the windows people coming and going. Such a change from the usual silence that rules in my house. Most of my relatives arrived by plane, but the ones that live nearer drove here, so there are more cars than usual parked in the front. Among them there’s a blue BMW M8 Coupé, I grin from ear to ear and rush inside. 

I’m received by a wave of greetings from my relatives. I hug and kiss my way thru the dining room and then thru the living room, but Stefan is nowhere to be found. 

“Olivia! You have grown so much!” My grandma exclaims as she squeezes my cheeks with her bonny fingers.

“Thanks, grandma,” I reply with a polite smile. I haven’t grown an inch in years, but she says that every time she sees me. 

“Make sure everyone is using a coaster, please,” my mom whispers to my ear. 

I nod and continue searching for Stefan thru the different rooms in the house. I go to the library and then to the kitchen, but I have no luck. I spot Mike chatting with uncle Gus outside my dad’s office, by the look on their faces, something is really bothering them. Whatever it’s causing their anger it’s happening inside my dad’s office, they are obviously eavesdropping on what’s occurring on the other side of the door and they are not liking what they’re hearing. After years of watching my mom spying on my dad, I recognize instantly when someone else is doing the same. I wonder if Stefan is in the office with my dad, I pretend I’m picking up empty glasses while I discreetly approach them.

“That rat cannot just come and take over command. Who does he think he is? I’ll rather drop death before I let that happened... He thinks he can intimidate us and steal what’s ours, but I won’t allow it...”

My uncle Gus hushes because Mike gives him a tap on the chest when he sees me approaching. 

“Hi, uncle Gus. Hi, Mike. How are you?” I greet them as if I hadn’t noticed their suspicious attitude. 

“Hi, Olivia. I’m so glad to see you,” Mike says with his usual smile, but uncle Gus just looks at me with contempt. “Everything looks great. You girls did a tremendous job pulling this event together.”

“Thank you, Roxana has been very helpful to us.” I lie with a fake smile on my face. What am I supposed to say in these cases? Your wife is a nightmare who thinks her opinion is the only one that matters and on top of everything she took me to a restaurant where I got food poisoned?

“So, Olivia, I heard you have a new boyfriend,” uncle Gus mutters while he glares at me. 

“Yes. Have you met him yet? I would love to introduce you to him, but I don’t know where he is,” I say confused, why is he looking daggers at me? I just got here like 20 minutes ago and I haven’t seen Gus in months, what could I have possibly done to my uncle that he’s so mad at me? 

“Oh, I know that rat very well,” he says with disdain. 

Did he just call Stefan a rat? 

“Uncle, please! Vittorio ordered it,” Mike warns him with a worried expression on his face. 

Gus waves his hand in the air like he’s dismissing whatever my dad told them to do. So, uncle Gus hates Stefan too? Great! Maybe he, Mike, and my mom can start a club together and if any of them would be as kind as to explain to me why they hate him, that would be awesome!

“What did my dad order, Mike?” I scowl. 

Mike gulps and uncle Gus looks at him amused like he’s eager to see what Mike is going to come up with to give me an answer. Mike hesitates for a second and then his face lit up. 

“He told us not to embarrass you in front of your new boyfriend,” Mike answers with a faint smile. “You know, it’s hard for us to see you with someone, we still think of you as a little girl and your dad didn’t want us to be overprotective of you. You are all grown up now and we have to accept that.”

Uncle Gus snarls and Mike looks at him with disapproval. I don’t believe for one second what Mike just said, but before I can reply, the office door opens and Stefan emerges between the three of us. He walks by Mike and uncle Gus to get to me and lifts me in his arms. I’m so happy I forget what was bothering me. 

“Did you miss me, doll?” Stefan asks. 

Hearing his voice is enough to make me smile.

“Every day,” I reply before kissing him way more passionately than I should giving that my relatives are watching. 

“What are you all doing here like vultures?” My dad asks as he walks out of his office. 

I break our kiss and try to take a step back, but Stefan holds me tight against his body with his arms. “Oh, no, doll. You are not getting away,” He whispers to my ear.

“We need to talk, brother,” uncle Gus demands in a harsh tone. 

“Not now, later. There’s a party going on at my house and I’m missing it,” my dad replies and heads to the living room. He’s walking slower than usual, every day he seems to be getting older; and I know all of us are, but he seems to be doing it faster. 

We hear laughter coming from the living room. Mike walks hastily behind my dad, actively avoiding crossing eyes with Stefan. Uncle Gus looks daggers at us before he starts following them and when he walks in front of Stefan he lifts his chest up like a peacock. I cringe just by looking at him and I cringe some more when I see Stefan’s baffled expression. 

“Please tell me you have awkward relatives too,” I murmur resting my face on his shoulder. 

“I do, but I’m afraid this weekend is going to be all about your awkward relatives,” he replies while gently caressing my back. 

“How was the trip?” I ask desperately to erase uncle Gus’ unexplainable disdain from my memory.

Stefan rolls his eyes back. 

“Please, don’t remind me. Your cousin Michael is way more incompetent than I thought. I knew things were bad, but I never imagined the extent of it. There’s no real control, everyone does as they pleased... the people that work for him are sloppy and it’s just a matter of time before they cause trouble. Michael has surrounded himself with people who are as incompetent as him just so he doesn’t feel threaten or belittled. No wonder everything fell apart...” 

“What?!” I ask shocked. 

What does he mean by everything fell apart? Is my dad's business broke or something? Are we poor now? Suddenly, Stefan seems to realize who he’s talking to and gives me a reassuring smile. 

“Figuratively speaking, of course. Don’t worry, that’s why I’m here, to put everything back in order,” he reassures me. “Let’s change the subject, doll. How was your week? Did you have a hard time at work?”

“No, you can’t say something like that and then expect us to change subjects as nothing happened,” I complain. “I want to know what you meant by that. You just said everything felt apart, it’s obviously serious and I need to know more.” 

“It was a dumb expression, doll. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking to you about these matters... let’s just pretend I didn’t say anything, ok?” Stefan replies. 

I take a step back feeling angry. If Mike caused my dad to go bankrupt I have the right to know.  My life is going to be altered by this and I must be prepared. I hear a woman’s laughter behind us, maybe we should talk about this some other time, but if I drop the subject now, Stefan will find a way to avoid talking about this later. 

“No, this is serious and I want to talk about it now,” I state firmly.

“Ugh, Olivia, I told you to wait before making a storm in a teacup,” says Roxana behind us. “Anyway, what’s done is done. Congrats to the future dad, kids are always a blessing... at least that’s what I hear.” 

Roxana approaches us and gives Stefan a big congratulatory hug. He freezes in his place. My heart sinks to my stomach. 

“Olivia, we are out of salad dressing,” Roxana says carelessly once she’s done hugging Stefan. 

“There’s more in the pantry,” I mumble feeling my mouth dry.

“Thanks.” Roxana walks breezily away, unaware of what she just did.