36. Matteo

36

MATTEO

A fter showering and getting ready to go into the city, I head out to the kitchen where Lux, Isabella, and Enzo are sitting around the island eating breakfast. "Have you given it to her yet?" I ask Enzo, who I caught in the middle of taking a bite of a blueberry scone.

He pulls the pastry from his mouth and furrows his brows. The crumbs hanging off the corner of his mouth really complete the expression. "Have I given who, what?"

"The phone, Enzo. Have you given Lux her phone back yet?"

Lux whips her head toward Enzo. "You have my phone?" she asks before stealing a glance at me. "I'm finally getting my phone back?" She hops off her stool and rounds the island, stopping in front of Enzo with her hand held out. "Can I see it, please? Maybe my mom messaged me. I need to check."

Enzo glances between Lux and me. Giving him a nod, he pulls the little black phone out from his pocket and hands it to her.

"We've made sure to keep it on and charged the entire time we've had it. I didn't want you missing anything important," I say.

"And did I miss anything important?" Lux asks, her face deep in her phone as she goes through it.

"No. Although your boss called and left you a voicemail, asking when you'd be back. Said something about how you should've been back by now. I texted her letting her know you quit." She didn't like that Lux left her hanging, but I don't give a fuck.

"Okay," Lux says as she continues scanning her phone. Once she's determined she missed nothing important, she glances up at me with a defeated look on her face. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I even tried pinging her last location again and it doesn't even register anything anymore."

"I'm so sorry, Lux. My brothers will find her, though. I know they will. And I'll do anything I can do to help, too," Isabella says as she rubs Lux's back.

A tidal wave of emotions overtakes me for a few seconds at the sight of my sister comforting my wife. I want to be the one to comfort her. The only one.

Holy fuck. I'm jealous of my own damn sister.

I love that my sister and wife get along, and it's irrational for me to want to be the only one who gets to comfort Lux, but I can't help the way I feel. That's how I'm wired. What's mine is mine. I'm not going to act on it, but I can sure as hell silently seethe about it.

The disappointment is clear on Lux's face as her eyes gloss over, but before she sheds a tear, she forces them away and puts on her brave face that fools everyone but me. I have to do something about this.

"Enzo, let's go," I call out. I need to have a little conversation with Mancini. We've wasted too much time. We need to find her mother.