16. Chapter 16

16

S oren glanced at Ilaria as he drove them back to the mansion. Her eyes were red, but the clarity in them had returned. She seemed to have made peace with saying goodbye.

He, on the other hand, would not feel peace until the threats to her were eliminated. Earlier, Rowan had informed him they had found the name of the hired killer, and locating him was imminent.

His gut filled with anticipation, at the raw need to exact vengeance for his family. And whatever issues he and Ilaria had between them, she was still family.

But he had to bide his time for the moment. He willed an icy calm over himself.

"Do you still feel like having dinner with everyone?" he asked Ilaria. "They'd all understand if you skipped it."

"I'll be there," she said. "I'd like to spend time with everyone."

He nodded.

"Thank you." She touched the sleeve of his shirt briefly. A zing shot up his arm. "For taking me."

She glanced at him and their eyes met.

"Of course."

There was nothing to be said about her earlier moment of vulnerability. She had opened herself up and he had been there to give her comfort. In that moment, a warm feeling had grabbed hold of him, and even now it wouldn't relinquish its grasp. In her eyes he saw no walls up, and he wanted to keep it that way.

They drove back to the mansion in easy silence. Niema met them as they walked through the door, her arms circling around Ilaria.

"How are you?" she asked with sympathy.

"I'm…pretty good, actually," Ilaria said. "Give me a minute to freshen up. I'll be right down."

Soren and Niema watched her go up the stairs. When she was out of earshot, Niema turned to her brother.

"I don't know exactly what happened between you two," she said in a low voice. "But please don't hurt her."

She walked away before Soren could respond. He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. His siblings perceived more than he gave them credit for.

He leaned against the entrance leading into the living room and looked out onto the patio. No, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. He wanted to protect her. Yet even he saw the irony in his actions; if anyone else had done what he had done to her, he would have personally delivered a harsh and thorough beating. And he would have made sure this person never had contact with Ilaria again.

But here he was, flirting on the edge of disaster again, putting himself in a situation that he wasn't sure his willpower could withstand.

The clip of delicate heels sounded on the stairs. He turned and stopped breathing.

Ilaria had changed into a navy blue dress that tied at the waist and was short enough to highlight her long, tanned legs. The material flowed around her body as she walked. Black heels, a simple gold necklace, and loose, wavy hair gave her a casual and stunning look.

I'm in deep shit.

She got to the last step and paused. Her eyes were still unguarded, he was relieved to discover. There were too many words to say, but he wasn't ready to say them.

She saved him from having to say anything. "I'm starving."

He relaxed, his lips curving upward. "Then let's eat."

***

"Why are the potatoes always in front of you?" Arick demanded, glaring at Caelum.

"Because you insist on sitting at the head of the table, thereby placing yourself further away from the food," Caelum retorted.

"Uncle Galen's at the head of the table, not me."

"Then you're at the foot of the table. The heel of the table," Caelum added. He snickered.

"Arick, what happened with your date tonight?" Ilaria asked, suppressing a smile. She took a second helping of rosemary lamb chop and Yorkshire pudding.

Magda had prepared another flawless meal of grilled lamb chops, Yorkshire pudding, roasted asparagus, and browned baby potatoes. Ilaria was clearly making up for her previous lack of appetite. Soren tried not to notice how relieved he felt.

"Oh, it's not going to happen," he said, waving his hand. "She thought I was blowing her off and got really upset. Accused me of not caring enough to make an effort." He scoffed. "Me, not care? I actually made a reservation at the restaurant. If that's not caring, I don't know what is."

Of all his siblings, Arick seemed to be the least affected by their earlier, lean years, probably only because he was too young to remember it all clearly. And now that he was twenty-four, he was the most matter-of-fact about their current privilege. It never crossed his mind that he didn't deserve it.

Though he wondered if he needed to rein in the entitlement a little, since he still expected Arick to do something productive with his time, in or out of the business.

"Boy, I'm sure that really put you out," Caelum said dryly, taking another bite of roasted asparagus. "Didn't she realize what a sacrifice you made?"

"Yeah, that took a whole two minutes out of your day," Niema added, sipping from her wine glass. "Not to mention the brain cells to think of the idea."

Arick shrugged. "It's not my fault my dates always volunteer to make the reservations." He stuffed a huge bite of lamb chop and potatoes into his mouth. "But it's all good, because I met another girl at the gym today. We're going out next weekend."

"What do you do when you don't have a date for the weekend?" Ilaria asked, curious.

"That never happens." He grinned. Soren shook his head. If dating were a sport, his youngest brother would be considered an elite athlete.

"Right, what was I thinking?" she laughed.

Niema rolled her eyes. "Well, next weekend I'm going to a tech conference. It's the biggest cybersecurity conference in the UK. I'm giving a talk."

"Nice," Ilaria said, looking impressed.

Soren was indisputably proud of his sister. He and Galen had never insisted his siblings join the family business, and with Niema's brilliance in software engineering, he had preferred that she go out and make her own way. And she was doing just that, making a name for herself in her field of choice.

"What's the talk about?" Galen attempted to express interest in what everyone did outside the family business.

"Best practices in AI cybersecurity," Niema said proudly.

"What gibberish do you speak?" Arick quipped.

"You wouldn't know a smart female if she fell in your lap," Niema retorted. "The intelligence of your dates falls in the range slightly higher than a lemming."

Ilaria snorted, trying not to lose the food in her mouth. Soren watched her, fascinated. He had never seen her enjoy his family like this before.

Arick laughed, always good-natured. "Smarts is not a requirement for the activities I like to do."

Galen grinned. "There will always be people who are best suited for us."

"Exactly." Arick motioned his hand in Galen's direction. "Thank you, Uncle Galen."

"Caelum, you have plans next weekend?" Soren asked.

"Laurence Tao is hosting a talk at the University of Edinburgh," he said. "He's one of the best known mathematicians alive today."

While Niema loved anything technology related, Caelum was a prodigy with numbers and strategy. He managed the books for all the MacGregor businesses, and his investment recommendations had grown the organization considerably.

Caelum was the quietest and most sensitive of the four of them, so Soren was happy that he had found something he excelled at.

"Good luck finding a date for that," Arick smirked. He drank a mouthful of ice and chomped loudly.

Caelum lifted his chin. "As a matter of fact, I do have a date. Her name's Holly. She's a grad student at the university."

Soren's brows raised slightly. Caelum didn't go on dates often. Or even sometimes. And whenever Soren mentioned it, Caelum would say something vague about not meeting any women who caught his interest.

Ilaria smiled. "I'm sure she's lovely, Caelum." Ever the peacemaker. Except with him, Soren thought.

Arick patted his brother on the arm. "Yes, I'm sure she is. Just try not to bore her with too much talk about numbers. Sometimes you don't notice when people's eyes glaze over while you're talking."

Caelum mounted a single pea onto his spoon and flung it at Arick, which hit him square in the forehead.

"Hey!" He went to grab his spoon and respond in kind.

"Okay, enough." Soren's voice was firm enough to make both of them drop their utensil weapons, but not enough to stop them from giving each other murderous glares. "We have company, so let's at least pretend we're a normal, well-adjusted family."

"Ilaria is family," Caelum argued. "She grew up with us. She already knows how dysfunctional we are."

"Well," Soren returned. "I'd rather not have to divulge the underground dungeon we have if I have to throw both of you in it."

Ilaria laughed, eyes twinkling. His eyes swung to her again.

"Pretend you didn't hear that," Niema muttered in a stage whisper.

"Heard what?" She feigned innocence.

"Huh, an underground dungeon," Caelum mused. "Now that would have come in handy when we were kids. Think of all the pranks we could have played."

"I don't believe the lack of a dungeon hindered your pranking abilities in any way," Soren commented dryly.

The whole table laughed. Soren had been the frequent recipient of their harmless pranks. He was never surprised or irritated, always taking it in stride, and the ongoing bet was seeing who would be the one to make him crack.

"Most of our pranks weren't very creative," Niema remembered. "No wonder you never reacted."

"Like the two hundred balloons in my room?" Soren said.

"You didn't even bat an eye," Caelum complained.

"Or when we put plastic wrap on the shampoo bottle under the top," Arick added. "We were listening at the door, hoping for at least a curse word."

"I quickly learned to lock the bathroom door whenever I showered," Soren said, "in case someone had the bright idea to sneak in to see my reaction. Or to scare me."

"How about when we plastic-wrapped the driver's seat in your car?" Ilaria piped in.

Everyone burst out laughing.

"That was probably the closest to a reaction we got." Niema clapped her hands together. "Soren looked surprised and then annoyed."

"And then he pretended it was all good and drove the car that way for a week," Arick guffawed.

"The pranks whenever Ilaria was here tended to be more creative." Soren's eyes met her dancing ones. She grinned, and his chest did a little flip.

"Well, I did suggest some bigger pranks, like the paint bucket over the doorway," Ilaria disclosed, "but you were all too chickenshit to go through with it."

"Hey, hey, in my defense, I was still young," Arick jumped in. "If I'd been older, I would have been all about that."

"We were all young and innocent," Caelum said dramatically, "and you tried to corrupt us."

Ilaria's eyes widened at Caelum. "You were the same age as I was!"

"Ah, so it's your fault they turned out this way." Soren's eyes met hers again.

Ilaria held up her hands. "Hey, you influenced them way more than I ever could. So if you don't like how they turned out…" She deliberately trailed off and raised her eyebrows.

He lifted his own eyebrows. "I just fed them. You taught them to be hooligans."

Her laugh was music to his ears. "They rejected most of my prank ideas for being too mean, anyway. So I guess you did something right."

"Everyone turned out wonderfully, and Soren definitely had a hand in that," Galen said, slapping Soren on the shoulder.

His chest lifted. High praise from Galen.

"See, I knew it," Arick boasted. "I am wonderful."

"Wonderfully arrogant," Niema declared.

"By the way," Soren said, changing the subject, "everyone's planning to be around tomorrow evening for the summer festival, right?"

His siblings all nodded.

Niema touched Ilaria's arm. "You'll love it. There's a ton of food and alcohol."

"It's just an excuse for everyone to stuff their faces and get hammered," Arick remarked.

"Don't judge," Caelum accused. "You do the same."

Arick's eyes widened. "Who's judging? That's why the festival's fun."

"And there are a lot of good-looking guys." Naomi waggled her brows at Ilaria.

"And gals," Arick added.

"They come from all over," Niema continued. "Last year I met this divine French guy." Her eyes glazed over in memory.

Soren felt his brows furrow, but he pressed his lips together. Now was not the time to voice his displeasure about the idea of Ilaria and good-looking guys.

Ilaria grimaced. "Not sure I'm up for a party. I'll just drag all of you down. Go and have fun without me."

"No," Niema announced as if making the final decision.

"You sound like your brother," Ilaria observed.

"You don't get to stay home and mope," Niema continued. "Besides—" She lowered her voice. "—what about drinks and harmless flirting?" She widened her eyes in reminder.

Soren frowned again. There would be no flirting, even if it was harmless.

Ilaria sighed. "Fine, I'll see how I feel tomorrow." Niema pumped her fist in the air. "No guarantees, though."

"Yep, yep, no guarantees." But Niema smiled, knowing she had won.

"Whew, I'm stuffed," Galen said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Wait!" Niema popped up from her seat. "Everyone, stop eating and save room for dessert." She ran out of the dining room and came back carrying a large plate with a beautiful layered pastry on it, along with a large knife. The others moved the dishes at the center of the table out of the way, and she set her dessert down with a flourish. Magda followed her in with a carafe of coffee.

"Ta-da!" She waved her hands over the pastry. "This is a mille-feuille. I learned to make this in my French baking class. And everyone is going to try some."

"That looks amazing." Galen looked impressed. Ilaria echoed him.

"Niema, this looks like a professional made it," Soren added.

Niema took the massive knife and expertly cut the pastry into sections, then served each person.

"Try it," she commanded.

Everyone dutifully took a bite, and everyone's eyes lit up accordingly.

"Oh my God," Ilaria said. She took a bigger bite.

The dessert was lightly sweet, perfectly crispy from the pastry and velvety from the cream.

"The instructor said mine was the best in the class," Niema boasted.

Even Arick was at a loss for words as he inhaled two pieces. "I guess that was alright," he smirked. Niema reached over and smacked him on the arm.

After they polished off most of the dessert, Galen stood up, groaning. "Now you'll have to roll me out of here." He walked over to Niema and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Great job, sweetheart." She grinned in return.

He looked at Soren. "Soren, when you're done," and motioned with his head.

Soren nodded, taking one more sip of coffee, and stood up. "Perfect dessert, sis."

He looked down at Ilaria, who was looking down at her coffee. As if she knew his gaze was on her, her eyes flew up.

Dark brown eyes he could drown in. Cheeks still flushed with laughter. Lips that had melded perfectly to his, once upon a time.

For a brief moment, it was only the two of them in the room as electric tension zoomed through his body.

Then they both remembered that his nosy siblings were watching and broke eye contact at the same time.

He was going to need a cold shower.