Chapter 47

Jake glares at her. I catch the simmering of something between them; fury on his part and possibly the same from her. I wonder if this was how the meetings in LA went in the past.

“Mamma. I think the three of us need to do this without you here.” Jake turns to Sylvana, and a flash of stubbornness flicks across her attractive face. She lifts her chin for a moment, narrows her gaze on him, and then sighs in defeat.

“Behave like adults. I’ll be dealing with your father.” She turns, walks around the table, and leaves, picking up Arrick and Gloria’s plates in passing, ushering the last of her house staff with her, including the poor girl who was caught like a deer in headlamps in the corner and pulling the door closed behind them.

We’re left, just the three of us, fused together with heightened emotion emanating across the dining room, air filled with the oppressive atmosphere and a moment of deafening silence. I look to Jake for any sign of how to act or what to say an