31. Mount Olympus
31
MOUNT OLYMPUS
M athias stumbled outside, his ears buzzing. The playground was empty. Everyone was back in class, except for him. He forced a deep breath into his lungs, trying to clear his muddled thoughts, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Eric was standing behind him, his expression full of concern.
“You should be in class.”
“So should you.” There wasn’t a trace of laughter on Eric’s face. “So, where is he?”
For a moment, Mathias said nothing. He appraised Eric like he’d never seen him before.
“How long have you known, exactly?”
His friend’s ears turned pink before his eyes. “Does it matter?”
“How long?”
“A while.”
Mathias replayed their interactions in his head, couldn’t think of anything special except Alberto’s ID.“What gave me away?”
Eric’s shoulders dropped, betraying his reluctance. “I mean… it wasn’t just one thing, you know. First, there was that time I saw you two alone in Xavier’s pantry. I thought, ‘Oh? What do we have here? Who would want to be alone in a room with that guy?’ No need for death stares, Mister. It was suspicious, if you ask me, but to be fair, I quickly dropped it. But then there was that time when I rode to your apartment the morning after Joy’s party, and there he was, outside your place, in hi s fancy clothes. That was strange. But since strange stuff happens all the time around me, I thought I’d let it go. It’s not the only instance I thought there was something fishy going on, but there was always another explanation. Like that time I found Alberto’s ID under your chair in class. That was a big hang on a minute! But after all, I couldn’t be sure. It was under your chair, doesn’t mean it necessarily fell off your bag! Of course, all of these were just tinfoil hat conspiracies, so I couldn’t share my concerns with anyone, but at this point, I was almost convinced you were hiding something from me. Something big. Or should I say tall. With a face.” Eric gave Mathias a smug look. “All I could do was investigate, and prove to myself that maybe that girl who was driving your little stick-in-the-mud self nuts was no girl, but Alberto, because he’d drive anyone crazy, he’s so?—”
Mathias silenced him with a glare. “So, that’s what did me in, huh? That damn ID. I knew I shouldn’t have taken it; it was wrong of me in the first place.”
“Oh no!” Eric eagerly shook his head. “That’s not what gave you away, buddy. No, the thing that really did it for me was when I saw you two fucking in my mom’s office!”
For the second time today, Mathias felt like the ground split open beneath his feet. Eric, oblivious to his shock, went on with a smile. “Yeah, that was definitely the moment I went like, ‘Wow. Probably not just roommates, then.’” Eric turned thoughtful. “I really tried to make you admit it since then, but you’re a tough nut to crack.”
It took a moment for Mathias to recover, but he eventually stammered, “For your information, we were not… we weren’t…”
“What do you call what you were doing then?” Eric looked bewildered. “Buddy, do you know what fucking means? Knowing you, nothing’s certain. You know I’ve tried all year to work out your deal, and I still have no clue. And please, don’t make that face, I’m the one who should make that face. I’m pretty sure I invented that face when I came upstairs to get more tonic from my mom’s mini fridge and I saw you two?—”
“But we weren’t doing it, I swear!”
Eric ignored him. “My man, always acting all stuck up, but in reality…”
Mathias harrumphed, and he was about to hurl him into a bush when he realized someone was standing right behind them, and they both cursed in fright.
“Hi.” Elisa lifted her hand .
“Little girl!” Eric shouted. “Don’t ever do that again!”
She slipped him a condescending look that would have made Alberto proud.
“What are you doing here?” Mathias asked, aghast. “Did you hear what we just said?”
“Every word.” She drew closer. “I caught them at it, too, you know. Wayyy before you did.”
Mathias bared his teeth. “We thought we were alone! Why is there always some weirdo watching?”
“Anyway”—Elisa cut him off with a wave of her hand—“what’s the plan?” When Eric and Mathias exchanged a wary look, she sighed. “I know you’re going to check on Alberto. Why are you still here?”
Mathias hesitated. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t trust his mother… Or his stepfather… I don’t trust anyone. Who knows... What if they’re keeping him prisoner in that shitty house?”
“What?” Eric’s eyebrows shot up. “Why would they do that?”
Mathias briefly considered telling him, then he shook his head. “I can’t tell you more, but trust me on that. I may have to sneak in, and I?—”
“I’ll help you!” Eric started jumping in place. “I’ll create a diversion, like last time.”
“… Thank you.” Mathias appreciated that he didn’t even have to ask. “Really.”
“I’m coming, too,” Ella said. “He’s my friend. I want to help.” She averted her eyes when he blinked at her in disbelief.
Mathias hated to admit it, but Ella was smarter than him and of course, less aggressive. Also, she was so small and cute. It would be good to have someone like her around to defuse the situation in case things turned sour. The three of them left school before Alex could put two and two together and hopped on the metro toward Alberto’s home.
“So, what happens when you see him?” Eric asked once they stepped onto Robert Schuman Avenue. “What are you going to tell him?”
“I want to make sure he’s okay, first. It seems he blocked my number, and possibly Xavier’s.”
“How do you know?” Elisa chimed in. “Does it ring, or does it go straight to voicemail?” She added slyly, “Trust me, I’ve blocked a lot of people.”
“Straight to voicemail.”
“Sounds like his phone is turned off. ”
Her words only accentuated Mathias’s concerns. “Let’s just find out if he’s okay, then I’ll improvise, I guess.”
They reached the imposing black gate. Mathias turned to Eric and Ella, his jaw set. “His stepfather will probably be at work, but his mother will be here. If she lets us in, great. But if she doesn’t, we’ll need a diversion so that I can get up to his room and speak to him face to face.”
“Alright.” Eric said. “What’s it going to be?”
Mathias thought about it while trying to ignore how fast his heart was pounding in his chest. “Someone’s gonna have to seduce her.” He glanced at Eric, who blushed profusely.
“Oh no. No, no. I’m really not a fan of this plan.”
“What happened to ‘I’d do anything for you, best buddy’?”
“When did I ever say that?”
Mathias gave him a pointed look.
“Fine! That does sound like me. But when I said it, it didn’t occur to me that you’d ask me to seduce Alberto’s mom!”
“Yeah, well... you said it, so now...”
“Oooh…” Eric furiously rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know...”
Mathias felt he won the upper hand. Eric was just too sweet, too good for this world. “Go on. Try to make yourself sound more mature. Deep voice. And act sexy.”
“Hang on, why me?” Eric suddenly rebelled. “You’re sexier than me, everyone keeps going on about it.”
“What?”
“Seriously, you’re super hot! So, you do it.”
Standing between the two of them, Elisa was watching in silence, her mouth agape.
Mathias clicked his tongue impatiently. “Seducing Alberto’s mom? While you’re going up to his room? Sounds logical to you? Even if I could seduce the mother of the guy I love?—”
Eric gasped. “Did you just?—”
“Shut it! Even if I could do that, which is wrong on so many levels, how do you think Alberto will react when he sees you, of all people, sneaking into his bedroom?”
“Okay, but…” Eric wrung his hands. “I-I don’t want to seduce her. I’m... I’m married in my heart.”
Mathias slapped his forehead. “No one’s asking you to go through with it! ”
“Buddy...” Eric’s smugness returned. “When I take the shot, I score.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sa?—”
“Excuse me?” Elisa interrupted, her hand raised. “Can I just say something real quick?”
The sight of her tiny hand, raised politely, immediately softened Mathias. “Of course, what is it?”
“Just a simple question: What the hell is wrong with you?” She ignored their bewildered expressions. “What in the world makes you think Alberto’s mom would be seduced by a seventeen-year-old boy?”
Mathias didn’t have an answer for that. He and Eric exchanged a sheepish look in the middle of the pavement.
“ Cristo... ” Elisa shook her head. “Eric, you don’t need to seduce anybody. Just talk to her, make her smile, you’ll still be free to marry Zak later. If he still wants you,” she added through gritted teeth.
Eric nodded, obviously relieved. After a steeling breath, Mathias raised his hand to press the doorbell, only to be stopped by Eric.
“Hang on, Matt.”
“What?”
“I want you to know something.” Eric spoke in a reluctant tone. “You know, all I really wanted was for you to be happy. So, if you... if this whole time, you hid Alberto away because of me, I sincerely apologize.”
Mathias gave his shoulder a pat. “Don’t beat yourself up. You were just a convenient excuse. It’s true I would have preferred if you liked him, but in the end, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I would have found other reasons to push him away. I did, actually.”
Just then, the gate abruptly opened, revealing Mrs Gazza and a middle-aged man who appeared—by the look of his equipment—to be a pool technician. “I’ll see you back tomorrow with the missing piece,” he said, accidentally bumping into Eric.With a quizzical look, the man skirted around them to return to his van parked across the street, and Mathias found himself facing Alberto’s mother. Even dressed casually in slacks and flats, she was extremely tall, her cold beauty simultaneously intimidating and riveting. But his time with Alberto had taught Mathias better than to trust the unapproachable facade.
“What is it?” Mrs Gazza asked in a faint voice.
Mathias noticed how glassy her eyes were, how frail she looked once the shock of her formidable appearance had waned. He forced himself not to turn back and was relieved when Eric took charge .
“We’re friends of Alberto. Can we see him?”
Alberto’s mother gave Eric a bleary look, then Mathias, then Elisa. “Alberto’s sick. He can’t have visitors.”
“He’s been sick a long time,” Eric said. “We haven’t heard from him in weeks.”
“He has an infection.” She sounded hesitant. “He won’t be back for a while.”
Just as Mathias had feared. He slipped Eric a quick glance, but Elisa spoke first. “That’s okay, we just came to bring his homework. Can we come in?”
“He’s resting. I don’t want to wake him.”
“No problem!” Eric flashed her a bright smile. “We’ll just give it to you then.” Despite his friendly tone, he was already letting himself in as he was speaking. To Mathias’s surprise, she let them do so without reaction. After Xavier’s confession, it was easier for him to put two and two together. Recalling his own father acting similarly after his mother’s passing, Mathias concluded she must be on some antidepressant, just like her son. She led them to the pool lounging area and despite the cold, resumed her seat on one of the chairs.
“I remember you,” she told Eric. “You play football… You’re Alberto’s good friend.”
“Oh yes! That’s me!” Eric hid his discomfort behind a boisterous laugh. “We’re best friends. I love the guy. Love him.” Like a kid in urgent need of a bathroom, he started dancing on his feet at the edge of the pool.
Unlike Mathias, Alberto’s mother didn’t register his nervosity. “Come closer, I don’t want you to fall,” she told Eric. “The heating system broke; the water’s really cold.” Her shoulders visibly sank. “Alberto falls in there all the time.”
“Can I use your bathroom?” Elisa bellowed out of the blue. “I’m very small and have a tiny bladder.”
Mathias skewered her with a glare, but Mrs Gazza nodded and waved toward the house. “Of course. There’s one right as you come inside, second door on the right.”
“Thank you.” Elisa grabbed Mathias by his sleeve. “You, come with me.”
Noticing Mrs Gazza’s brow furrowing, Mathias spoke fast. “I’m her big brother; I have to watch over her.”
Before she could react, Eric plopped on the nearest chair and leaned toward her. “Would you like to know about the first time I met Alberto? So, he was sleeping?—”
Mathias and Elisa left them, making their way toward the house as casually as possible. Once inside, Mathias started running, Elisa at his heels.
“We must hurry,” he said, flying up the stairs. “Eric won’t be able to say nice things about Alberto for more than a minute or two.”
Yet he stopped before Alberto’s door, to give his heart a second to recollect. Then he knocked gently. Please be in there , he prayed to whomever would listen. Please, be in there .
Alberto wasn’t in there. Mathias realized before the door was even fully open. The curtains were open and the bed was made. Across the room, the desk was neat and the computer screen black. The place looked pristine, like no one currently occupied it.
“Look alive!” Ella joked, pushing him inside.
“She lied, he’s not here. Why would she lie? What is she hiding?”
“Who knows, maybe to protect him.”
Mathias spun around like a top, not knowing what to do. Ella put her hand on his arm. “Think. Where could we find a clue?” Mathias’s gaze fell on the computer. They could maybe check his emails. Elisa read his mind and pushed him toward the chair. “Good idea!”
He sat down, and she stood behind him, gripping the back of his chair with both hands. Mathias shook the mouse to wake the screen and glanced over his shoulder.
“It’s password protected.”
“As expected.”
“But what’s the password?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“I don’t know!” Mathias stared at the black screen in a panic. “How about his date of birth?”
“Do it.”
With a wordless thanks to Zak for this precious information, Mathias typed different combinations, but it kept being rejected. “Now what?”
“I don’t know… What does he like?”
“I… I don’t know that.”
“Are you serious?” Ella shook the back of his chair. “How is that possible?”
“I...” A wave of guilt swept over Mathias. “I never asked. ”
“How could you not ask? Give it to me.” She leaned over him to grab the keyboard. He held her at arm's length.
“Stop it, what’s wrong with you?”
“You suck!” She gripped the keyboard with both hands. “What would Mom say? ?Tú tas loco, pollito! ? 1 ”
“ ?Cállate la boca! ? 2 ” Mathias pulled the keyboard back to him. “ Diabla infernal! ? 3 ”
Just as he wrenched the keyboard away, someone lightly cleared their throat, getting their attention. Mathias shot up and pulled his sister close. It was the woman he’d met in the kitchen that time he played hide and seek with Alberto.
“I know you...” The intensity of her gaze unsettled him. “Are you Dina?”
The woman nodded, then she checked the corridor was empty before stepping into Alberto’s room. “Are you Alberto’s boyfriend?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Do you know where he is?”
She shook her head. “His mother took him away when he hurt that awful girl.”
“What awful girl?” Elisa asked.
“I cleaned this room myself after he left.” Dina approached and put a small USB key in his hand. “He’d left this plugged in his computer, so I took it back, for safety. There’s nothing I can do with this. I can’t afford to lose my job. But you... you could do that for him.”
Mathias frowned at the thing in his hand. “What is it?”
“Something his mother should have seen a long time ago. Something her father should know.” Dina’s expression twisted with worry. “If you see my little one, tell him I miss him and I pray for his happiness.” She made to leave, turned around. Walking past the two of them, she removed a Post-it Note from the back of Alberto’s iMac. “Password, right?”
“Yes,” Mathias said, his heart racing.
“Alberto has a bad memory, so he keeps hints around. Something she wouldn’t understand.”
When she was gone, Elisa stretched on her toes to read the Post-it with a perplexed expression. “What does it say?”
“ Favorite band .” A feeling of helplessness fell over Mathias. “I don’t know what it is. I never wanted to know anything about him. I... I couldn’t?—”
“Mathias...” Elisa clung to him affectionately. “ Tú tas loco. ” She pushed his ass back into the chair. “Who’s the awful girl he hurt?”
Mathias had a good idea of who it could be, but he wasn’t sure whether Elisa should know yet.
“Let’s deal with this first.” He brought the keyboard close and typed a few names half-heartedly. World-famous bands. No luck. What songs did they ever listen to but the ones left to Mathias by his mother? Alberto never spoke about music. The only band he ever mentioned with affection was...
With a stab of hope, Mathias typed in Bloodhound Gang. In two words, then in one. To his dismay, it was rejected. “I’m all out of options,” he said grimly.
Elisa’s small hands fell on his shoulders, their grip surprisingly strong. “What’s your favorite band?”
“It’s not gonna be my favorite band, El.”
“Just type it anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because, honestly, the only thing I ever saw him care about was you.”
Mathias puffed out a dubious laugh, but his fingers moved on the keyboard all the same. “All right.” He typed in Garbage, slammed the Return key, and his heart thundered in his chest when the screen brightened, revealing a mess of open folders. Ella let out a sound of triumph.
“That’s so weird,” Mathias muttered, dumbstruck.
“How did you two end up this way?” Ella asked, her tone full of the judgment.
Mathias shrugged himself free from her grip, ashamed. It ended up this way because he was a moron, nothing else. But now he knew for sure Alberto loved him once. And with that knowledge, the violent hope that maybe, maybe he could get him back, they could be together— really together—resurfaced. They could have it all. The mornings, soft; breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, face to face; holding hands in the streets and in the dark, under the covers, where they would be one again.
Hope is a bitch, Mathias recalled abruptly. His mind was already racing to make up improbable scenarios instead of focusing on the task at hand. Hope wasn’t real, it wasn’t tangible. Finding out where he had been taken was.
The open folder right in front of them showed a string of videos recorded with the iMac’s webcam. Mathias’s gaze instinctively shot up toward the top of the computer where he noticed a small piece of black tape covering the spot where the recording red dot would be.
“I’m not sure I want to see this,” Mathias said, remembering that time he stayed the night. “And I’m not sure you should, Ella.”
“Shut up. I’m press, remember?” Elisa slapped his hand away from the mouse and clicked open the latest video.
The recording was several hours long. They went through it as fast as possible, spotting Dina cleaning the room, Mrs Gazza standing awkwardly by the bed, then sitting on it and hugging the pillows. Elisa rushed to open another file, and after a bit of fast-forwarding, they found some harrowing footage: Alberto's stepsister Anastasia openly mocking him as he was painfully obviously attempting to get away from her, and how she proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Though they couldn’t see the beating itself, they could definitely hear it. And they could hear Anastasia’s subsequent words, which filled Mathias with dread. “His dad really gave him that scar...” he whispered, stunned.
“What scar?” Elisa asked. “Oh, shit!”
The resounding slap Alberto gave Anastasia was caught by the camera, as well as the way he gripped her and shook her like a rag doll afterwards. Mathias watched her ordeal without empathy. He only stopped the video when her father intervened. “I don’t know what to do with this,” he said, his blood pounding in his ears.
Elisa pushed him out of the way and plugged the USB key. It was filled with snippets of assaults taken from the security cameras located throughout the house. Some showed mild stuff such as Anastasia running up the corridor with Alberto’s clothes bundled in her arms, to some more alarming scenes like the one where she was laughing her head off while chasing him with a knife. A look at the dates informed them this had been happening for years.
“He was preparing something,” Elisa said. “Did his mother know?”
Mathias shook his head. “If she did, would she have let this happen?”
“I don’t think so.” Elisa grabbed her set of keys. Hanging from a ring was her own USB device. “I’m gonna copy this real quick, in case this one gets lost somehow. Then we’re showing his mother.”
She transferred some of the snippets to her own phone. Mathias quickly checked Alberto’s emails in case it contained clues about his location, but his inbox wasn’t at all as Mathias expected, filled with flirting men waving their dicks in grainy pictures. No, it was mostly spam, like, an insane amount of spam, so much that Mathias promised himself to have a talk about it with him later, if the occasion presented itself. Afterward, they hurried downstairs, only to stop dead in their tracks once they emerged outside. Anastasia had returned home, and, clad in a fur coat, she was walking toward the pool, where Mrs Gazza and Eric were still sitting.
“Hello there,” she saluted in a singsong voice. Her gaze fell on Eric, who got up from his chair. “Who are you?”
Eric’s mouth had fallen open, but no words were coming out, so Mrs Gazza answered for him. “That’s Eric. He stayed over once.”
“I don’t think so, no. Someone’s lying to you, Olympia.” Anastasia’s tone suddenly dripped with contempt. “What’s going on, here?”
From her position, she could see Mathias and Ella approaching. She pointed a finger at them. “That’s him! He’s the one who stayed over. Aaaand”—she squinted at Elisa—“I don’t know the toddler next to him. Why are you lying? What do you want?”
Mrs Gazza threw a quick, anxious look at the both of them. “I feel like you were gone a long time.”
Elisa approached her. “Do you like movies?”
“Not—”
“Great, watch this one.” Ella pushed the phone between her hands and pressed play.
“What’s that?” Anastasia’s eyes fell on Elisa’s phone, and her smile turned into a cruel grimace. In that moment, Mathias imagined she was surprised at her own lack of judgment. After all, she had allowed her bullying to be recorded time and time again on video. Perhaps she had so little respect for Alberto, it never occurred to her he might use that footage against her. And now, here she was, exposed.
Alberto’s mother was quiet as she watched video after video of her stepdaughter’s assaults on her son, but Mathias noticed her knuckles turning white around Elisa’s phone.
“We were just playing,” Anastasia said. Her unconvincing tone caught Mathias’s attention.
“Playing?” Mrs Gazza stood up. She towered over Anastasia, her blue eyes stark against the red tinge from her unshed tears. “What sort of game do you call this?” She shoved the phone under her nose. “Why would you do this to him? He’s just a boy! ”
Anastasia dropped all pretense and gave Mrs Gazza a look full of disdain. “A boy? A boy?” She let out a laugh. “Is that how you see him? That explains so much. He’s not a boy anymore, Olympe .” She grinned maliciously. “He’s a waste of space!”
Eric gasped in shock, his fingers gripping Mathias’s shoulder. Elisa gritted her teeth. “Hey! Watch your tits, Satan!”
“Clam it, microbe.” Anastasia spoke without even sparing her a glance.
Alberto’s mother looked like her world had been turned upside down. “Why, why?” She kept repeating, her voice shaking. “He’s so sweet. He’s suffered so much already.”
“Oh, cry me a fucking river.”
“No, you’re wrong… You’re angry, Stasia. You’re?—”
“Of course I’m angry!” Anastasia squinted at Mrs Gazza as if she were mere dirt under her shoe. “My life was perfect before you sunk your claws into my daddy.”
“Then… Then…” Mrs Gazza sounded wretched. “Then why didn’t you come after me? Why Alberto? You know what he’s been through!”
Despite her countenance, Anastasia, too, was upset. Mathias could see it from the way her body faintly trembled from rage. “But I did,” she said with a forced smile. “I did. I went after what you loved the most.”
Anastasia was telling the truth; it was plain in her eyes. Overwhelmed by shock, Mrs Gazza stumbled back and almost fell on the lounge chair, but Elisa rushed forward to hold her hand.
“This is so absurd,” Alberto’s mother whispered. “We could have been a family. I wanted... I wanted to give him a family.”
“Guess what!” Anastasia snickered. “I don’t want to be part of your family.” She approached Mrs Gazza with murder in her eyes. “I’m glad I did what I did. I don’t get what the fuck happened between Daddy and that retard, and honestly, I don’t even care to know. But I’m glad your marriage is dead. Glad!” Her eyes had turned black with hatred. “Your son’s a little bitch, and so are y— AAH!”
What she intended to do to Mrs Gazza, no one could tell. Before she could put her hands on her, Elisa went, “That’s it!” and delivered a precise kick in the center of her chest. Anastasia was thrown into the pool, where she landed with a resounding splash. Shock, anger, and the cold water made her screech like a hellish creature from a b-movie .
That’s what a real demon sounds like, Mathias thought absently. Unconsciously, he squeezed the lock around his neck.
As Anastasia, bogged down by her expensive coat, kicked and shrieked in the water, Eric turned to Elisa. “You... you kicked her!” His eyes were as round as the tennis balls he so affectioned.” You kicked her in the fucking chest!”
“Did you expect me to kick her in the face?” Elisa shrugged. “I’m not an animal.”
Eric made a helpless, and rather squeaky sound. “How…”
Mathias put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t believe her size.”
“But…” Eric was shaking his head. “But how?—”
“Ten years of taekwondo.”
“ Diez a?os! ? 4 ” Elisa raised her hand and waited.
“ Diez a?os. ” Mathias high-fived her, then recalled he was her brother after all. “Bad, Ella, bad! You’re supposed to be the chill one!”
Smart, small, and cute, my ass! Another demon sent to ruin him!
“What?!” She crossed her arms with a disgruntled expression. “I warned her to watch her tits.”
Alberto’s mother, despite her state of shock, had had enough presence of mind to draw Elisa to her chest to protect her from getting splashed when Anastasia fell into the water. Now, she held her tighter as Mathias half-heartedly scolded her. Back in the pool, her stepdaughter was still struggling to get out of the pool and making hellish sounds. Alerted by the racket, a mean-looking bodyguard rushed out of the house and stopped in front of Mrs Gazza with an inquiring look.
“Don’t help her out, Oleg,” Alberto’s mother said, her tone colder than steel. “She’ll be just fine on her own.”
“ Sì, Signora. ” The man stood back obediently.
At last, Mrs Gazza turned to Mathias. “Who are you? Are you Alex?”
Mathias felt small under her gaze, sharp for the first time. “Sometimes. My name is Mathias. Rodin .”
Her lip twitched, and her brow furrowed briefly. She swallowed her discomfort and straightened up. “Well… Why have you come? What do you want?”
“Alberto.” Mathias didn’t avert his eyes. He stared into her face, his jaw set. “I want to see him, make sure he’s okay.”
“Why? ”
Despite his lack of answers, his eyes held no deception.
“You?” She murmured, her eyes widening. After a while, she gave in with a resigned sigh. “He’s in Meudon.”
Overcome with relief, Mathias took one step back, his hand finding the back of a lounge chair and gripping it for support. Mrs Gazza saw it, and after another sigh, she used Ella’s phone to type something in the browser. “This is the address.” She returned the phone to Mathias’s sister with a smile. “There. You’re a fiery little thing.”
“I’m sorry.” Elisa glanced up at her like a wrongfully accused puppy. “And thank you. I don’t know.” She dragged her feet toward Eric, who gave her a long, perplexed look.
“Tell me,” he said, arching his eyebrow. “How long does it take to learn that kind of kick? Does it really take ten years, or can I get away with it like, today?”
While Ella patiently replied, Alberto’s mother took Mathias to the side. Behind her, Anastasia had finally made her way out of the pool and was crawling on her hands and knees, half-sobbing, half-cursing to kill them all, toward her dependency.
“You think you care for him now, but it’s not so easy,” Mrs Gazza said, her eyes mournful. “You can’t be fooled by the beautiful wrapping; Alberto has been through enough, as you may know.”
“I think I’m beginning to understand… to understand many things.”
“Mathias.” Her voice was soft when she addressed him. “To be with him is to accept that. It’s not going to be easy, not when he’s like today, in a bad place. You can’t even think about it without considering the amount of patience, of work, of care…”
“I get that,” Mathias said almost defensively.
“Do you, really?” She absently straightened his jacket for him, before gently running her finger along his cheek. “If you do, then you need to keep your distance for now. Because he’s in a place of rest, and he needs that space right now. If you really care for him, you’ll agree with me.”
“I get it,” Mathias repeated, his gaze drifting toward the phone in Elisa’s hand. “I’ll keep my distance.” Raising his chin, he cast Mrs Gazza a smile. The truth was, he didn’t even feel remotely guilty for his lie.