Matteo (Knight Empire #5)

Chapter 1

MATTEO

The kitchen smells of seared steak and garlic butter. I’m starving, and all I want to do is eat.

We’re in Rio’s penthouse. Rio and Raquel wanted to have a celebratory dinner for Zach and Maya after their recent vacation. Celebratory, I guess, because of all the drama that happened before that.

Dex and Rio have the cooking covered. They’ve been trying to outdo one another while I stand around, watching. My contribution so far has been to throw together a quick salad.

Zach’s being helpful, constantly keeping the women's wine glasses topped up. The other guys, not me or Enzo, have been ribbing him when Maya’s not within earshot.

They look happy, and tanned, and can’t keep their hands off each other whenever they get the chance.

They’ve recently returned from a week-long vacation in Puerto Rico.

I shouldn't be staring at them, but I can't help it. I don’t know Zach too well, but he looks stupidly, giddily, happy. He’s always been the quieter one, like me and Enzo.

Rio's the only loudmouth in our set of brothers. Enzo and I prefer to drift into the background, though lately, as we've all been hanging out together more, we’re all getting to know one another. It feels like the family's growing. It's nice. Nice to feel a part of a bigger whole.

Jett paces around, ear to his cell phone. Enzo’s on his phone, too, sitting on a bar stool, quietly doing his thing. I'm leaning against a wall, on standby, watching.

Laughter ripples around the room. Rio has a huge open plan area with a big kitchen, so that the women, sitting on the couches over in the living room with glasses of wine in their hands, can easily see us guys getting the food ready.

Rio has a long table beside the kitchen, big enough to accommodate all of us, overlooking the pool. The old man, who never misses an opportunity to remind us where we stand in the pecking order, gave Jett and Rio the penthouses complete with rooftop pools and gardens.

Mama would love this. She always did worry about the other boys. Aurora’s boys, she calls them. It must be strange for her to refer to the wife she never knew existed by her first name.

It broke her when she discovered that the man she loved, the man she believed was loyal and faithful, the father of her three sons, already had a wife and family all the way in America.

All those times he told her he was away “on business,” disappearing for months at a time, she finally understood why.

And why he never married her.

When she learned that his wife, the mother of the American Knights, had taken her own life because she couldn't cope with the old man's deception, Mama cried for days, as though she'd lost someone dear to her.

We were his dirty secret.

Jett, Dex, Zach and their mother were a family, until they discovered that their father was hiding so much. He had a mistress. I wince at the label but I suppose that’s how they must have seen Mama.

Mama loved the old man, and so did we, before any of us knew he was a cheat. Our relationship with him is complicated. I guess it is for all of us, including the American Knights, because we’ve discussed it more now that we’re hanging out together.

Each of us has problems with him.

For me, I keep my distance. He made me the head of tech at Knight Enterprises. I’m lucky and privileged to have landed this position at such a young age, but I’ve also worked hard to prove myself. The old man guides us, but there is no fatherly love, and not much respect.

We tolerate him, and the dinners he holds so frequently.

But I don’t respect him as a man.

I don’t see him as a father, and because of him and what he did to Mama, I guard my heart fiercely. I avoid emotional risk and I’m careful with romantic entanglements. I don’t want to be vulnerable or open up to someone who could hurt me, the way Mama was hurt.

I have fun, but nothing that lasts for too long.

But sometimes, watching these guys, it makes me wonder, and something stirs inside me when I see Jett look at Cari, hold her hand and stroke it gently. He’s such an alpha man, but he melts when he’s around her. Same way Rio does when he’s with Raquel, and Dex when he’s with Dani.

They seem different, lighter and happier now that they’re with their girlfriends. This time it seems more long-lasting. Stronger.

Same thing’s happened to Zach with Maya. She’s from his past and she suddenly came back into his life and now they look like they’ve been together forever.

Standing on the sidelines is beginning to feel a little isolating. It hasn’t bothered me much before, because I’ve always preferred to watch what’s going on rather than be the center of attraction, but now I’m starting to feel like the odd one out. Thankfully, Enzo’s still single.

I feel an urge to go and visit Mama. Get away from constantly being around these loved up boys. I miss her and I wish she'd move back here.

Our roots are here now, mine, Rio's and Enzo's, because this is where the business is. We were born and lived in Italy before we turned into teenagers. The old man moved us all here once the secret came out. He wanted us all here in the US, but he kept us apart from the other boys. Mama stayed until we were old enough and independent, then she returned to her beloved Italy. She went to take care of our aging grandparents, but they’ve now passed, and we all wish she’d come back here.

Soave is my home, figlio mio, she always says, when we ask her when she’s coming to live over here so that we can all take care of her. She teases that she’ll come when she has grandchildren to babysit.

She has felt so much guilt over being with a man who was married—even though she never knew he was married.

She was devastated to find out that he had a family, and even more so when she learned of Aurora’s suicide.

But it would make Mama happy to see us now, all together and sharing jokes and a meal.

Brooke, Jett's little girl, is here, too. I don't get to see her much because we live in different apartment blocks. Me and my brothers live in this apartment block in SoHo, and the American Knights are over in Tribeca.

Tonight we’re having ribeye steaks with fries. The women demanded green veg, so Dex threw in some asparagus. I threw everything I could find in Rio’s fridge that looked healthy into my salad.

“You're overcooking it, bro,” Dex snaps at Rio.

“Dude, it's medium rare.”

Dex takes a look. “That's medium.”

“Leave me to it, please?” I sense Rio's patience is being tested.

“Do we get to eat today?” Jett stands over them in typical doing-nothing fashion.

“You'll get fed, don’t worry,” Rio mutters.

“Brother! You're overcooking it again!” Dex cries.

The women are in the living room, sitting on comfy couches with wine glasses in their hands. They stop talking and glance over.

“Guys, please stop shouting at the meat!” Dani yells.

Raquel lets out a huff. “Men.” She rolls her eyes.

“Do you need a hand?” Cari offers.

A chorus of “NO!” resounds from the women.

“Surely they can handle one meal?” Raquel says. “They've done a day's work for daddy, and now they can cook for us.” She walks over, takes a peek before sniffing performatively, and saunters back to the women.

“Almost done.” Rio’s face glistens with a sheen of sweat.

Jett folds his arms. “Brooke doesn’t like steak.”

Dex nods. “You’ve told me ten times already. I've got chicken goujons for her. Coming up real soon, princess.” He winks at Brooke. She's been hovering around, looking bored and restless in a room full of adults.

“So, tell us some more about your vacation, dude,” Rio says to Zach when he’s finished from topping up everyone's wineglasses.

“Aw, man. It was amazing.” Zach slips a side glance at Maya. The rest of us might as well not be here the way these two have only had eyes for one another. They took Maya's mom with them on vacation to Puerto Rico because she hadn’t been back for years and she wanted to see her family.

“Where did you stay?” I ask Maya.

“My mom stayed with family,” she replies. “They live down the coast in Loíza, and I would have happily stayed with them, but Zach needed something more ... to his taste.”

“I didn't know anyone,” Zach cries, in his defense.

Maya grins at him. “Oh, come on! That wasn't your problem. You knew me.”

Dex chortles. “Can't see my little bro staying anywhere but in the lap of luxury.”

Maya takes a sip from her wineglass. “My goodness, yes! It was awesome where we stayed.”

“I booked a private villa,” Zach announces proudly.

Jett chuckles. “Course you did.”

“Not that I minded,” Maya counters.

“Well, get used to it, because this is what he's used to,” Jett tells her with a grin. “You'll never find this guy living below his means.”

Maya waves a palm, dismissively. “I'm getting used to it. But we made the most of it. We visited my mom and the extended family during the day and we also managed to do our own thing.”

Dex starts slicing the steaks. “That must have been interesting.”

Zach swipes a couple of fries from the platter. “It was. One minute I'm at this amazing place with ocean views and our own private beach, and the next minute I'm sitting on a plastic chair outside Maya's aunt's house, where someone's uncle grills pork, and everyone argues in Spanish.”

“You didn't mind,” Maya says playfully, “and they weren't arguing. They were just ... animated.”

“I didn't mind, and I’ve never eaten so well in my life.” A smug smile spreads over Zach’s face, and he and Maya share another gaze of adoration.

I swear to God, Enzo and I are surrounded by happy couples and we might as well not be here.

I doubt they’d notice. I’m happy for them all, but I’m starting to feel like a fluorescent light in a candlelit room.

“Don’t just stand there, brother.” Dex eyeballs Rio. “Help me slice these.”

“What's going on with the tech glitches?” Jett asks.

I wish he hadn’t. That’s the last thing I want to talk about. “We're still looking into them.”

“Still?” Rio exclaims, looking over his shoulder. “Dude, these problems started months ago.”