The Twelve Vitali Ch. 28

"My problem is six foot three and standing four feet in front of my desk," Arturo said without pulling any punches, surprising Matteo.

"I'm your problem?" Matteo said with a growl.

"I wasn't just obstinate with CJ and Sebastian, Catriona had plans that were important to her, but she is always going to roll over and give up what she wants in favour of what you or Ricco or your fathers want. I work for her now, not you. Because you didn't bother to ask me about her schedule or why I may have said I wanted to check with her before committing to a meeting time, she is going to look bad to the Gambaro family. They extended their stay at the house on the hill to have lunch with her and Logan tomorrow when they go to look at the house," Arturo spoke with frustration in his voice.

"You didn't say anything at the time?" Matteo accused.

"I am hardly going to make her choose between you and her own plans, especially not in front of so many people!" he said disgustedly. "I would never make her feel as if she had made a mistake or embarrass her in front of anyone. I don't work for you, I work for her, and she has her own priorities. She is desperate to begin the renovation process because she wants to start a family as soon as possible and doesn't want to be dealing with a half-finished house when that happens. She has half-finished paintings because she is constantly putting yours and Ricco's needs before her own when, from what I have seen this morning, you have no regard at all for her plans and the things she wants to accomplish while dealing with the demands of this family. I haven't even touched on the demands of the women of this family, who she will once again prioritise above herself, no doubt," Arturo leaned back in his chair and stared at Matteo, not quite believing he had spoken to him that way, but it was too late now. "When was the last time you actually gave her time to do what she wanted or prioritised some time for her to just paint and enjoy being here when it was a studio? She's packed it up because she knew she would never get to use it, and that's what she loves, painting!"

Matteo said nothing as he stared at the young man. He felt like an absolute arsehole that he couldn't refute anything Arturo had just said, but their lives had been so rushed leading up to the gathering and the wedding that they hadn't had the chance to stop and take the time to just relax and enjoy any moments unless they were in bed together.

"You can fire me if you want, but I would bet that you didn't put off any of your work commitments or spending time with your family and friends," Arturo went on, prepared to say his piece now that he had started. All of the frustration he had felt over the last week as he watched her work her butt off to prove herself to this family came out. "From what I understand, even when you went overseas to hand over the international projects, she spent time with each of your brothers and cousins between her wedding plans so that she wouldn't let you and Ricco down when the announcement came."

"You made your point!" Matteo growled angrily. He was angry at himself, not Arturo, for pointing out how unfair he had been to Cat and realising why she constantly fought him for small freedoms. Arturo's summary of his impression of their relationship also spoke volumes for the attitude that Matteo had picked up on and been suspicious of over the last week.

"Have I?" Arturo challenged. "Or have I just ensured that I won't be keeping this job? You won't find someone who would protect her interests better than me. I promised you that when you interviewed me. She will be my priority, not you or your brothers or your fathers."

"Honesty and loyalty..." Matteo said, dropping into a chair and meeting Arturo eye to eye. "Are possibly the key attributes I look for in anyone that works for me or those I love. I will hardly fire you for that. Pointing out what an arsehole I've been, however, that's a bit hard to take."

"You wanted honest," Arturo said, relaxing slightly as he took in the slump of Matteo's shoulders.

*****

Cat had visited two different building sites with Lucca and taken notes for him as they walked around inspecting sections that were nearing completion. They had talked about the pictures in the offices of Matteo and Ricco further as she tried to explain that art on the walls, just for the sake of having something there, was such a waste.

"If it's your space it should be somewhere where you have things that you love and make you happy. Things that can pull emotional heartstrings, or, at the very least, make you smile when you think of them," she grinned. "The picture, itself, doesn't really matter as long as there is meaning behind it."

"What does that mean?" Lucca furrowed his brows.

"Well, I knew a man once that had old movie posters in his living room because it reminded him of sneaking into the local cinema as a kid and how much fun he had there hidden down the front. He was a big movie buff because of it, so he kept those memories close where he watched those movies now," she tried to explain. "You could have a picture of Jasmine because it reminds you of your grandmother's perfume, and it's much easier to look at than a picture of her maybe. The picture, itself, doesn't have to be the exact memory, just bring up the emotion, so to speak. I am not explaining it well at all."

"So let's say I had a secret indulgence that made me happy, but I didn't want anyone else to know about it. I could have a picture that was a representation of it without actually putting it out there for everyone to see," he mused.

"Do you have a secret indulgence?" she asked with a grin.

"Maybe," he said coyly. "You've given me something to think about."

"Is it a real secret, or is it something your brothers would know about that you just don't want to tell me?" she asked.

"I doubt anyone is aware, even my watchers," he chuckled. "It's nothing bad or anything, just something I don't share with anyone else because they wouldn't be into it."

"You would share it if you thought someone was into it?" she asked. "What if you met the girl of your dreams? Would you share it with her, or at least tell her what it was to see if she might be into it?" Cat asked.

"Sure, if we were getting serious," he shrugged. "It's not a huge deal. Where would you like to go for lunch?" Lucca asked as he held the car door open for her.

"Where would you normally go for lunch?" she asked.

"I'd normally just grab a sandwich or something as I went from one job to the next. I'd like to take you somewhere nice for lunch though. It's not often I have a lovely assistant to do that with," Lucca laughed. "So where would you like to go? Just name it, and I am sure I can get us a table."

"Here's the thing," she said softly. Aware that Hugh and Bradbury, who had taken over from Jones during the morning, sat in the front of the car. "I am beyond happy and grateful that your family has accepted me and treated me like one of you practically from the beginning of my relationships with Ricco and Matt, but I come from such a different world. Asking me where I'd like to go for lunch is like asking me to name a crater on the moon. I wouldn't know where to go for lunch... at least, not the type of places you would go."

"Okay," Lucca said, hearing the anxiousness in her voice and not wanting a simple question he had asked to be the cause of that anxiety. He leaned forward and gave Hugh the name of a restaurant before sitting back and looking at her. "This was what you were trying to prove with your speech in the Athenaeum," he said in a statement. "It's only because it doesn't matter where you came from that we forget and assume you have had the same experiences as us growing up."

"I appreciate that, I do, but it makes for a lot of awkward occasions when I don't have Ricco around to save me," she admitted.

"Ricco? Not Matt?" Lucca asked.

"I think Matt sometimes forgets, too, whereas Ricco was there and saw me for who I was in the beginning. Matt never really knew the girl I was before I went to Brisbane," she said, defending Matteo. "Ricco is probably more aware of my discomfort at certain questions."

"Can you tell me about it? Your life when you were growing up?" Lucca asked. "Or is it something you just don't want to revisit anymore?"

"I'm not ashamed, if that's what you mean. I am pretty open about where I have come from and that I have no family aside of David," she said again in a defensive voice.

"I'd genuinely like to know," Lucca said soft voice.

Cat began in the car, telling him about growing up with her mother and grandmother until her grandmother's death and her mother's descent into drugs and alcohol. During lunch, she spoke of the struggles she faced trying to look after David, as well as herself. She smiled at the few happy memories she had as she told him about the goodness of her neighbours, who also lived in the squalid council flats. Eventually, she relived her mother's death and her dependence on Ned and the things she sacrificed to try and keep David at school and working toward a future away from the crime and gangs of her neighbourhood. She genuinely smiled when she spoke of when Frankie picked David up from a street gang hang out and took him to the local football club.

"Every time I tried to leave Ned, he would find me and drag me back until I just stayed put and he left, knowing I wouldn't move and he could find me whenever he wanted or needed. He kept coming back to ensure I was staying where he left me, but when David and Mick finally convinced me to move in with them and make a break for good, Ned went ballistic. That's when David called Frankie for help, and your family got involved. I guess you know the rest, or at least most of it," she finished the story.

"Honestly, Papa and Ricco never discussed your court case. None of us knows what happened to you or why you went to court," he said. "I can guess now, but no one knows the truth, I don't think."

"Ned found where I had gone; he broke in and destroyed everything I owned. My room and the studio I had created in the garage. I came home early that day because Maryanne didn't like the art I was doing in Vanessa's studio and wanted to see what I did at home. Ned assaulted me and threatened David's life before David arrived home and disturbed him. Ned fled the scene, and David called for help." The images in her mind flashed through as if only partially remembered now. "I refused to go in the ambulance, so Frankie took me to his house and called Paolo to see me. Ricco was there when I woke up the next morning. The rest of the story you now know," she said confidently.

"I can fill in the blanks," Lucca murmured, realising she had been raped and beaten by someone who claimed to love her on more than one occasion. The man had used the only leverage there was against Cat, her brother, David. The whole story of her life just made him sad, and he understood just how uncomfortable she felt now from the simple question of 'where would you like to go for lunch' when she obviously had no clue about anything outside of the neighbourhood she grew up in.

"Let's go," he said, suddenly throwing some money on the table and standing to offer her his hand.

The abruptness of his actions made her think she had been too honest with him, and she worried that he thought less of her because of her early life and her relationship with Ned and the fact that she had stayed with him for so long. She considered asking if she should just go home and let him finish his work day on his own, when he smiled widely at her, making her tilt her head curiously.

"Change of plans, I have an idea," he explained.

*****

Matteo worried about Cat during the day. Arturo's words had stayed with him, and he realised he had taken for granted that she had done what was necessary since her return from Brisbane rather than anything she wanted. She had left almost immediately for her trial, and then the engagement had thrown her into wedding preparations, and her obsessiveness about getting to know his large family so she didn't embarrass him and Ricco at the gathering had kept her from the very thing that made her the person she was. Her creativity was what had got her through the harshness of her early life, and he had all but snuffed it out without even realising it. She'd packed up her studio, the studio she wanted, without a seconds hesitation when she became the mother and took on more responsibility for him.

She had been so effortless in her support of him, and all he was dealing with, he had lost sight of what she was giving up to be his wife. His mind went back over the last two weeks they had spent together during the gathering and wedding to find one small thing she had done solely for herself. She had argued with him for small freedoms, and even safe worded once, but he knew he couldn't count those, as that was self-preservation, not something she did just for herself. The one thing she had asked for, her car, he had denied her by giving her a driver and restricting her movements.

She hadn't even been out with David and Mick without his engineering the meeting himself to ensure their safety. His thoughts bothered him a lot, and he went to speak with Ricco to see if he was too hard on himself or if he had truly been acting like a super controlling arsehole without even realising it. Cat hadn't complained about being so involved in the gathering or the pressure of becoming the little mother after the wedding. Or maybe she had, and he just hadn't heard her.

"Hey," Matteo said, walking into Ricco's office, seeing him sitting at his desk.

"What's wrong?" Ricco immediately asked, taking in his brother's expression. Matteo filled him in on everything Arturo had said that morning and his own thoughts throughout the day so far.

"Well, fuck," Ricco said. "That makes two of us then," he said, shouldering some of the blame. "though I doubt she sees it that way. Life has just been rushing past us all because there was so much happening. It will slow down eventually, and life can go back to normal, or as normal as it can be for us." Ricco chuckled.

"I guess, but I still hate the thought that she feels she has to put off the things she wants to do in order to do what everyone else expects," Matteo sighed. "What we expect of her."

"Why don't we see what we can do to lighten her load a little and make sure we check her schedule more often to make sure she doesn't overdo it when people randomly pop up in phone conferences. I doubt she would be happy if we suddenly changed our world to make hers easier." Ricco reasoned.

"What if we moved out to the house on the hill while she met with the renovation team? We could commute each day, it's not that far," he reasoned.

"I can work from anywhere these days, though I am happier near my office," he agreed. "I started winding down my public practice and taking on more of Papa's caseload for the family weeks ago."

"Let's work out the logistics of spending some time out there before the renovation begins," Matteo suggested. "We can use it to test out the daily commute before we commit to the house on the hill instead of looking for somewhere closer."

"I think you have already committed to the house on the hill by giving it to her and letting her renovate it. You couldn't take that away now and not be a huge arsehole," Ricco chuckled.

"I didn't know I would be Chair when I did that," Matteo said, sinking his head into his hands.

"I'm not saying she wouldn't understand and agree with you about the commute, but, after feeling so shitty this morning, do you really want to take one more of the things she wants away from her?" Ricco challenged his brother.

"Fuck!" Matteo looked miserable hearing the words. "This whole relationship happened so fast, I'm still adjusting. I'm used to just getting things done in the most efficient way. Tell me I haven't always been this much of an arsehole?"

"I doubt you will find anyone who would label you as a true arsehole," Ricco chuckled. "Look, the reality is that you have known Cat for four months, half of that time you had to spend apart, so you've had a two month relationship before you got married. Not only that, but you have had a few life changing experiences in that time personally as well, including our relationship." Ricco took a breath as he voiced the pressure on both his brother and Cat as if only seeing it himself for the first time. "You have to expect that there will be a period of adjustment for everyone, but instead of being able to work through it on our own, like we normally would, we have a lot of people watching and judging us for what we do now."

"Fuck!" Matteo said, hearing his life as it was now served up to him like that. "Alright, let's toss around some ideas to make our lives work better for Cat. How bad will the commute honestly be at peak hour? If Knox drives, we can work from the car on the way in."

"True, or we could build a helipad on the roof," Ricco chuckled.

"It's already there, we just don't have a helicopter or anyone who can fly one," Matteo shrugged.

"You're rich and can buy one and hire a pilot, so, problem solved. That would negate the commute for you, even though Knox would still have to drive it if you needed him out there. Although, if Hugh were out there, you probably wouldn't even have to get Knox to drive every day," Ricco reasoned.

"I haven't ever been out there with Cat. All of her memories of that house are tied up with you and mine with Nik," Matteo sighed.

"Then it's time to exorcise those demons," Ricco shrugged. "Why don't we spend the weekend out there and discuss her ideas for renovating. You will probably find Nik doesn't exist there anymore, and, for me, that's where I fucked up my relationship with her, so there are not as many good memories as you think for us."

"Can I interrupt?" Logan knocked on the door as the two men were talking.

"Yeah, come on in," Ricco invited. "We were just talking about the renovation project."

"Great, that's what I've come about," Logan walked in and took a seat beside Matteo. "I know you said this is Cat's project, but if it's going to be your primary residence, there are some things we need to discuss that she doesn't necessarily need to concern herself with."

"Such as?" Matteo asked.

"I assume you're going to want an athenaeum big enough for the eighteen of us. We can't keep crowding into your Papa's place once he hands over the Chair to you, and you don't have one here. I'm assuming, because you didn't expect things to play out the way they did." He said reasonably. "You will also want a separate but equal server out there as back up, and probably a sizable generator so you can be self-sufficient, to a point, if it ever becomes necessary. I'm not sure how Cat would be with doomsday planning, but it's something you should think about, given the threats, not just to us, but to all of the families. Having a house out of the city has a lot of advantages in that regard."

"We were just talking about a helipad as well," Ricco said, swiftly covering the fact that they had begun to think of that house as a permanent residence, despite Cat's intentions. "We might want to look at acquiring the surrounding blocks of land for a small airfield as well if we are going to make that the main base of operations for the family businesses. The block's big, but with all the things you are suggesting, as well as what we have been thinking of, it would make the most sense."

"I can do that, I'll get Zion to help now that he is going to be Mister Moneybags," he chuckled. "If anyone on the table truly suits his new position, it's Z." Logan laughed. "We may as well have what we need going into the future put in place now so that the renovations and upgrades don't continue forever."