Trainwreck

"Yes, it was one of my many reasons to leave. There were things here that weren't meant for me, so I left."

Things not meant for her? Was she talking about Miraj? Interesting.

"I see. If you don't mind me asking, what were the other reasons?"

Miraj and Luke both turned towards me, in sync. I had decided on my smile to be my weapon for today. So when they both glared at me, telling me to stop, I just smiled.

I faced Tatiana again, waiting for her reply. She didn't disappoint me when she said, "I actually do mind."

I was trying to piss her off and make the bitch inside come out for everyone to see. Or maybe just make her angry enough to storm off, so I can finally breathe in my own house again. Literally anything to get this dead-night over.

"I see,"I said.

I took another sip of my wine and ended up catching the doctor's eye. He seemed to be concentrating at my face, trying to read it. This was stating to feel less like a dinner party and more like a diplomatic meeting.

"I think it's about time we have dinner." I couldn't stand another minute of this forced hostess role. Nothing interesting was happening so I decided to end this torture for us all. I was dying to check on my son anyway.

***

Our dining room had a round table because it was difficult to decide who would sit at the head of the rectangular table when we had guests. When it was just the three of us, Miraj and I could've each taken one side but we couldn't do that when we had guests. Subtle things like that give people an impression of who was the leader and the general consensus leaned towards Miraj because he was the man. Both of us knew how intolerant I was to anything that seemed to shift power towards him.

So there we sat, around the table, with Ari between me and Miraj. Luke sat on my other side because he was the only company I wasn't willing to stab with a fork, if anything went wrong. Dr.Mathews sat beside Luke and that had left one seat for Tatiana beside Miraj and before that ever happened, there would be a knife deep in her heart. Miraj spoke to the doctor before he settled into his chair, "Switch seats with her if you don't want to see her dead."

That pretty much came off as a death threat from Miraj to the doctor but everyone knew he was talking about me. I don't think there was a single person not regretting this evening. Why were we still doing this? The only reason she wasn't dead was because she was Mathews' daughter and the doctor was one of Miraj's oldest and most loyal people.

The first course of the meal came out and we moved on from the incident to get this dinner done. The warm and creamy lobster bisque soothed my killing intent and I just enjoyed the good food Romero had made. The conversation at the table had halted probably because everyone was afraid of what it could lead to. Being the crazy bitch I was, I wanted to see where this trainwreck would go.

"Tatiana, I know I should know this since we invited you as our guest but I don't. Where have you been all this time, exactly? I just knew that you weren't in Tamba."

She looked confused for about half a minute, probably wondering whether to answer my question.

"I... I left to get my MBA in LA. I have been in the States ever since."

"Oh! You must have a job there then? Or does your father still support you?"

She straightened her back and glared at me as she said, "My father stopped supporting me years ago. I do have a job and I earn for myself."

"What do you do then?"

"I work for Panache hotels and resorts at the head office. It's a hotel empire mainly situated in States and they'll soon be going international."

Was she fucking kidding me? She left Miraj because she didn't want to be with a criminal and live a dangerous life but now she was working for the Italian Mafia in the US.

This woman was either too brave or too stupid to have admitted this in front of Miraj.