Page 177 of Caterina
Oliver types rapidly. “Longer block. Not delay. Got it.”
“And I want the updated board packet before noon tomorrow. Not end of day. Noon.”
“Understood.”
“If Legal pushes back on the incident wording again, send it to Roberto and copy me.”
Oliver nods.
Her phone buzzes again. She glances at it, ignores it, and flips the page in front of her.
“Did the vendor compliance form come through?”
“Not yet,” Oliver says.
“Follow up.”
“Already did.”
She looks up at him.
He almost smiles. “Twice.”
“Good.”
I keep my attention on the room, but some of it stays on her. It always does. That was true before I touched her. It is worse now.
I watch her process three different tracks at once and understand, again, why her family underestimates her at their own risk.
They see the youngest. The daughter. The baby. The one to protect.
I see the woman who can control an office without raising her voice, read people through a line item, and put out multiple fires before anyone else realizes there even was one.
On top of all of that, the dinner.
I understand why she’s doing it. I do.
It has been a point of discussion for days.
Argument, really.
Lucia is finally coming into town with Nick and the children. She has put off the trip long enough because of the threat, because of security, because everyone kept telling everyone else to wait until things settled.
Things have not settled.
They have only gone quiet.
Against my objections, she’s coming anyway. I’m happy they’re keeping it quiet, at the very least.
But, now that she’ll be here, Caterina wants all of her siblings, their spouses, and their children under one roof for one dinner before the rest of the visit becomes the entire Conti machine orbiting around them.
One night. Just siblings. Just the people who grew up in the same house and somehow found their way back to each other in pieces.
I understand the emotional value.
I do not like the security aspect of it all.
I made my objections loud and clear.
