Chapter 141: Whispers in the Garden
That night, dinner had wound down by the time Milo finally pushed his empty plate aside.
Teo was still chattering beside him about some new game one of the guards had shown him on a phone. The kitchen staff moved quietly around them, clearing dishes, and the mansion had settled into a peaceful night.
"You’re not eating that bread?" Teo asked, eyeing Milo’s plate.
"I’m full," Milo said, though in truth his stomach still ached faintly from the push-ups earlier, and eating too much felt like a bad idea, though he had already finished his second plate.
He pushed the small basket of bread toward Teo instead, who grabbed a piece immediately, grinning.
"Thank you for the car today," Teo said around a mouthful. "Can we play later?"
"Sure, it’s from Mr. Portello. I told you last time," Milo said, smiling despite the tiredness in his bones. "Let me go change first."
Teo just nodded, the guilt still lingering on him every time he remembered the day he betrayed Milo.
Milo left Teo finishing the food and made his way through the corridor, planning to head straight to his room. But as he passed the tall windows overlooking the side garden, a flicker of movement caught his eye.
He slowed, glancing out, and spotted Michelle standing alone near the hedges, a phone pressed to her ear, her back half-turned to the house.
Milo smiled to himself. He liked Michelle. She was quietly energetic and always smiled whenever their paths crossed in the kitchen or the hallways.
He thought about slipping outside and startling her, just for a laugh, the way Teo liked to do to him. He even took a step toward the side door.
Then her voice reached him, carried faintly on the evening air, and he stopped.
"No, please don’t get me in trouble. Never ever mention my name to Salvatore if you really care about me," she was saying, her voice tight, strained. "You have created enough bad things for me. Please let me go this time. I gave you information, and it’s the last time. Get away from me."
Milo froze completely, his hand still resting on the door frame.
Why did Michelle mention Salvatore? Information? What information? And to whom?
He stayed absolutely still, half-hidden by the curtain, watching as Michelle’s shoulders began to shake. A moment later he heard her voice crack, thinner now, closer to tears.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she said, her words catching. "I don’t want to do this anymore."
Milo’s chest tightened. He didn’t understand what was happening, didn’t know who she was talking to or what deal hung between them, but the desperation in her voice was unmistakable.
He leaned slightly to get a better look at her face, and when he did, some of the tension in his own body eased slightly. Her face didn’t look pale like a corpse. She looked upset, shaken, but not pale.
Michelle would not die soon, at least.
He knew he should say something. He knew, too, that maybe he shouldn’t. Before he could decide, he took a careful step back from the door, and then another, retreating quietly into the corridor before Michelle could notice him standing there.
His heart was pounding by the time he reached his room, his mind spinning through everything he’d just heard.
He didn’t get far before Teo came bounding up to him, remote control car in hand, the one Milo had given him earlier that day. "Milo! Let’s play!"
Milo blinked, pulled out of his thoughts, and forced a smile onto his face. "Okay," he said, nodding, grabbing his own remote from where he’d left it last time.
They went out to the back garden together, and for a while, Milo let himself get lost in it, steering the little car around the stone path, laughing when Teo’s car flipped over trying to take a corner too fast, both of them chasing after the toys across the grass.
"Haha! You suck, Milo! Your car needs to be towed!" Teo laughed when he saw Milo’s car under the bush.
"Look at yours. In real life, your car would catch on fire!"
Teo looked at his car, which was dented because it had crashed into the stones too many times. He just giggled.
An hour passed like that, easy and light, until Roderick appeared at the edge of the garden, arms crossed, his expression unusually serious.
"Milo," he said. "Can we talk?"
Teo pouted immediately, clutching his remote control car to his chest. "But we’re playing."
"You can keep playing," Roderick told him, not unkindly. "I just need Milo for a minute."
Teo huffed but wandered off toward the far end of the garden, muttering something about racing himself, and Milo set his own remote down on the stone bench before following Roderick toward a quieter corner near the wall, away from the windows and the staff moving inside.
Once they were far enough that no one could overhear, Roderick turned to face him directly. "Milo. What do you think about Salvatore?"
Milo blinked, caught off guard by the question. "He is a very good... man?" he offered, unsure exactly what Roderick was asking.
"I mean," Roderick said, "in the sense of a boyfriend."
Milo felt his face warm instantly. "We are..." he started, then trailed off, not sure how much he was supposed to admit out loud.
"Everyone knows about it," Roderick said simply. "Just tell me."
"I... don’t know what you mean, Sir," Milo said carefully, glancing up at Roderick’s face.
Something about the man’s expression unsettled him. He looked pale, which made Milo feel so sad about it. He liked that man very much, and imagining Salvatore losing his closest friend made him want to cry. But Milo tried to keep his own expression neutral, acting like everything was normal.
Roderick studied him for a long moment, his gaze steady, almost gentle despite the seriousness underneath it. "Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against your relationship. But you have to know that you might be in danger if you stay close to Salvatore."
"Danger?" Milo repeated, the word settling uneasily in his stomach.
"Everyone around us is always in danger, Milo," Roderick said. "The problem is that you will have more problems if you are weak. I am telling you because, until now, there have been not only one or two people who might kill you. You need to be careful."
Milo went quiet, letting the words sink in. He thought of the guards training every morning, of the tension in Salvatore’s shoulders whenever he mentioned Macron, and who knew how many enemies were waiting for the man to fall. He thought too of what he’d just overheard in the garden.
Yes, he knew all of them were always in danger.
"Thank you for your concern, Sir," Milo said finally, his voice steady despite the nerves twisting in his chest. "I will try to take care of myself. But I can’t leave Mr. Portello. It’s better for me to die in his arms than to run away."
Roderick’s expression shifted, something almost sad passing behind his eyes. "No, you can’t run away. I am only telling you to be careful. Don’t trust anyone."
Milo looked down at the grass beneath his feet. Michelle’s voice echoed in his mind again.
’I gave you information, and it’s the last time.’
He realized, with a small jolt, that he hadn’t trusted her blindly before, not really, but he certainly hadn’t suspected her either. He thought of what Salvatore had told him earlier that same day, about enemies closer than anyone realized, more dangerous than anything outside these walls.
He looked back up at Roderick. "I have to tell you something," he said slowly. "I’m sorry, I heard something I shouldn’t, and I don’t know what I should do about it."
Roderick’s posture straightened immediately. "Go on."
Milo told him carefully, choosing his words, describing what he’d seen, Michelle alone in the garden, her voice breaking, the mention of information already given, the plea to be left alone.
Roderick listened without interrupting, his jaw tightening slightly as Milo spoke. When Milo finished, Roderick asked, "Did she say anything else?"
"I don’t know," Milo admitted. "I only heard enough to make me worried about Mr. Portello. But please, can you ask her? I’m afraid I made a mistake."
Roderick nodded slowly, his expression unreadable now, calculating something Milo couldn’t follow.
"Don’t worry about it," he said finally. "Thank you for telling me."
He turned to walk back toward the house, but after only a few steps, he stopped and turned back around, his face serious again. "If Alben comes and asks you to go out, never go with him without me or Salvatore."
Milo blinked, confusion flickering across his face, though underneath it a small knot of unease tightened in his stomach. Milo had no desire to be anywhere near that man without someone else present.
"Yes, Sir," Milo said, nodding firmly.
Roderick studied him for one more moment, as though weighing whether to say anything further, before finally turning and disappearing back into the house, leaving Milo alone at the edge of the garden with far more questions than he’d had an hour ago.
Milo looked over toward where Teo was still racing his little car back and forth across the grass, laughing to himself, blissfully unaware of everything simmering beneath the surface of the house they lived in.
Milo wanted, for a moment, to feel that same lightness again, to forget Michelle’s tears and Roderick’s warning and the tightness that had settled into his chest.
He just knew something.
Someone might want to kill him.
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