Chapter 78: Faces in the Room
The kitchen was warm and smelled of butter and something with cinnamon in it.
Milo came in through the side door and stopped at the counter. He had almost forgotten why he’d come this way in the first place before Felix had stopped him in the hallway. He’d wanted cake. That felt like it had happened a long time ago now.
Maureen was at the far end of the kitchen arranging something on a tray. She looked up when he came in, and her eyes went straight to his cheek.
"Oh, look at your face." She set down what she was holding and came over without being asked, pulling a clean towel from the drawer beside the sink, running it under cold water, and folding it into a compress.
"Use this as a compress." She held it out to him.
"Thank you," Milo said, feeling awkward under her attention.
Maureen just nodded and went back to what she was doing without making a big deal of it.
The two other kitchen staff members working near the stove didn’t say anything either, but they had both looked at his face when he walked in.
Word had clearly already spread throughout the house. It usually did. They certainly knew what had happened in the dining room between Milo and Felix. And Salvatore.
Milo pressed the towel to his cheekbone and washed his hands as well. The pain felt sharper now.
He looked around the kitchen as he stood there.
Something was different about it. It took him a moment to figure out what. The counters were more crowded than usual.
There were bowls of fruit that hadn’t been there for days, a rack of bread, and many snacks that were already open, even nuts in the jar. So much food!
Milo had heard the guards talking about how Maureen was giving them much more food than before. And he could see it now. Everyone could see it too.
Even Luke was moving between the counter and his workstation calmly. No more grumpy expressions directed at the woman.
Milo thought back to the past week when Maureen had been counting every item that came out of storage and Luke had been cutting everyone’s portions down.
The kitchen had felt like hell before. Nobody wanted to stay there for long with Luke shouting and complaining all the time.
It didn’t feel like that now. It was back to normal and calm, just as Milo remembered it from the beginning.
Milo looked at Maureen, a bit nervous. "Ma’am, can I have some cake?"
Maureen already knew Milo had a bigger appetite than any of the guards. "Don’t call me ma’am. Take whatever you want from the fridge. I don’t own anything here."
Milo then noticed a cake on the counter near him. It was a proper one, layered, with something dark between the layers. It had already been cut some slices.
Luke was still there, holding a towel. He noticed where Milo was looking. Then he walked over, cut a slice of cake, cut a second one, placed both on a small plate, and slid it across the counter.
Milo looked at the plate. "Two?"
"Eat more. There’s more for you," Luke said, then went back to the stove.
Milo picked up the plate. He was fairly sure he knew what had changed about the kitchen and was certain Salvatore was behind it, but he didn’t say anything about it.
He just took the cake and ate it all right there. Then he put down the towel and walked back down the hallway toward his room.
Salvatore had asked him to meet him, so he didn’t want to keep the man waiting.
In his room, he changed out of the shirt that had gotten dirty during the fight and put on a clean one. A formal one, because he was supposed to present himself properly when he went to find Salvatore.
He found a pair of black trousers that weren’t too wrinkled and put those on as well. He checked his face in the small mirror.
His cheekbone was bruised and slightly swollen, but not badly enough to keep his eye closed. It would look worse tomorrow.
He walked down to the office soon after.
He saw Roderick.
The man was standing in the corridor outside the door with his phone in both hands, typing something. He didn’t look up when Milo arrived. His expression was focused. He looked so busy.
Milo walked closer.
Felix was inside the office. Milo sighed.
Felix looked at Milo when he appeared at the door and then looked away again at the wall opposite him. He was clearly annoyed to see Milo again.
Milo stopped a few feet from the office door and waited.
Nobody spoke.
Roderick kept typing. Felix kept looking at the wall. Milo stood with his hands at his sides and looked down the hallway, waiting for Salvatore to appear.
It felt like an eternity before Salvatore finally arrived.
His presence changed the atmosphere drastically. For Milo, it suddenly felt warm.
Salvatore had changed into a suit. Dark, well-fitted, with a shirt underneath that was a shade lighter. He held a cigarette between two fingers, smoking it as he walked. He looked handsome and distinguished.
Salvatore stopped when he saw Milo standing in front of the office.
Milo smiled. His body relaxed instantly.
Salvatore looked at him and patted his head. He looked at the dress shirt, the black trousers. He glanced once at Milo’s face, at the bruise, and said nothing about it.
"Get your shoes," Salvatore said. "We’re going out."
Milo was surprised, but nodded immediately.
Felix stared at Salvatore. "What? Why does he need to come?"
Salvatore put the cigarette between his lips. "Why not? He needs to understand his work properly."
Felix already hated it. But he knew nobody could stop Salvatore.
Milo didn’t wait for Felix to say anything else. He turned and walked quickly back toward his room, found his shoes, and put them on in about thirty seconds.
He didn’t know where they were going. But they were leaving the mansion. He was so excited about it.
He made it back to the front entrance before the cars had fully pulled up.
They took three cars into the city. Salvatore and Milo rode in the first one with Roderick. Felix was in his own car. Then the guards followed in the third car.
The drive took about forty minutes. Milo watched the buildings get taller and more densely packed through the window and said nothing, but his eyes were wide and shining.
"You look like someone who never goes out of the house," Salvatore said, looking at how excited Milo was.
Milo just grinned. "I didn’t go out much. Usually I went out when it was dark. It’s just different."
"Don’t say he never let you go out."
"I went out a lot to go shopping with Sean, but mostly I didn’t enjoy it. I was too scared to enjoy anything."
Salvatore didn’t say anything. He just looked outside, his face stiff at the news.
The cars stopped in front of a hotel in the heart of the city center. It wasn’t a large, flashy entrance, just a quiet one.
A single set of glass doors with no signage visible from the street, the kind of entrance designed to be overlooked by people who didn’t already know it was there.
They walked through the lobby quickly. There was a standard elevator on the right and another corridor on the left. They walked past the standard elevator without pausing and turned left down the corridor toward a single unmarked door.
Roderick pressed a button on a panel beside it. The door opened onto a second elevator, smaller, with no floor indicator inside.
Milo stayed close and kept quiet. He just avoided looking at Felix, as the man seemed ready to devour him whole.
When they stepped out onto the upper floor, it was an entirely different kind of space. Dim lighting, private tables.
There were already people there, small groups seated and talking, the sound of it all kept deliberately low.
Salvatore paused beside Milo for a moment before moving forward into the room. He spoke quietly, not looking at him directly.
"Use your ability. See anyone in this room."
Roderick just glanced briefly at Salvatore who whispered to Milo.
Milo’s chest tightened slightly. He nodded.
He moved with the group toward the far side of the room where a table had been set for them.
Roderick positioned himself near the wall. The other guards spread out naturally.
Milo stood with them and began to look slowly around the room.
He kept his face neutral. He kept his posture the same as the other guards’. But he wasn’t doing what the other guards were doing. He was looking at faces.
He moved his gaze from person to person carefully, the way he had learned to do it without making it obvious. Most faces were ordinary. Just faces.
He kept looking.
Salvatore had already moved through the room and was greeting people at the nearest table. He was relaxed. Easy handshakes, small smiles, and humble conversation.
Felix had taken the chair immediately to Salvatore’s left and had settled into it with visible satisfaction as he looked at Milo.
He felt superior since he was the one sitting next to Salvatore.
A woman across the table said something that made Salvatore laugh. He responded and then glanced across the room toward where Milo was standing, a brief, natural look.
Then he looked at Felix and spoke directly to him.
Felix’s attention shifted back to Salvatore.
From where Milo stood, it looked like a perfectly normal interaction. He understood what Salvatore was doing. The glance in his direction had been obvious.
Felix had seen it and was now studying Salvatore’s face closely, trying to read something in it.
Milo turned his attention back to the room.
Felix thought he was standing there to be noticed.
Milo did not correct that impression. He stood with his hands relaxed at his sides and let Felix think whatever he wanted while he continued scanning every face in the room one by one.
He was there to do a job.
He kept looking and tried to remember the faces to report to Salvatore after spotting two men with very pale faces.
