Charlotte entered the kitchen just in time to see the Rossi children, armed with cookies and soft drinks, disappear through the doorway leading to the hall.
Three men were in the kitchen, their attention on the retreating children. Out of the three, there was no mistaking which one was Robert Rossi. For one thing, though shorter than his brothers, Robert shared the same dark hair and dark eyes that his brothers had. But Charlotte would have recognized him anyway because of the many newspaper photos and TV news clips she’d seen when he’d been on trial for the murder of his father.
When Robert turned and saw Charlotte, his eyes narrowed. “You must be Charlotte, the new maid.”
Clutching the laundry basket with an iron grip, Charlotte nodded. If he knew who she was, that must mean that he’d okayed Emily hiring her. Feeling a measure of relief, she tried to speak, but the words seemed to stick in her throat.
There had been a few times in Charlotte’s life that she had sensed pure evil when coming in contact with certain people, and meeting Robert Rossi was one of those times. It was his eyes, she decided. Though seemingly polite and friendly, there was a cold, soulless look in the depths of Robert Rossi’s dark eyes that chilled her to the bone.
“Well, Charlotte, nice to meet you,” he said. Stepping aside, he motioned toward the two men with him. “This is Leo Acosta, my attorney, and Porter Anzio, an associate of mine.”
The contrast between the two men with Robert was the difference between hot and cold. The attorney, a sharp dresser, had a shrewd, calculating look about him, whereas Robert’s so-called associate, though dressed nicely enough, had a hard, mean look about him and was the epitome of a mob enforcer, just like in the movies.
“You don’t happen to know where I can find my mother, do you?” Robert asked.
Praying that she could answer, Charlotte cleared her throat, but at the last minute Emily entered the room and saved her.
“Mama asked me to—to tell you th-that she will be down in a minute,” Emily said, her voice soft and tentative.
Robert sighed heavily. “Tell her we’ll be in the library. And keep those kids quiet. I don’t want any interruptions once we get started.”
Feeling somewhat like a fifth wheel, Charlotte didn’t know a polite way to exit the room except just to do it. With a nod to Emily, she hurried past her and fled up the stairs.
Once Charlotte had distributed the color-coded towels and washcloths in each bathroom, she ventured back downstairs to return the laundry basket. As she passed through the kitchen, she made a mental note to turn on the dishwasher before she mopped the kitchen.
A few minutes later, Charlotte was ready for the final chore of the day. She always saved mopping the kitchen for last. As she poured pine cleaner in the mop bucket then filled the bucket with warm water, she eyed the mop hanging on the wall in the laundry room. Since it looked to be in fair condition, Charlotte decided to use it instead of the one she always carried in the van.
She took the mop and the bucket into the kitchen. After she turned on the dishwasher, she pulled out a pair of rubber gloves from her supply carrier. Suddenly the back door crashed open then slammed so hard that she felt the vibration all the way in the kitchen.
Charlotte jerked around just in time to see a heavyset man stalk into the room. Momentary panic gripped her at the look of pure rage on his face as he made a beeline for her.
Chapter
4
The man was almost nose-to-nose with Charlotte before he stopped. “Where is he?” he shouted.
Charlotte eased back a step. “Wh-who?” she choked out, her insides quivering with terror.
“Robert!” he sneered. “I want to see Robert, and I want to see him right now!”
Charlotte swallowed hard. Where on earth were the bodyguards? And why hadn’t they stopped this maniac? Suddenly her own temper erupted. How dare this man burst in like a raging lion, shouting at her, making demands, and scaring her spitless?
Though still a bit shaken and keeping a wary eye on him, Charlotte took a deep breath, stretched to her full five-foot-three inches, and in a stern, no-nonsense voice that she rarely used unless provoked, said, “Whom should I say wants to see him? If he’s available,” she added. But just as she backed away with the intentions of heading straight for the library, the rude man shoved past her.
“Never mind,” he snarled. “I’ll find him myself.”
“Hey! Stop!” Charlotte hurried after him as he marched out of the kitchen and headed for the library. Where in the devil were those bodyguards and why hadn’t they stopped him to begin with?
Other than tackling the man, something she had no intentions of doing, there wasn’t a whole lot that Charlotte could do as she trailed behind him. In no time he reached the library, and before she could stop him he shoved open the door and stomped into the room.
Charlotte quickly entered behind him. There were four people in the room: Robert, the two men she’d met earlier, and Sophia. All turned to stare first at the man, then at Charlotte.
But the man ignored them, all except for Sophia. At the sight of the elderly lady, he hurried over to her, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and kissed the top of her head. It was then that Charlotte noticed Sophia’s red-rimmed eyes and her too-pale face. It was evident that she was upset about something, but what?
“What in the devil are you doing here?”
Robert’s question was directed at the man, and the sound of his voice pulled Charlotte back to the problem at hand. Taking a deep breath, she faced Robert Rossi. “Mr. Rossi, I’m so sorry, but this rude man insisted on seeing you.”
Robert Rossi’s expression hardened as he glared at the man for several tension-filled moments. Then finally, with a resigned sigh, he said, “It’s okay, Charlotte. This hotheaded man is my youngest brother, Joe. I apologize if he was rude to you.”
Charlotte swallowed hard, and when Robert made a dismissing motion with his hand, Charlotte figured that was her cue to leave the room. But as she closed the door behind her, Joe let loose a string of expletives that burned Charlotte’s ears.
“You thought you’d pull a fast one, didn’t you?” Joe shouted. “Well I’m here to tell you that there’s no way I’m letting you put Mama away in that hellhole you call a retirement home. And neither will Mario or Tony when they find out. Mama is not crazy! If anyone around here is crazy, it’s you!”
Charlotte paused outside the door. In spite of Joe’s initial rudeness, she figured that surely a man who cared so much about his mother couldn’t be all bad. Though she didn’t approve of eavesdropping, she stood frozen in the hallway, mesmerized by the heated conversation between the brothers.
“Shut up, Joe, and I’ll explain,” Robert ground out, his tone cold and menacing.
Joe laughed, but the sound was insolent and bitter. “What’s to explain?” he retorted. “What Mama needs is her family, not strangers. But you’re too pigheaded and greedy to see that? First Papa and now Mama. She’d go crazy for sure in a place like that. And what about the Medinas?”
“I’m warning you, Joe.”
“Warn all you want,” Joe shouted. “But if you go through with the Medina job, there will be payback. With Mama in that place, she’ll be a sitting duck with no one to protect her.”
The Medina job? Payback? Charlotte felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. This was some serious stuff, not the kind of conversation meant for an outsider’s ears.
With her knees knocking and as quietly as possible, Charlotte eased back away from the door. If they caught her listening…
“Shut