Page 41 of The Chameleon

“I’m going to shower,” Matteo announced, grabbing his dishes and placing them into the sink.

When he got to the hallway, he stopped and then glanced back over his shoulder.

“Thanks for the breakfast,” he mumbled before disappearing down the hall.

Ares smiled.

Progress.

13

MATTEO

The rest of the day was spent roaming the streets and checking out local vendors and shops. Matteo lived for this sort of thing. He loved finding unique and rare items while taking in new and sometimes overlooked cultures.

When he was younger, he used to enjoy traveling across the globe and exploring new cities. Once his parents died, that all changed. He suddenly found himself responsible for hundreds of people. There were staff who worked at the château, people who tended to the various properties his family owned around the world, not to mention a team of lawyers, accountants, and consultants who all helped his father with his investments and business interests.

His father made quite a bit of money through investments and real estate, finding opportunities early and making a killing when mergers or acquisitions happened. That was how the public believed his father made his fortune.

But that was not the only way.

When Matteo was in his late teens, his father disclosed to him that part of their fortune was also made by investing fundsin criminal activities. As it turned out, the Sabarino family had been silent partners, funding lucrative drug deals spanning across Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France for decades. Only a few high-level members knew of the Sabarino involvement, his father choosing to remain in the shadows to protect his family and the Sabarino name. There was lots of money to be made in the drug trade, his father had said. It was easy money, so long as you knew how to work the players.

That being said, his father assured Matteo that the family did not invest in the uglier side of the criminal underworld. Sex trafficking and murder were two industries that his father refused to be a part of—yes, people paid a lot of money to have other people murdered.

His father explained that when it came to sex work, the person must always be free to choose whether they wanted to sell their body for money or not. Sex trafficking was a violation of that person’s autonomy over their body and was one of the worst crimes imaginable in his eyes.

Matteo took those words to heart. While guys atLa Maisonmay sell their bodies to guests at the club, they do so of their own free will. They set their own prices, decide who they sleep with, and they keep all of the money that is exchanged. This was one of the reasons why Matteo had no issue with Jared and Isaac deciding that they would no longer sleep with guests ofLa Maison. They had fallen in love with each other and agreed that sex was something that they only shared with one another. Yes, they continued to dance and flirt with guests, but they made it very clear to patrons that sex and sexual activity were off the table.

When Matteo’s father passed away, Matteo met with his father’s criminal associates and paid a handsome amount to cut his family's connections to their criminal enterprises. He didn’twant to continue investing in the drug trade. There were plenty of other ways to continue to make money.

Instead, he decided to openLa Maison de M, a private gentlemen’s club where the rich and powerful could indulge in their fantasies without fear or judgment. So what if he took advantage of their ignorance and vulnerability and made a little money on the side? It was surprising how open a man could be when his cock was being drained by the mouth of a god. Matteo never professed to be good or even a saint.

Needless to say, between his businesses and taking care of the guys at the house, he didn’t have much time to travel the globe and explore.

“What do you think of this?” Ares asked, spinning around to show off hisverybright, multicolored silk shirt and matching sunglasses.

It was the middle of November, and Ares was standing there with his shirt unbuttoned, no coat, and a gigantic smile plastered on his face.

The man was an idiot.

Matteo couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Think you might scare the kids with that raccoon you got growing on your chest.”

Ares glanced down at his furry, exposed chest and grimaced. “Yeah, I guess it could use a bit of a trim.”

Taking off the shirt, he handed it to the woman to place in a bag while he covered himself up with the appropriate attire. He paid for the item, then rushed to catch up with Matteo, who was already browsing through the next booth.

“Planning on wearing that to your next meeting of the crime bosses?” Matteo asked, picking up a few bottles of spices and handing them to the vendor to purchase.

“Please. I’ve got better taste than that. I just wanted to support the woman. She had a little girl sitting off to the side.”

Well, that was sweet.

It wasn’t Ares’s lack of sweetness that pissed Matteo off; it was the way that things had ended between them and the way that Ares reacted when Matteo’s parents first passed away. Those were two things that Matteo could never forgive.

When they got back to the cabin, Ares hopped on his phone to check on a few things while Matteo sent a quick text to the boys to let them know that he was fine and having a good time. He didn’t mention anything about his intruder or the man who followed him around like New Year’s Eve regret.

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