Savannah sat in the dining room with a strained expression.
They were having lunch quite late today but she had barely noticed it.
Her mom had to send a maid to her room to call her down to lunch. It also meant that her mom had almost forgotten about lunch.
After everything that happened in Davian’s room, Arthur left them and her mom had also walked off.
Savannah had wanted to talk to her but her mom had looked to be in such a bad mood, and she was wary of getting in trouble with her.
So she just went to her room and stayed in bed for hours, too nervous to sleep, and too nervous to do anything else.
She came to the dining room to find it empty, even though lunch was served, so she just sat down and waited patiently for her mom to show up...
Matilda had sent a maid to her daughter because her sweet child always listened to her, but she had to be the one to approach Arthur personally.
She had a formal dress on, her red-bottomed heels muffled by the carpeting.
Matilda stopped in front of the butler’s room, schooling her expression and straightening her back as she reached out a hand to knock.
There was silence after the first knock, so she gave it another go, frowning when there was still no response.
She had been pacing for hours trying to figure things out while the butler had taken a nap!
Matilda’s plans to keep a serene and composed attitude were already crumbling, a growing sneer on her face as she reached out to knock again, much harder this time.
The door swung open then and she almost drove her knuckles into Arthur’s face.
And even as she stopped herself in time, she regretted it. The butler made her want to really throttle him.
"Can I have a word?" She asked condescendingly, lacing her fingers in front of her.
Arthur eyed her warily, he had been expecting Matilda to make a move but he hadn’t expected her to come to him in person.
"What about?" He asked, his suspicion clear to hear in his tone.
"I’d prefer if we didn’t discuss this in the hallway," Matilda said with a tight smile and a faux polite tone.
Arthur let her in, there was practically nothing she could do to him.
Lake aside, she had also gotten him in trouble with Master Davian, he needed to be more careful around her.
"You can sit anywhere," He offered reluctantly, curious to hear what she had to say despite himself.
"I want to propose a truce," Matilda went right to the point, ignoring his offer of a seat.
Now, she held all of Arthur’s interest, "And what does this truce entail?"
Matilda interlocked her hands behind her back and paced in a small tight circle.
"We have a common enemy," She started in a tone far too serious for what they were talking about.
"The only smart thing to do here is to put our differences aside to deal with him."
Arthur gave her a distrustful look, "And after he’s out of the picture?"
Matilda’s smile was chilling, her emerald green eyes almost glowing. "Then it’s free game."
There weren’t a lot of benefits to this arrangement for Arthur but the fact that they would be working together to get rid of Lake trumped all of that.
"In that case, we have a deal." He offered the scheming woman his hand, taking it back when she reached out.
"But first, we need to set some rules in place." He tagged on.
Matilda had her guard up at his words, "And what rules do you suggest?"
"I will not interfere in whatever other schemes you have as long as you don’t ruin my image in the eyes of Master Davian."
His intense dislike of Lake aside, he still had nothing but respect for his Mafia King and he didn’t appreciate Matilda trying to ruin that while chasing her own goals.
The tension in Matilda’s shoulders bled out, patting her already perfectly styled blonde hair.
"That is fine with me," She accepted, being the one to offer her hand this time.
Arthur took it with a solemn expression, tipping his head politely at her when she withdrew her hand from their verbal agreement.
And for the first time, Matilda considered keeping the butler around.
They didn’t have contrasting goals so there was no reason they couldn’t work together.
She would test him further, and if he proved himself useful, she would think about keeping him when she became the mistress of the mansion.
Matilda didn’t like the butler and the feeling was mutual but very few would be willing to get their hands dirty to get what they wanted, especially in the Mafia.
"Why don’t you join us for lunch?" She invited politely, she could be civil when she needed to be. "I came here to tell you that from the start."
That was only partially true, she only planned to invite the butler if he agreed to work with her.
If he hadn’t she would have gotten rid of him first, and then she would have dealt with the gold-digging Omega all by herself.
"I’ll be down in a few minutes," Arthur replied with thinly veiled hostility.
After they both got rid of Lake, he could then take the necessary steps to get rid of her and her empty-headed daughter.
Arthur had very few grievances, and he was even willing to tolerate Matilda’s rudeness after he helped her get into the mansion.
But trying to drive a wedge into his relationship with the Master was one of those few grievances.
Matilda had deliberately had Savannah go to the master wing after he politely explained to her that Master Davian forbade it.
He couldn’t stand for that, because there was no reassurance that there wouldn’t be a repeat of that in her quest to control the Master’s love life.
It was why he had proposed the condition he did. He wasn’t stupid to believe that Matilda would keep to it, but while they worked together, she had to keep up pretenses.