A Kitten Called Cat

Chapter Twenty - Dinner for Two

Terri knew Mr Andretti a little bit from a couple of parties she had attended at his... well... mansion... and she knew he quite liked her. There had been the expensive silver crucifix he'd given her for her first confirmation and a couple of other little presents that had been just a bit too expensive and significant to have come from a simple colleague of her father.

She tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, and then, at first light, she made a decision. She borrowed some money from her father's wallet and took a taxi out to Mr Andretti's mansion.

The first problem was getting past the guards at the gate but, by begging and showing them her crucifix, she persuaded them to make a phone call. Then another guard appeared in a car and took her up to the house. He showed her into a small drawing room and told her to take a seat.

Then he waited outside.

After about ten minutes Mr Andretti appeared and she stood politely to greet him. "Good morning, Piccolina," he said. He always called her that. He gave her a nod to tell her to sit.

She did but it just made her feel even smaller and more nervous... in the past he'd always been friendly and cheerful but today he wasn't like that at all. He was really quite a frightening man.

"Did your father send you?" he asked, sharply and with no warning.

"No, Sir. He doesn't know I'm here."

For the first time, Mr Andretti turned the full power of his personality on her and she knew for absolute certain that, if she'd been lying, she'd have dropped dead right there on the spot and gone straight to hell.

At last he gave her a nod, acknowledging that she was telling the truth. He sat down and smiled at her. "Then why are you here, little one?" he asked. His voice had gone all gentle again.

"My parents were fighting and I heard that you were going to... to hurt my father and that the rest of us were going to be thrown out of our home."

"Your father is owing me much money, Piccolina."

"I thought... I thought that, maybe, you would make do with me instead."

When he heard those words, he sat down and studied her for a long time. "Your father is a man without worth who would raise his hand in anger to your mother," he said at last.

She flinched when he said these words. Maybe they were true but it hurt to hear somebody else say them. At last she nodded.

"And yet you offer me your virtue in exchange for his well-being."

She hesitated for a moment before answering, "I'm not really sure what it means... and it's not just for him. The rest of us are going to be thrown out of our home too... and I'll do anything to stop that happening."

He steepled his hands on his chest and thought for a long time as Terri squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. What had she just promised? She had a fair idea that it had something to do with the sex thing but she came from a good Catholic home and didn't have all that much idea what that really meant.

"Your father is not worthy of you," he said at last. "Will you stay with me and be the nipotina, the granddaughter I always wanted? I will be your nonno, your grandfather, and your virtue I will keep safe for your future husband. In return, as long as your father does not trouble me again, I will not harm him, and your mother I will give money every month so she does not have to work. Is this acceptable?"

Terri thought about it though she knew she didn't really have any choice. "Can I see them again?" she asked.

"Your mother and the bambini, yes, of course. Your father... never. As I say, he is not worthy to be your father."