I Was The Mafia’s Maid Now I’m Their Regret Chapter 24
The second time my mother came to Aurelia, she asked me three days in advance.
She said she only wanted to have lunch, no service ledger, no talk of the Family.
I agreed.
But the moment I walked into the restaurant near campus, I saw my grandmother sitting across from her.
Mom looked stricken.
“She followed me. I never told her the address.”
My grandmother slammed her cup down on the table.
“I’m your grandmother. Do I need an appointment to see you?”
I didn’t sit down.
“Yes.”
“Cosima, you’ve become more and more ill-mannered.”
She looked me up and down with the exact same expression she’d worn at the clinic.
“The Family is in chaos because of you. Nico’s assessment was stopped. Are you happy now?”
“I’m not the one who made him unable to answer those questions.”
“You knew all those things. You could have just come back and helped him.”
“If he’s the heir, he should know how to do them himself.”
My grandmother’s face went livid.
“What’s so great about what you study? Without the Marino name, who would even know who you are?”
I opened my bag.
The taped-up admission letter had always stayed tucked inside my materials for the lab application.
I set it on the table in front of her.
The crack in the paper ran straight through the words *Aurelia Academy*.
My grandmother stared at the strips of yellowed tape, her gaze faltering for a second.
“You think a single sheet of paper is enough to accuse me?”
“I don’t need to accuse you.”
“The digital admission was reissued a long time ago. This piece of paper had no effect on my enrollment.”
I pressed my hand over the letter.
“I keep it only to remind myself that what you tore up was never my opportunity.”
“What you tore up was the very last bit of hope I had for this family.”
My grandmother’s lips moved, but in the end, she still said, “I did it for your own good.”
“No. You wanted me to stay and take care of everyone else.”
“Your sister and brother had more important things to do.”
“So I was supposed to give up on myself?”
She didn’t answer.
My mother suddenly stood up.
“That’s enough.”
My grandmother stared at her in disbelief.
“You’re talking back to me for *her*?”
“When you tore up her admission letter, I didn’t say a single word for her.”
Mom’s voice shook.
“At least let me say what should have been said now.”
“Cosima didn’t ruin Nico’s assessment. We’re the ones who handed everything to her and then pretended it didn’t matter.”
Furious, my grandmother snatched up her bag.
“You’re all going to spoil her rotten!”
She took two steps toward the door, then turned and ordered me, “Come back with me.”
I took out my phone and called campus security.
“There’s a woman who entered campus without permission and is refusing to leave.”
My grandmother froze.
Before, all it took was one word from her, and I would peel her apples, help her to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Now, two security guards were standing in front of her, asking for identification.
She trembled with rage, but in the end, she was escorted out.
I put the admission letter back in my bag.
Mom stood beside me and said softly, “I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t bring anyone.”
“This time, it wasn’t your fault.”
She looked up at me, her eyes turning red at once.
It was the first time I had ever said something like that to her.
And there would only be this one time.
“Next time, pick a different restaurant.”
I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“This one’s too noisy.”
Mom nodded hard.
After lunch, she didn’t try to persuade me to come home.
Before she left, she only told me this:
“Your father removed that line from the service ledger, and he withdrew the lab application.”
“He wants to apologize to you in person.”
“If you don’t want to see him, I’ll tell him that.”
I thought about it.
“He gets five minutes on the phone.”