"It's nice meeting you, madam," Raya said, schooling her expression into polite calm despite the sudden chill in the room.
"I may not say the same to you," Priscilla, Adrian's mother, replied coolly.
She walked past Raya without another glance and stopped beside Adrian, placing a manicured hand on his shoulder, possessive, familiar. "You must be Seraphina," she said, her Italian accent curling softly around the name. "Yes?"
"Erm… depending on how you choose to see it," Raya replied evenly.
Priscilla's lips twitched, not quite a smile. She turned to Adrian. "Son, won't you greet your mother properly?" she asked. Then, with deliberate emphasis, "And introduce your wife to me?"
Adrian didn't even look up. He continued eating, unbothered.
"What's there to introduce?" he said flatly. "You already know who she is."
"Don't be rude, Adriano," Priscilla said, her tone soft but edged with warning.
