*Caterina*
My whole body went still.
“What?”
I thought for sure I’d accidentally misheard Elio when he spoke. But by the confident look on his face when I turned my head to glance back at him, I knew right then and there that he was completely serious.
“I said, let plan a trip for us,” he repeated.
A small smile started to curve the corners of his mouth.
My brows pulled together in hesitation over his unexpected suggestion. A trip? Right now? Was that seriously the best idea given our current situation?
I parted my lips to speak but nothing imdiately ca out. That unsettling feeling that I’d been battling nearly the whole day started to rush back in with a bitter vengeance on . anwhile, Elio’s eyes glanced over my worried features with a notion of concern.
“What is it?” he asked.
I lightly shook my head. “I just... don’t think a trip would be a good idea right now.”
He tilted his head and gave a look of genuine interest. “Why?”
“Because,” I stated firmly.
Elio stared at , waiting for the actual answer to co flying out of my mouth. But the truth was that I didn’t want to tell him the real reason. I didn’t want to tell Elio that I was nervous and borderline intimidated to travel together because of his family’s previous connections. The re idea of soone possibly following us made my skin crawl.
“Look, as nice as a trip sounds, I’m going to have to pass on the idea right now,” I told him. “I have to start thinking about the new sester.”
He curled a brow at my reasoning. “Cat, you and I both know that you’re more than ready for your new classes.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to fish for another sad excuse. “Look, I just—”
I wished I found the words to properly express my thoughts without sounding like a complete hypochondriac. Unfortunately, Elio quickly caught onto my intentional dodging before I got the chance.
“Caterina... are you... are you saying no because you’re scared?”
His voice was absent of any and all teasing and disrespect as he took a slight step back to better look at .
“And what if I am?”
“But why?”
My brows drew together as a humorless laugh slipped from my throat. “Why? You’re seriously asking why? Aren’t you the one who’s been telling over and over that it’s not completely safe right now?”
I could tell Elio was doing his best to suppress a laugh, which I found to be less than amusing myself. I gently shook my head and narrowed my eyes.
“What if I could promise that nothing bad will happen?” he tried.
I rolled my brow and scoffed. “Well, that would be one hell of a promise to keep.”
Without another word, I quickly turned my attention back to face whatever I was doing before. I hastily reached for the sponge on the counter and turned the faucet on. I picked up one of the plates and went on to scrub the hell out of it.
I could feel Elio’s disappointnt in my response to his idea. Personally, I was in love with the idea of going away for a few days. I wanted nothing more than to spend so quality, uninterrupted ti with him, especially before the new school sester started.
But there truly ca a price when it ca to knowing the full truth about a situation as dangerous as our own. To find out Elio still had ties to the Italian mafia, just as my own father had, brought on a new sense of awareness that left feeling constantly on edge.
For a mont, my hands stopped their rigorous movents. I turned the water off and sagged my shoulders back.
“Elio, don’t get wrong. It’s not that I don’t want to go. But what about my mother? You can promise all the security in the world for us, but what about her?”
He let go of my waist and frad the sides of my face with both of his hands. His eyes poured into my own with a firm notion of promise.
“Trust , Cat. I’ve thought all of this through already,” he said. “I’ve hired guards to look after the place and your mom. They’ll be here twenty-four-seven, watching her no matter where she goes.”
My eyes widened in disbelief. A gigantic weight suddenly lifted off my chest and the haze faded from my frantic mind. A short mont of silence passed between us until I slowly nodded my head.
“Okay,” I softly agreed. “Let’s go on a trip. Where are you going exactly?”
A devious smile played on his lips, and a bit of that sa anxiety decided to roll back.
Elio shook his head. “Nope. I’m not telling. It’s a surprise.”
My brow furrowed after I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling. Seriously? He was going to keep in the dark about sothing as pivotal as this?
“Elio, please just tell where we’re going.”
He shook his head again.
“How the hell am I supposed to know what to pack then?”
He took a few more steps back as though he was anticipating throwing sothing at him. I was truly considering it until he started to smirk.
“Don’t worry about not knowing what to pack,” he inford . “Tomorrow, I have every intention of taking you shopping.”
***
I wasn’t even fully through my morning coffee when I heard Elio step through the door. He was eager and way too energetic to get the day started. I, on the other hand, was still a little bit timid.
Although I was looking forward to taking a trip away with him, I did not favor the concept of having it all remain a mystery. As usual, the man was dressed in a dark navy-blue shirt with a pair of black jeans. His muscles were well defined under the material and never failed to make my heart skip a beat.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said with a smile. “Ready to go?”
For the ti being, I suppressed those jittery feelings. I wanted to enjoy the day out with him since our previous day was cut short. I swiftly hugged my mom before she headed off to work and snatched up my bag.
Elio and I headed into the city, where he parked by a nearby strip of various clothing stores.
He slipped his hand into mine and pulled forward. I happily allowed him to guide since he was the one who knew the types of clothes I’d be needing. After a few minutes, he led us into a large store where we were imdiately greeted by a few of the shop assistants. Every woman in the general vicinity stopped what they were doing to catch a glimpse at us... well, mainly at Elio.
I raised a brow at them while Elio, as usual, completely disregarded the attention.
‘Oh, for the love of God, Cat. Just ignore them. Rember, you’re the one that he’s dating,’ my inner voice shouted.
I took in a deep breath and pressed forward. I tried approaching the first rack of clothing that caught my interest, but Elio pulled away instantly.
“Elio, I thought the point of bringing here was to find so clothing for our trip,” I stated.
“So it is, love.” He smiled. “But the clothes that we’ll be looking at need to be warr. You were heading into their spring line.”
‘Warr?’ I thought. ‘So, wherever he’s planning on taking requires us to wear warr clothing. Duly noted.’
As I looked through the nurous hangers and racks of winter clothes, my mind tried to pinpoint our possible destination. But all I knew was that this mystery place was colder, so it could have been just about anywhere.
I turned my head to see Elio looking through a pile of brown jackets.
“So, if where we’re going is colder, doesn’t that technically an that we’d be flying out?” I asked him.
Elio nodded his head. “Yes, we’re flying out on the jet.”
I knew Elio had a jet, but I’d never been on it before. The idea of flying off with him on his private jet was tantalizing.
By the ti we finally reached the front counter to check out, my head was reeling. Elio had picked out a handful of designer sweaters, jeans, leggings, a silk scarf, leather gloves, and a matching dark brown knitted beanie. Elio placed everything up at the register and the girl behind the counter began bagging all the items. I reached into my bag to pull out my wallet and was instantly stopped by his hand covering my own.
“Elio—”
“No,” he said sternly as he handed over his platinum credit card.
I let out a huff. “This is ridiculous. At least let buy so of this.”
“That is absolutely out of the question.”
The woman behind the register happily handed our bags over. We left the store and continued our walk down the strip. My expression remained hardened as Elio checked his phone for any new ssages.
“You’re spending too much on ,” I comnted.
Elio imdiately stopped walking and turned to glare at with a fiery look in his eyes. “You’re worth it, Caterina,” he said forcefully. “No amount of money will ever be too much when it cos to you. Do you understand?”
My stomach felt like it was doing sumrsaults. This wasn’t the first ti that Elio had used that sharp tone of voice with . But it was the first ti that I’d ever felt ward and loved by it.
Suddenly my eyes were drawn to the illuminated screen of his phone. He’d received a new text from Alessandro.
“Is Alessandro still wanting to talk more about the project explanation?” I asked quietly.
Elio pulled away to check the ssage. “No,” he answered. “This is about sothing else.”
I wasn’t sure what had possessed to bring up the topic. We’d been having such a nice day together, and I didn’t want to tarnish it by talking about grim subjects.
“Do you know why he’s never found Antonio?”
For the first ti today, I’d successfully shocked Elio. His eyes widened and his lips parted without a sound. But I had ant the question in all seriousness.
“Part of really wants to know why they never got revenge for my father, but I don’t think I have it in to openly ask Alessandro about it,” I admitted sheepishly.
Elio silently nodded his head in understanding. He, of all people, knew what a heavy topic this was for .
“How about the three of us go out to dinner tonight?” he suggested. “Maybe it will ease your mind to have so of your questions answered.”
I watched him send a quick text to Alessandro about the dinner invite. Within seconds, he received an answer back.
“Alessandro agreed to co out tonight. So, what do you say?”
I gave him a small smile. “Okay. Let’s et him for dinner tonight.”
‘Maybe then, I’ll finally get so answers,’ I thought to myself.
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