*Elio*
“I’m getting into the shower,” Cat called out.
I rolled over on the bed, facing the door to the bathroom. I spotted her bare legs through the open door as she humd gently to herself.
“Okay,” I said in response, and she peeked her head around the door, giving a smile before shutting the bathroom door behind her. I waited in bed, twirling my phone in one hand as I stared blankly at where she had disappeared.
I heard the telltale sound of the shower running, the water pattering on the tile floor and glass windows. Small wisps of steam floated out from under the door, and I could almost feel the temperature change from the water despite knowing it was just in my head.
It was only once I was sure I heard her step into the water, humming a song I couldn’t identify, that I got out of bed, holding my phone uncharacteristically tight in my hands. It took only a few minutes to grab clothes from the closet and get dressed. As I buttoned up my shirt, I started the call, holding my phone between my ear and shoulder.
I stared into the mirror, patiently waiting as it rang twice before he picked up with a grumbling, “What is it now?”
“Bad day?” I said with a small smirk, wondering just what kind of bullshit Alessandro had been dealing with to sound so unhappy.
“You don’t know the half of it. What do you need?” he asked, his annoyance shining through.
I knew my uncle had little patience during bad days, and the first thing to go when he was stressed was his polite and utterly charming personality.
Mind the sarcasm.
“You’re still up for dinner tonight with and Cat, right? She has... questions for you about her father’s death.” I said cautiously.
“I see,” he muttered. “And I’m assuming her knowledge about the incident is limited?”
“She knows about our family. She doesn’t know everything about Antonio, and I’d like to keep it that way. She knows he killed her father and that he’s here in the US, but she doesn’t know that he leads a mafia group now. I’m afraid that if she finds that out, she might start digging into things and making his people nervous, which would cause more trouble,” I said firmly.
“And you’re just casually ntioning this so I don’t tell her anything about him,” Alessandro figured out quickly, smarter than he appeared sotis. He snorted, and I grit my teeth at the tone in his voice. “Keeping secrets and telling yourself it’s for their own good... that’s just like your parents.”
“I don’t need a lecture from you! Cat is under my protection, and I’m not getting her involved in this. Tell her what she wants to know, but don’t ntion anything about what he’s doing nowadays,” I said with finality.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Alessandro said seriously. “I won’t outright say anything, but I’m not going to lie for you. If she asks, I’m telling her. He killed her father, Elio, and she deserves to know. But I won’t go against your judgnt, so long as she doesn’t figure it out first. But you better be prepared, Elio. If the day cos when she figures out you were keeping this from her, well....”
He gave a dark chuckle, and a shiver ran down my spine, like a demon itself had co down from hell to give this warning.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
“I understand,” I relented quietly, not arguing any further.
“Good. I’ll see you two later at 71 Above. You know the one.”
I nodded, not registering that he couldn’t see through the phone. “See you there.”
The call ended abruptly, and I could tell that despite promising not to say anything, Alessandro had made it very clear just what he thought about hiding the truth from Cat.
There was a war within at that mont. I knew he was right, that Cat deserved to know the truth of what had happened to her father, including what Antonio was doing now, but I also wanted to protect her, to keep her from getting involved or doing sothing incredibly stupid like going after him herself.
Antonio was dangerous.
I didn’t think that Cat could comprehend just how much.
The secret about the family had been ingrained in our relationship from the beginning. Her mother and I had talked about it when she first started living near .
At first, we didn’t tell her because she was too young, just a child grieving for the parent that she had lost. We made excuses, telling ourselves it was for her own good, or that she was too busy adjusting to school, or the move, or that it wasn’t the right ti.
But because Cat grew up not knowing about the mafia, she couldn’t understand its dangers now the way I could. I knew she would be curious about Antonio. She knew that because of our underground dealings, he essentially got away with murdering her father. If she knew he was a mafia Don, I had the feeling it would make her try to get him arrested as a substitute punishnt for that.
But ssing around with a mafia family was an easy way to get killed.
Antonio was dug deep into our city and had connections everywhere. If she started digging up dirt, they’d deal with it swiftly and precisely.
The idea gave a shudder.
I finished dressing, waiting in the living room as I scrolled through my social dia accounts, just waiting on Cat as she finished up her outfit.
“Elio.”
Her voice caught my attention, and I looked up, my eyes widening at what I saw. In the elegant dress she wore, she was like a vision of a winter fairy. She wore an asymtrical cut dress, cut just above her knees in the front but reaching her mid-calves in the back. It was a gorgeous pale periwinkle color with see-through sleeves and layers of intricate threading like frosted branches on trees across the fabric.
With diamond earrings and her hair pulled into an intricate braided bun, she looked nothing like that young girl I’d first t with that dull glaze in her eyes. That doll-like beauty in her had only grown. She was like an otherworldly fairy that had stepped straight out of a storybook.
“Beautiful,” I murmured, getting to my feet.
I grabbed her small and delicate hand, laying a kiss on her knuckles. Her red lips twisted into a sweet smile, her cheeks giving a rosy glow that made her all the more enticing.
A part of wanted to keep her here, to make sure no other man could lay eyes on how beautiful she was, and the other part wanted to show everyone just how beautiful she was... and that she was all mine.
“Not so bad yourself.”
She grinned, enfolding her arm around mine as we headed out. It didn’t take long to get to 71 Above and soon enough, we were being directed by the waitress through the quiet and modern restaurant.
We only needed to drop Alessandro’s na before the waitress had hurriedly directed us straight through the line and to the table. She grabbed the reserved sign off the table, one closest to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking LA, and left us there with the nus and glasses of water.
Alessandro arrived only monts later with two of his bodyguards. Luckily for Cat’s comfort, they sat at the table beside us, touching nothing as they gazed around the building with suspicious eyes.
“Elio, Cat,” Alessandro said curtly.
It was probably as polite as he could manage right then. Cat didn’t seem to mind as she awkwardly glanced at and then Alessandro.
“So, how was the traffic?” She attempted a smile.
“Terrible,” he huffed as the waitress returned with a bottle of expensive-looking wine, already pouring it into the glasses.
“Um, so how’s your, uh, business—”
Alessandro rolled his eyes, cutting her off with a sharp look. “I may look intimidating, but I’m not going to eat you, okay Cat? I’ve seen you a couple of tis before, so we can stop with the whole polite thing. You wanted answers, right? Well, ask. I’ll answer to the best of my ability.”
Cat’s eyes were wide, and she turned to hesitantly.
“Go on.” I grinned, enjoying her lost look a little too much. I knew she was always an upright and polite person, so it must have been killing her. “Alessandro’s a good guy. He’s like my dad, if my dad was twenty years younger, rude, and impatient and making a living from doing bad things to people. He’s family, though, so no need for formalities.”
Her lips pursed, discontentnt brewing her eyes but despite that, she gave Alessandro a firm look, like steel was flowing through her veins, and said quite bluntly, “Why didn’t you try to find Antonio? Why didn’t you ever try to get justice for my father?”
Alessandro raised an eyebrow, looking taken aback, as much as he could anyway, and he sent a sly look. “She doesn’t hold any punches, does she?”
“Not at all,” I grinned, taking a sip of the wine. It was pretty good, rlot.
“The truth is, we did look for him,” Alessandro said. “Our intention was to find him and punish him for what he did but unfortunately, he slipped away. n like Antonio don’t live this long in our business without being good at what they do. Truth be told, Antonio is closer to a fox than a rat. He knows just what holes to crawl in to get out.”
“But why didn’t you find him? Surely, he can’t just disappear. Italy’s not that big, is it?” she said with frustration in her tone. “There had to be a reason he managed to get away, right?”
“There is,” Alessandro admitted, then he hesitantly glanced at .
There was a hidden aning in his eyes, and I grit my teeth as Cat followed his eyes to . Imdiately, she caught on, being much smarter than she gave herself credit for.
Eyes blazing with anger, she demanded firmly, “You swore to tell the truth. Now tell .”
I sighed, realizing I couldn’t let this go on any further. She had a right to know.
“Tell her everything, Al.”
So, he did.
He told her about Antonio escaping to the US, eting other mbers of their family who had defected, and how they built up an empire here, running the biggest Italian mafia ring in the US to this day, and how he was the reason we could never expand over here.
He even told him about the threats he’d made, the true goal behind killing Vinny and going after Cat and her mother now.
I sipped the wine cautiously, keeping an eye on Cat’s darkening expression as she took it all in like a sponge, calculating behind her eyes as she ca to several very important conclusions.
“Unfortunately, he still evades us, but we tried to find him and identify all his associates, and we are still trying,” Alessandro finished, glancing between us like he might just see the start of a fight.
Cat was silent for a long mont, digesting all the information before she turned to with fury-filled eyes.
“He’s a criminal here in the US. We could bring him down. And you kept it from .”
I gulped silently, understanding now what Alessandro had ant.
Hell hath no fury, indeed.
“I did,” I admitted. “I wanted to protect you after everything you recently learned, but I know understand that you need to know. You’re not the sa kid I have to protect anymore, but it’s hard to break away from that habit. I’m sorry.”
I could tell her anger had not dispersed but my apology did dim it. She nodded slowly, sinking into her seat before she reached out and downed the whole glass of wine.
“Okay, you owe a al then,” she said more calmly than I thought she would be. Alessandro and I breathed a sigh of relief at the sa ti, ordering food as we let the conversation travel to other things.
It wasn’t until after dinner when Cat and I were walking out and leaving the bill with Alessandro that Cat pulled into one of the unused hallways of the restaurant, a burning look in her eyes as she gripped my wrist tightly.
She searched my eyes just as I did to her and finally said very seriously. “I think I understand why you didn’t tell the truth, but you need to understand that he was my father. I lost my childhood because of that bastard, and I deserve to be involved in bringing Antonio down. So no more... you tell everything, and I an everything, or I will kick your ass so hard your ancestors will feel it. Do you understand ?”
And there was a grim promise behind her words, a solemn vow that sent a shiver straight down my spine.
“Yes,” I whispered.
She let go, turning to walk away, her hips swaying like nothing had happened.
Well, shit.
Why was that so goddamn hot?
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