*Caterina*
My nails had been biting into the palms of my hands as I waited for Alessandro to get off the phone. My nerves were already terribly on edge from earlier that day, so much so that I didn’t even know how I was still functioning at that mont.
I was practically sitting on the edge of my seat when he finally ended the call and ca to stand in front of Elio and . The grave look on his face should have been proof enough that sothing wasn’t right.
“Paul isn’t who he says he is....”
That right there must have been the catalyst for my ntal breakdown. anwhile, I felt Elio grow tense next to . He was just as upset and curious as I was about the whole issue.
Alessandro’s voice ca out gravely. “Paul is Antonio Jr. He’s Antonio’s son.”
Oh. My. God.
I thought I was prepared to hear the worst. I thought I’d ntally prepared myself well enough to face whatever the hell Alessandro was about to throw at . But my God, was I wrong.
My stomach twisted into knots. I was nauseous. My bottom lip trembled until my jaw went completely slack. I was numb, pure and simple. I was numb.
My hearing went slightly muffled, but I still made out what Elio and Alessandro were saying. Apparently, Paul—or Antonio Jr.—was actually sent to with so kind of purpose.
The muscles around my heart clenched in relative anguish.
‘So, none of it was ever real,’ I thought blankly to myself. Even before he’d changed and gotten violent, I thought at least things had started between us with so sort of affection. But it turned out that Paul never cared about at all.
The concept hit like a punch to the gut. I wasn’t a love interest. I was an assignnt, a mission. He weaseled his way into my life and caused nothing but chaos and grief. All that ti was wasted, the ti I spent harping over the way he made feel, the ti I spent completely filled with delusion and anxiety, trying to be the way he wanted to be.
All that God awful trouble... only to find out that he was the son of the man who had murdered my father.
Sothing began to slowly seep into my bones. That feeling of numbness gradually started to fade where a feeling much worse began to take its place—the feeling of being violated.
I raised my hand to cover my mouth while a broken, distorted sound slipped past my lips. A million grueling shivers broke throughout my body. I was disgusted at my ignorance.
“Fuck, Cat.”
Elio tried to shake from my semi-permanent state of shock. He curled his arms around and pulled into a tight hug. I wished I could lose myself in his touch. I wished he held the power to make that terrible feeling inside of go away.
“Elio....”
My voice sounded so far away from .
I felt his hands rub small circles over my back and hush quiet words of assurance in my ear.
Christ, I just wanted to let this nasty feeling inside of out. I wanted to scream, cry, anything. But no. Nothing would co out.
***
Later that night, due to the unforeseen events from earlier, Alessandro offered to make dinner for everyone—homade pizzas, mushroom risotto, and stead mussels in red sauce. He’d made a large list of supplies and sent one of the n who patrolled the property out to pick everything up.
As soon as everything ca in, the man swiftly got to work.
Watching Alessandro prep everything for dinner was oddly therapeutic. I sat silently at the counter with my head resting in my arms and watched him work through all the necessary ingredients. He’d make occasional small talk with , but he knew well enough that I wasn’t in the best fra of mind.
Thankfully, my mother was too far into her work to notice much of the tension that circulated the room. She was surprised to see that Alessandro was sticking around and moving about through the kitchen. She offered to help in any way she could, but Alessandro assured her that he had everything under control. So, my mom pulled out a nice bottle of red wine to go with dinner and started pouring everyone a glass.
Elio, on the other hand, remained firmly by my side. He kept his touches light and hardly noticeable, which I was grateful for. The last thing I needed was for my mom to find out the truth about Paul and worry about even further.
The woman had enough on her plate with her workload and having to move everything into the safe house. The last thing she needed was more drama to deal with.
“Oh my, everything looks amazing, Alessandro,” my mom comnted with a smile.
It truly did. The pizza he’d hand-tossed looked like it ca from an actual restaurant. The risotto slled amazing, along with the mussels.
“Yes, it does,” I agreed. I carefully pulled myself off the bar stool and went over to the cabinet to pull out so plates and utensils.
Elio helped set the table while Mom helped Alessandro bring all the food over. Everything was delicious. It was difficult to explain, but I felt a strange sense of warmth fill my chest as I silently glanced around the table. I felt secure and supported.
I leaned over toward Alessandro. “Thank you for this,” I said softly.
“Yes, thank you for all of this. It’s incredible,” my mom chid in with a smile.
Alessandro chuckled. “It’s no problem. But I honestly can’t take all the credit. I accidentally forgot desert,” he admitted.
That was the first ti since this morning that I found myself smiling.
“Well, that’s okay,” Mom said. “After we’re finished here, I’ll go to the store and pick up so ice cream. How’s that sound?”
I felt her gaze fall on . Quickly, I swallowed my mouthful of pizza and nodded my head.
“Works for ,” I said.
Just as we were all about finished with dinner, my mom got up from the table to grab her bag. I swiftly got to my feet and went to hand her my keys instead.
“Here, take my car,” I told her. “I think it’s parked behind yours anyway.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I knew in the back of my mind that she wouldn’t be any longer than fifteen minutes. My nerves were still too unsteady, and I couldn’t bear to let my thoughts run wild.
‘She’s going to the store and then she’ll be right back,’ I thought. ‘Fifteen minutes.’
Well, that fifteen minutes had co and gone like the wind. I was in the middle of helping Alessandro and Elio clean up the kitchen when I stole a glance at the clock.
“It’s been over twenty minutes,” I muttered.
I hastily set the wet dishes on the drying rack and went to pick up my phone. I pulled up my mom’s number and eagerly waited for her to answer.
Several rings went by, but I never got an answer. My call went straight to voicemail, causing my stomach to flip and my nerves to tangle with worry. I tried again and I waited.
But still nothing.
I lifted my head to see Elio glancing at from the doorway of the kitchen. I shake my head in distress.
“It’s been over twenty-five minutes, Elio,” I said weakly. “Mom should be ho by now.”
He quickly rushed to my side and rubbed up and down my arms, trying to get to calm down.
“It’s alright, Cat,” he hushed. “I’m sure your mom just went ahead and picked up a few other things while she was out.”
I nodded my head and took a deep breath.
Yes, I was sure that was the case. Knowing my mom, I was sure she had a whole list of items in her head while she went off to the store. Whenever she’d tell that she was heading to the store for two items, she’d almost always co back with at least twenty.
A broken laugh slipped past my lips. Yet, sothing in the recesses of my head was telling that this was not one of those tis.
I bit the inside of my cheek and glanced down at my phone.
“The thing is, why wouldn’t she pick up her phone?” I questioned. “You know she never has it on silent. I’ve called at least twice, and she hasn’t even tried to call back. Sothing’s not right. I can feel it.”
I noticed Alessandro move out of the corner of my eye. He reached into his back pocket to fish out his own phone to make a call. His voice was far too low for to be able to hear what he was saying.
Regardless, I continued to get in touch with my mother.
Over the next half hour, I moved myself into the living room, where I was finally sitting down. My phone was still tightly gripped in my hand and my mother was still nowhere to be seen.
Elio’s working theory of her picking up a few more items deteriorated in my mind. There was sothing else at play. But still, I kept calling her number in hopes that she’d pick up.
Finally, I put the call on speaker before pressing the call button. I waited patiently as it rang, then soone finally picked up.
Both Elio and I shot up from our seats.
“Well, hello, Kitty-Cat,” a familiar voice slithered into the speaker.
My eyes widened in disbelief as all the air beca lodged in my lungs.
“Paul,” I hissed out. “What the hell are you—”
“What am I doing on your mom’s phone?” He chuckled darkly. “Well, as luck would have it, we sort of fell in each other’s way.”
My lips twisted into a tight sneer. “So, help God, Paul. If you do anything to—”
“You’re not in any position to be making demands here, Caterina. Oh, and I suppose you can stop calling Paul now... I know you know who I really am. Such as sha you couldn’t just remain ignorant in the dark. It was so much safer for you there.”
Angry tears filled my eyes. “What the fuck do you want?” I shouted.
“It’s very simple,” he said. “If you want your mother back, you’ll have to bring Alessandro to .”
My brows drew in confusion. “What? Are you insane?”
“I’ll be in touch,” Paul remarked shortly.
“Wait! No, don’t hang up. Please! Please, just let talk to my mom. Let know that she’s okay at least,” I pleaded.
Paul tutted and clicked his tongue. “Aw, such a sha that this willing behavior of yours is coming out now. Unfortunately, it had to co to this,” he sighed. “You know that if you’d chosen to simply stay with , none of this would have ever happened.”
The call dropped.
And soon after, so did my tears.
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