*Caterina*
“God, where is he?” I muttered timidly under my breath.
Ever since I got ho from my lunch with Anna, my mind had been firmly fixated on Elio. Although it was decent enough for him to call in the middle of his workday, it ended up leaving a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I was still very much relieved to know that Elijah was no major threat that needed to be dealt with. Just knowing that he was just a basic, average guy took a huge weight off my mind, especially when it ca to his budding relationship with Anna.
Part of still couldn’t fathom how well she took the news about my family.
I felt truly lucky to have soone like her as my best friend, and now I knew I wouldn’t have to concern myself with her wellbeing when it ca to Elijah going forward.
But Elio, on the other hand....
Sothing was going on behind the scenes. I could feel it in my gut as he spoke to earlier. While the conversation didn’t stray too far off the topic of Elijah, I sensed there was a strained hesitation in his voice.
I didn’t want to push. I knew that when the ti was right, Elio would tell all that was happening with him and the rest of the team. So, I let it go.
Upon my return ho, I tried to bury myself in my schoolwork as a ans of distraction. It worked for a good few hours. I’d managed to get pretty far ahead in most of my classes, but that feeling of accomplishnt dwindled instantly when I turned my head to steal a glance at the ti on my phone.
It felt like a heavy weight of lead settled into my chest. The sun had already sunken well beneath the tree line, and still I hadn’t heard a word from Elio.
I’d gone ahead to check my phone for any ssages or calls I may have missed while I was working before. But there was nothing.
Part of knew better than to think that Elio would ever text about what was going on. He much preferred to talk in-person or call at the very least. I knew he wouldn’t tell exactly what was going on at work, but why couldn’t he at least give so detail regarding his whereabouts?
‘Where the hell is he?’ I thought frantically.
I had an early day the next day, and I wasn’t too keen about going to bed without knowing just where the hell he was. It was surely a ntal tick I’d developed over the past few months. I needed to see him. I needed to see that Elio was safe and out of harm’s way.
There have been tis when I’d go almost the entire day without seeing him, and my anxiety would be on the verge of spiraling. Seeing him, or even receiving a re call from him was always enough to ease my nerves.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to work late, but not like this. Dinner had already co and gone without a word from him.
I picked up my phone and sent him a quick ssage, inquiring about his situation. I fought viciously with myself to not let my mind go to a darker place.
‘He’s fine,’ I told myself. ‘He’s probably still with Leo and Francesco dealing with how to track down the people who took one of their guys.’
Unfortunately, this sort of ntal train of thought wasn’t much help to either. I didn’t like knowing that there was so person, or group of people, that was snatching up Elio’s n like it was nothing—with no trace nor a single indication as to who was truly behind it all.
I shook myself from the unpleasant, grizzly thought and glanced down at my phone.
Still nothing.
“Damnit,” I hissed.
My patience was growing as thin as my ability to remain calm. I hastily pulled up Elio’s number and called him. The line went through several rings before sending to voicemail.
I dialed him again... and then again... and again.
With each missed call, my anxiety rose higher and higher with no chance of stopping. I couldn’t understand why Elio wasn’t answering any of my calls when I knew he kept his phone close to him at all tis.
Yes, I knew I was probably acting paranoid, but it beca more and more impossible to believe that everything was, in fact, okay.
I should have put my phone down. I should have packed up all my books and classwork back into my bag and gone up to my room to take a shower. I needed to calm myself down and have a little bit of faith that there was a logical explanation for Elio’s lateness.
I hit the call button one last ti.
It rang twice before I heard the gruff tone of Elio’s voice break through the speaker of my phone. I finally released the long breath I didn’t realize I was withholding.
“Elio?”
“What is it?” he asked sternly.
My brows pinched together. “It’s already past nine-thirty,” I told him briskly.
“Yeah, so I’ve noticed,” he muttered dryly. “Ti has gotten away from . We’ve been busy here, as you can imagine.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and refrained from unleashing my pent-up anger on him.
“Well, are you planning on coming ho at all?”
“I don’t know, Cat,” he fired back. “I have absolutely no idea when I’ll be back ho, alright? Look, I’m dealing with a lot right now and would really appreciate it if you could cut so damn slack.”
My mouth fell open in complete shock. What was worse was that my chest went from aching with worry to now aching with anger and vexation.
This man had just put through several rings of hell just to make sure that he was okay, and now he proceeded to co back at with a snapping attitude.
‘Well, fine,’ I decided. ‘Although my reason for calling was to hopefully find out when he would be ho, Elio at the very least let know that he still had a pulse and was with the others. Screw him.’
I ended the call without so much as another word.
Now that I knew he was technically okay, I could try to dissolve my anxiety that I’d allowed to build up for no reason. Apart from feeling stupid for letting myself overreact, I was beginning to feel suffocated.
The phone buzzed and I glanced down to see that Elio was trying to call back. I swallowed back a scoff and set my phone to ‘do not disturb.’
Was I acting immature? I honestly didn’t care at this point. Among everything that had happened as well as the crazy shit that was currently going on, Elio should’ve already known that my intentions were coming from an honest place.
And I truly didn’t have it in to answer his call and listen to his sad-ass excuse for acting like a total prick.
“If he wants to apologize, then he can very well do it to my face,” I said mildly.
I grabbed my bag and headed toward my mom’s cottage. I knew that the best thing to do was to talk about my feelings out with soone and not try to keep them bottled up because chances were that if Elio ca ho within the next hour or so, I was going to go off on him.
Once I made it to my mom’s house, I reached out my arm to knock. A few monts flew by before the front door opened, revealing my mother, who looked as lively and happy as ever. Her smile grew when she saw it was on the other side of the door.
She pulled into a tight hug and kissed my cheek. “Cat? Hey, how are you?”
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, I was interrupted by the sound of soone else calling out for my mother’s attention.
“Matilde? Is everything alright?”
My brows lifted into my hair in surprise. My mom had a guest....
The idea felt almost foreign to , but I was so glad that she found it in herself to bask in this type of normalcy.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, I had no idea that you had company.”
My mom waved it off like it was no big deal. But I knew that it was. The woman had gone through hell and back with her recovery and physical therapy, and she deserved a bit of happiness.
And I had absolutely no business barging in on it just for the sake of dealing with my own problems.
“Well, in that case, I’ll let you get back,” I said.
I felt her gaze on intensify. She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest.
“Cat, sothing’s going on, isn’t it? Why don’t you co in and we can talk about it?” she asked.
My heart swelled with love, knowing that this woman would literally put her plans aside just to check in on how I was doing. But again, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I could see that my mom was just starting to live her life again.
I gently shook my head and even offered a smile to reassure her.
“No. No, everything’s okay,” I told her. “It’s no big deal, really.”
My mother’s expression remained ever skeptical as I tried to weasel my way out of being dragged into her house, where I knew she’d drill for answers. I instead told her that we would catch up tomorrow and that she should enjoy the rest of her night.
I headed back to my place with the sa number of thoughts in my mind as when I first left. When I got up to my room, I spotted Elio waiting for . My feet stuck to the floor as I stood frozen, staring at him in surprise. He sat on the corner of the bed with his head tilted downward.
I hadn’t expected to see him for the remainder of the night.
For a brief mont, I wondered how long he’d been back and sure enough, I went to check my phone to see that he’d left over seven missed calls on my phone during that ti.
“I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you,” he admitted softly.
I slowly moved about the room, setting my bag and phone aside so that he had my complete attention.
“I’m listening.”
He ran a rough hand through his hair and let out a long-defeated sigh. “Franky’s uncovered so video footage of the scene where the car was abandoned. We’ve also managed to locate a van that just so happens to be linked to one of Junior’s n. He’s concluded that whatever the plan is on their end, that they seem to be working from the bottom up,” he explained. “So, they’re after lower guys first and working their way to the top. And if that wasn’t enough, Franky seems to believe that we could very likely have a mole within our group.”
A sharp gasp slipped through my lips before I could stop it. I couldn’t believe that we already had to worry about there being potential rats within the organization.
Right as I was about to speak, Elio reached out to lace his arms around the back of my legs and pull into him. He pressed his face into the curve of my neck while my hands lifted to wrap around his shoulders.
He placed a soft kiss to my skin and the two of us fell swiftly into a much-needed sleep. I embraced the strong feel of his arms around and tried to forget about the pending threats that were surely getting closer to us.
I welcod sleep with open arms, but all that awaited once I closed my eyes were grizzly nightmares.
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