*Elio*
Just as the love of my life was falling asleep in my arms, my phone rang and made her jump. I pulled it out of my pocket to see Leo’s na on the screen and tried to stop myself from being irrationally pissed at him.
I knew it wasn’t really his fault that Cat had been woken from her little nap, but it was hard not to want to put my anger sowhere. All I had wanted from this vacation was to ensure that Caterina got the rest and relaxation she deserved, and I couldn’t even give her that.
It was so frustrating feeling like I was constantly failing her in everything I did. She was so precious to , but I couldn’t even manage to help her nap in peace.
I helped her get comfy on the couch without and decided to take the call out on the porch. I took a deep breath while staring out over the moonlit ocean. Deciding I couldn’t delay it any longer, I answered the phone.
“This better be important,” I snapped by way of greeting.
Without any introduction, Leo said, “They know you have a wife and they know she’s pregnant. They’ve made a threat against her and your baby.”
I felt like my lungs had collapsed. All the oxygen in my body whooshed out, and my heart began slamming against my rib cage in an effort to pull the oxygen back in. “What?” I heard myself whisper, unable to summon anything more than that.
“You’ll have to see it for yourself, boss. This shit’s not normal and I really need you to see it with your own eyes.” Leo sounded apologetic like he knew that he was revealing my own worst nightmare had co true.
Blackness swirled on the edge of my vision and I reached out to grip the railing and steady myself. Finally, I forced myself to suck in a deep breath and focus. It wouldn’t do Caterina any good if I passed out. I had to fucking think and I had to do it quick before she got curious and ca outside to try and listen in on what I was saying.
“I need n at my house, right now. Triple security. Sweep everything, two tis. Make sure they haven’t been there. Check my house for any bugs and all the cars for tracking devices. We have to ensure they haven’t done anything already. If they’re to the point where they’re openly making threats, we need to assu that they already have a plan in place.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll get on that right away, and I’ll make sure the security detail around the house is the biggest it’s ever been. When you two get back, I’ll have all my best n watching over her.”
“Thank you. But make sure everything looks the sa. I don’t want Cat to know about any of this.”
“Don’t want to know about what?” I heard from behind .
Fuck. I spun around and saw Caterina standing there, looking absolutely furious.
“Leo, I’ve got to go,” I said before hanging up. I knew that he would take care of everything back ho. Now I needed to take care of everything here.
“What the fuck is going on?” Caterina demanded.
Her eyes were sharp as she watched and I knew I needed to tread carefully. If she got any hint that I was keeping sothing from her, she would imdiately assu the worst. The whole reason why I had tried to keep her out of this was to reduce her stress levels, but if she thought I was hiding sothing huge from her, it would keep her up at night wondering what was going on. I knew this was a sore point in our relationship and I was determined to keep it from nearly tearing us apart again.
“We’ve been getting so threats from MS13,” I said, purposefully keeping my voice light, trying to sound like it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was. “They’ve been trying to inject themselves into our business, and they think the way to do that is to threaten us.”
I didn’t bother telling her about the guy getting jumped. I didn’t want her to worry about anyone else’s safety but her own. And the last thing I wanted to do was tell her about the threat on her or the baby. That would be the absolute most stressful thing I could possibly say.
“So why exactly are you wanting to up the security so much?” Caterina asked.
Damn, I hadn’t realized she’d overheard basically the entire conversation. I ran my hand through my hair. “Just being cautious,” I explained, “You know how protective I am.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, as though she was trying to see right through to my thoughts. “Well, it sounds like we should go ho then. You probably need to deal with all of this in person.”
My heart sank as I realized the truth of her words. She was right; I needed to be there in person. I just wished she didn’t feel the need to co ho with . I would feel much better knowing that she was safe and sound at a secluded ho in Hawaii, but sohow I doubted that I’d be able to convince her to stay here for the duration of her pregnancy.
I just wanted to do whatever it took to keep her and the baby safe. I would kill every man who ever dared to call himself MS13. I would set the world on fire if it ant she could be safe. And I hated that I had no idea what was going to happen next. I never seed to know what new horror would pop up and prevent us from finding our happiness. Every ti it seed like things had finally settled down, a new danger entered our lives. It had been bad enough when I just had Caterina to worry about, but now with the baby, I felt like I was going to go insane trying to protect them both.
“Shit, I’m so sorry, Caterina,” I said, reaching out to fold her into my arms. “You’re right; we should go. I’ll arrange for us to leave tomorrow morning.”
“It’s okay,” she said coldly, standing stiffly in my arms.
I rubbed my hands up and down her back. “I just wanted this trip to be perfect for you, and now this shit pops up. It makes feel horrible. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“You know that’s not why I’m upset,” she said, pulling away so she could look up at .
I hung my head. “I know.”
She was hurt that I had been keeping things from her again, and I couldn’t bla her for it. I knew that she hated it when I left her out of the business, but it had been too tempting. I had just been so worried about causing stress. “If it makes you feel better, I really just didn’t think this was worth worrying about until Leo called just now,” I lied, “I just didn’t say anything to you because it was such a small deal. Not because I was trying to keep you out of it.”
She narrowed her eyes at once more, trying to figure out if I was lying or not. I kept my face neutral, determined not to add to the negative feelings she already had. I could at least do this for her, I could keep her from being hurt by my actions if I could just get her to believe my lies. It was fucked up for sure, but it was all I could think to do.
“Okay, I forgive you,” she finally said after an uncomfortable mont of studying my face.
“I hoped you would,” I smiled as I leaned down to give her a kiss. Her lips were as soft as ever. I regretted the fact that we wouldn’t be able to spend a week in Hawaii just enjoying each other like I had planned. For a few hours at dinner, the outside world had fallen away and I had been able to just relax with Cat, forgetting all the stress that awaited back ho. It had been absolutely magical, but now I was afraid that we wouldn’t get another mont like that for a long ti. “What should we do for our last few hours in Hawaii, my love?”
Cat smiled up at . “I know just the thing!”
She went back inside and I felt like I could finally breathe without being under her scrutiny. I had no idea what I was going to do when we got ho, but MS13 was going to regret the mont they ever threatened my family for the rest of their pathetic lives.
Caterina ca back outside with an abundance of blankets and pillows in her arms. Her appearance was totally at odds with my violent thoughts, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her. She brought such softness and light to my life. I didn’t know what I would ever do without her. Even when she was suspicious of , even when we fought, she always managed to make my life brighter.
“Let’s spend the night on the beach!” she exclaid, pushing her tower of blankets toward .
“I don’t think I can make it out here all night, but I can last at least a few hours,” I laughed. “You forget that I’m not as young as you!”
“Hey, if I can do sothing pregnant, you can do it old,” she teased.
We walked out onto the warm sand, not close enough to the water for it to lap at us, but close enough to be overwheld by the sound of the crashing waves. It was a gorgeous night; the stars were bright in the sky and the temperature had dipped just enough to be comfortable. I helped Caterina lay out a couple of blankets and pillows for us to settle down on, then pulled her into my arms and laid a sheet over the top of us.
Cat sighed contentedly in my arms. “Promise you’ll bring back here,” she murmured.
“I promise,” I said, determined to make all her wishes co true.
As soon as I dealt with this MS13 disaster, I was going to take her on the trip of her dreams. We could do a trip around the entire damn world if she wanted to. Whatever my wife wanted, I was determined to give it to her. She deserved it, simply for putting up with and my life.
I fell asleep with Caterina in my arms, the sound of waves in my ears, and dreams of torturing our enemies in my head.
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