“I make the fucking laws.” His voice rises in a shout. “I am thecapo dei capi, Caterina. Sometimes that comes with difficult choices. That you don’t see that is evidence of how much you still have left to learn.”
My head jerks back at his condescending tone.
“I was taught,” I say slowly, “that we do not hurt the innocent. That is whatyoutaught me.”
“Well, the world we knew has changed. Decide where you stand, Caterina. I won’t have a weak heir stepping up when I’m no longer here. Remember whatyouhave at stake.”
He may as well reach through the phone and slap me across the face.
My silence is stony, and he sighs. “It’s a difficult time, Caterina. Your role is critical. Watch the Fuscos closely. Giovanni Fusco is not the man his father is. Brash, prone to emotion. Carlo understands the message we have sent. Giovanni has been vocal in demonstrating that he does not.”
“What do you want from me?” I ask flatly.
“Get him under control. I know that you’re not going to disappoint me again,carissimo. Am I right?”
I swallow down the lump in my throat. “Of course. I will… handle it.”
“If you can’t, Fusco has another daughter.”
A wave of cold spreads over my body. “Understood. I will handle it.”
“Make sure you do.”
The call ends, and I slowly bring the phone down from my ear.
There are a dozen things I need to do. More than a dozen. But all I do is sit, frozen.
All I can see is Nicoletta Fusco’s face.
All I can hear is my father’s voice.
Remember what you have at stake.
I give myself ten minutes. Ten minutes, to let the thoughts threaten to overwhelm my mind. And then I pack them away, piece by piece. My hands no longer shake when I pick up the phone and send a message to Domenico.
Meet me in my office. We have work to do.
Chapter ten Dante
My eyes lock on to Domenico Rossi as Cat shoves him back through the door. He looks ready to lunge for me again, and I bare my teeth.
Try it,you son of a bitch.
He won’t find me such an easy target this time.
His fists clench, but Cat is already slamming the door shut. She doesn’t look back, doesn’t even glance behind her, too focused on her precious fucking enforcer.
I bite back the roaring in my throat, the red-hot anger that had me storming over here, too full of anger and fury and fuckinghurtto think about what I was doing until I was spitting vicious words at Caterina and watching them flay her open.
She’ll never admit it. Not to me, at least. Maybe tohim. But I know her tells, even if the stubborntentazionepretends that all we have is fucking sex. And the guilt opens up as I play it back in my head, see the way she flinched, then drew herself upright. Like she expected those blows. Like shebelievedthem.
“Fuck!” My fist lands against the tree, and agony shoots up my arm as my hand folds under the blow.
Fucking fantastic.
Snarling, I spit out the blood collecting inside my mouth, spinning on my heel and moving away from her front door before I do something stupid, like kick it down, drop to my knees and tell her I’m sorry.
She doesn’t give a fuck. She made that clear when she turned and left me in that fucking room after pressing the barrel of a loaded gun into my forehead. I thought I’d broken down her walls, but she was only making them stronger, even as she writhed on my cock like a damn fucking actress.
