17. 17 – Caterina
17 – Caterina
I know something is wrong as soon as we walk in.
The hall is silent. Luc sits at the bottom of the steps, his head in his hands.
Dante and I both burst into movement at the same time, Gio a step behind us.
“ What happened —,”
“ Is she —,”
“She’s fine.” We both spin, and the oxygen abandons my lungs at the sight of Dom, with Alessia in his arms. Stefano is beside him, his expression carefully controlled. I hold back as Dante goes to him, lifting her and running his hands over her as if checking for injuries.
“What’s happened,” I breathe. Not a question. Because something has put that look on Luc’s face – that hollow, dead-eyed look as he lifts his head.
Slowly, he holds up a phone, his hand trembling as he presses the screen.
My muscles lock into place at the screaming that rings out.
Agony. There is nothing but sheer, unrelenting agony in those sounds, barely even human, and as I stare at Luc, I understand.
“Amie,” I breathe raggedly. “That’s Amie.”
He nods. “A message was sent. To me.”
Because he betrayed Matteo – made him think they were allies, friends even, and then he tricked him by stealing Alessia from under his nose with Amie’s help.
And Amie has paid the price.
My hand presses against my ribcage. We waited too long. Waited, to rest , and all the while—
“We have to go,” I whisper. “We have to go now.”
“She’s already dead.” Luc’s voice is harsh, and next to me, Gio flinches. “He doesn’t fuck around, Cat. He doesn’t need her. Amie is dead .”
I shake my head. That’s not right, can’t be right, but as I look to Dom, he nods. His eyes are dark. “I’m sorry, Cat. But I agree with him.”
I try to clear my head of the buzzing, to think around the pain in my heart. “Was there a video? Photos?”
Luc shakes his head. “The screaming wasn’t enough?”
“Then she’s not dead,” I insist, my throat tight. “He wouldn’t miss an opportunity to show us, Luc. She’s still alive.”
Even if she might wish it otherwise. My heart twists, convulses inside my chest. “ We have to go .”
“We don’t have a plan.” Gio turns to me. “We need one.”
My voice is short. “What if I have one already?”
They all turn in my direction.
“What?” Dante’s voice is tight. “What plan?”
Sudden understanding hits me like a punch to the abdomen. “I…,”
I force myself to meet Luc’s eyes. “I cut him off. Matteo. I have a hacker – a talented one. He broke in and transferred everything out of the Corvo accounts. Locked them down, so Matteo can’t even get in. He no longer has access to any of the Corvo funds.”
If he has no funds, he can’t pay the men he’s hired to kill us. There is no loyalty among the mercenaries of our filthy underworld.
Not all battles are fought with guns and knives.
Gio whistles. “Seems to be the day for it.”
“When?” Luc swipes a hand down his face. “When did this happen?”
“This morning,” I say quietly. I meet his shadowed eyes. “So you can save some of that guilt for me.”
A retaliation. Payment in kind.
“He is cut off,” I continue slowly. “He won’t be able to sustain the numbers he currently has when he has no money to pay them. As they fall off, it gives us an opportunity, if we can get him out in the open. We push him toward that and hit him with everything we have.”
“And Amie?” Luc says quietly.
“Perhaps we can make a deal.” I consider options, flicking through them in my head. “He will be getting desperate. Desperation leads to sloppiness. But storming the Corvo estate is not a battle we will win, Luc. We did it once. He’ll be expecting it, will prepare for it. Better to meet him on ground he doesn’t know as well.”
“And where will that be?” Dante asks sharply. “Have you planned that yet?”
My eyes narrow. “I have some ideas.”
“Excellent.” He brushes past me, heading for the stairs. “Let me know when we’re leaving, won’t you?”
I resist the urge to snap back at him as he jumps the steps two at a time. Alessia’s laughter trickles down to us before a door slams upstairs.
“My mother returns in two days.” Luc gets to his feet as well. “That gives us two days to pull everything we need together. Work on the details.”
“I need Cat for a few hours tomorrow afternoon.” Dom’s face doesn’t change when I turn, but he crosses his arms. “It’s not negotiable.”
I scan his face. His gray eyes deepen as he meets my look with a steely one of his own. “Not negotiable.”
My lip twitches upward. “Okay, then.”
Everyone disperses, but I watch as Luc sits down on the step again. When I approach, he doesn’t look at me. “I left her behind to face that, Cat.”
“She made a decision,” I say softly. “She knew what she was risking, Luc, and she made the choice anyway. There was nothing you could have done that wouldn’t have ended up with all three of you paying the price.”
Luc and Alessia would not have gotten out if it weren’t for Amie. And I am grateful, more grateful than I can ever form words for, that she made that choice rather than risk their safety.
“Sometimes,” I study the floor. “I wish we could just… go. Leave it all behind, Luc. The fighting, the politics – just fuck it all and go somewhere peaceful, where the Cosa Nostra is just a story.”
His attention lingers on me. “Is that something you want?”
“It would be easier,” I admit. “But the people we would leave behind – the fighting that would break out. I couldn’t do that to them. But we can be better, Luc. The Cosa Nostra used to stand for something more than just a power grab.”
Family. Loyalty. Honour.
“A better world,” he murmurs. “How altruistic of you, little crow.”
There will always be power. But what you do with it – how you use it – that matters . More than I ever realised.
“That’s what I want,” I say quietly. “A better world.”