24. 24 – Dante
24 – Dante
“ C at.”
My chest hurts as I say her name. My voice is low, quiet in the dark room. “ Tentazione . It’s time.”
She doesn’t move. She stays where she is at the edge of Alessia’s crib. Gio and I moved it into Lucia’s bedroom under her watchful eye an hour ago.
Slowly, I move up to stand beside her. It feels as if a cord stretches directly from my heart to the little girl sleeping in her arms, her small hand curled up above her head. I rocked her myself, back and forth, until her eyes fluttered closed before I relinquished her to Cat.
And now she stands, deathly still, her eyes bright.
I considered asking her to stay, as I handed Alessia over. For a second – for a moment. Cat would be safe, and Alessia would at least have one of us.
But… that’s not who she is. And if we lose, they would still track her down. Matteo Corvo would never leave Caterina Corvo as a risk.
“You will see her again.” I stroke my hand over those wild curls, one more time. “I made you a promise.”
I intend to keep it.
At the soft knock on the door, we both turn. Gio offers us an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry. But… I just had a call from Johnno.”
Both of us go still. Our time is up.
We can’t keep the world out any longer.
Cat lets out a long, trembling breath, before she places Alessia in the crib, tugging the light blanket over her. A moment passes, two, as we wait silently before she straightens.
She doesn’t look back.
I try, try not to torture myself, but I can’t help it. Hades himself could not stop me from looking over my shoulder, drinking the sight of my daughter in.
And then I follow.
Farewells are already happening in the entrance hall. Our luggage has been loaded into the cars, and as we walk down Luc wraps his mother in a tight embrace. “We’ll be back soon.”
Her eyes travel over all of us when he steps back. Lucia Morelli knows what we’re walking into.
But it’s Cat that she speaks to. “Take care of my son. Please.”
Cat’s throat bobs as she nods. “And you will take care of Alessia.”
Lucia hugs her, whispering something in her ear that smooths away the worried lines around her eyes.
Stefano jogs down after us. “Ready.”
Cat follows Stefano and Dom to one car. Luc, Gio and I get in the other, none of us speaking as we pull away from the house.
That cord tugs on my chest. Harder, sharper, straining until it feels as though it snaps completely as we move out of sight. As though I’m missing a piece of me.
A hand grips my shoulder. “She’ll be absolutely ruined by the time we get back. My mother adores children.”
I clear my throat, trying to find the words. Gio’s phone rings, and we glance over as he answers it. “Johnno.”
He listens, a frown appearing and deepening between his eyes. He puts the call on speaker. “Say that again.”
“ Cops .” Johnno sounds strained. “Dozens of them, Gio. We picked them up on a camera we left behind, just in case.”
“Behind where?” Luc straightens beside me.
“The Asante compound.” Johnno sounds grim. “It’s not a completely clean site, not yet. We had fires burning for two days before we could even send the first cleaning team. We watched them for a few hours, hoping they’d fuck off. But they’ve put a damn cordon up.”
Fuck.
Luc is already pulling up his phone, dialling. Stefano answers on the first ring. “What is it?”
Luc’s voice is clipped as he explains. Cat’s voice comes over the intercom, sounding livid. “There were hundreds of people in that compound every day. None of us are in the system. They have no reason to look in our direction – not to mention they know fucking better .”
We pay them enough to look away.
“I’m in the system.”
We all stop at Stefano’s short words. “I was an asshole teenager. Salvatore left it on my record.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I say finally. “Cat is right. Someone not in our pocket caught wind of a fire and poked their noses in. This is nothing we can’t sort out.”
“Or someone pointed them in our direction.” Pure ice coats Cat’s words. “Someone who’d like to see us dead – or in for twenty to life. Care to bet on who?”
“You think Matteo broke Omertà?”
“You don’t ?” She sounds disbelieving. “Of course he did. He saw an opportunity to pin us and took it. Like Dante said, it’s nothing we can’t sort out, but it will slow us down and that’s the last thing we need. We need their eyes away from us, or we’re sitting fucking ducks .”
I scrub my hand over my face. Gio leans over the phone, Luc holding his out so they can all hear.
Dom speaks next. “If he’s trying to pin what happened at the Asante compound on someone, pushing the cops in that direction, it’s a shot in the dark at best. Stefano, you’re most likely to catch the heat for it if your prints come up on a search.”
“Stay here,” Cat says immediately. “We can work on it – fix it before it becomes an issue.”
“No.” His voice is hard. “I go where you go.”
“Stefan—,”
“Not a discussion,” he says shortly. “I’m not leaving your side, Cat. If they come after me, we’ll find a way out of it.”
“Johnno,” Gio says shortly. “Keep a watch on the house, if they leave it, or security is light, get in there and make sure they don’t find a fucking thing.”
“Sure, boss.”
“Take Rocco with you.” I glance down, my fingers flying across the screen as I message him. My enforcer can move faster than anyone I’ve met. If he doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t be.
“No problem, Dante.”
Gio gives me a hard stare as the call ends. “Tell me my damn enforcer didn’t just take an order from you.”
“ Enough .” Dom sounds frustrated. “We all know this is most likely to be a trap for Cat. She’s the one he wants.”
“Don’t even ask.” Her voice is hard. “We’ll manage it, Domenico.”