Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
KATERINA
THREE WEEKS LATER…
I ’m jolted awake by the sharp tug of the drapes and a blinding light carving its beams through the bedroom.
“What kind of monster wakes their girlfriend up by blinding them?” I mutter, throwing my forearm over my eyes to block the offending light.
“The kind that needed to give you a present before he leaves for his meeting with his boss,” comes his smooth response.
“I’m not accepting anything from you until you apologise,” I huff. We may be in the middle of a minor disagreement. One where I’m right and he’s entirely in the wrong.
“I’m not apologising for doing my job, micetta .” His voice is laced with an air of frustration. I push myself up and throw the full weight of my glare at him.
“I don’t want you to apologise for doing your fucking job. I want you to apologise for me not being the first person you called when you were fucking injured,” I scream at him, suddenly wide awake and bristling with the anger that lay dormant while I slept. He flinches and I’m glad because he fucking should. He should be sorry. I should have been the first damn person to know and I sure as shit shouldn’t have found out after the fact. “And because you should have come straight to the hospital to get checked out, you stubborn fucking asshole.”
The last few weeks have been absolute chaos, and yet again made my wannabe stalker seem like a cheap imitation of true danger in the grand scheme of things. Aurora was able to take down her husband. Max De Luca is dead and his organisation has been decimated but the cost was almost too high, and I could easily have lost a man that I’ve spent years waiting for.
“I was fine. It was only a concussion.”
“Are you a doctor? Did you spend years in training?”
“No, but I’ve been cracked over the head before, and I was fine.”
“You were unconscious for fuck-knows how long. And aside from that, you should have called your fucking girlfriend to tell her you were okay.” My words start to run together into an angry, garbled mess until I find myself panting and struggling to calm myself down. “You could have fucking died. And I wouldn’t have known. No one knew to tell me because as far as they’re concerned, I’m nothing to you. ”
I cast my eyes up to his and catch the moment of realisation as it settles in his chest. He crosses the room and takes a seat on the bed, taking my hands in his and pulling me towards him. I pull back, too angry to be comforted, but he ignores my protests and drags me onto his lap.
I turn my head and struggle, trying to wriggle away, but he’s having none of it, gripping my hips, pinning me as I straddle his thigh.
“Stay still dammit. You’re right,” he growls, and I stop straining against his hold, letting out a frustrated breath.
“Go on,” I say, arching a brow before crossing my arms in front of me.
“We’ve done all this backwards, and I made a mistake when I didn’t tell you I was injured. In my defence, you needed to focus on saving Benedict at the time. It’s?—”
“This doesn’t sound like an apology, Tiero. This sounds like an excuse,” I interrupt.
He runs a hand over his face, a remorseful expression fluttering over his features, and for a second, guilt washes over me. Then I remember how worried I was when I found out he was injured and hold my ground. He leans in, cupping my cheeks and resting his forehead to mine.
“I hate that everyone doesn’t know that you’re mine. But that’s what you are. Entirely mine.” He kisses me softly and it becomes almost impossible to stay mad at him while he’s touching me with such reverence, but I manage to hold on to at least a little of the anger that’s fuelling me.
“I’m fed up with playing at being yours, Stefano. All day at the hospital I have people that mean nothing to me congratulating me on a relationship that no one I love knows about. Not one of the family knows. And my father doesn’t count because it’s not like he’s shouting his support from the rooftops.” My words catch in my throat when I mention my father. It still hurts that he won’t discuss Stefano with me.
“You want everyone to know you’re mine?”
“Yes,” I let out on the barest of whispers.
I can feel my emotions swelling in my chest and I find it more than a little frustrating that these feelings have me blinking back tears. I’ve never felt so emotional. I’ve spent most of my life bottling up my feelings and now that I have the man I always wanted, I hate that my body betrays me to him at every turn. It’s impossible for Stefano not to see how deeply I care for him, whether I want him to or not.
“Firstly, micetta . If they didn’t know before, I’m pretty sure everyone knows there’s something going on between us. You basically shouted at the don until she called me in to the hospital to get checked out,” he says with a smirk. “And secondly—” he pauses to pull a small box out of his pocket and presents it on his palm. “I want absolutely everybody to know that not only are you mine, but that I’m yours too.”
My gaze oscillates between his deep blue eyes and the red velvet box.
“What are you doing? We’re fake engaged, not real engaged.” The second the words are out of my mouth I want to take them back. He must see the sheer panic in my face because all of a sudden I’m annoyed at the chuckle he lets out.
“Katerina Mancini. This is not a fake engagement ring. It’s a very real promise. I’m not asking you to marry me; I’m telling you that you will be my wife,” he says with absolute conviction, pulling open the lid and exposing the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. An exquisite emerald-cut diamond with a halo of smaller stones cushioning it. The central stone so large, you can, in fact, see where the Titanic hit it.
It's breathtaking, but it’s his words that almost leave me speechless. Almost. “You don’t like to follow conventions, do you?”
“I’m too old to waste another minute without you by my side. Tell me I’ve got this wrong. That ever since I first kissed you, this isn’t everything you’ve ever wanted?”
“I can’t do that.”
“No. And I can’t pretend you’re not meant to be mine.” As he speaks, I’m so lost in his words that I haven’t noticed he’s taken the ring out of the box, poised to place it on my finger. He locks his gaze with mine, and a thousand promises of what’s to come pass between us as he slides the ring on.
“I love you, Katerina. Now and forever,” he says, his voice rough and filled with emotion.
“I love you too.”
I slide my hands to cup the back of his neck and pull him into a kiss. The type of kiss that you can get lost in and never want to come up for air from. I let out a little moan of complaint when my pager goes off, releasing him far sooner than I’d have liked.
“I’ll see you tonight, baby girl.”
His phone buzzes as I reach for my pager. When I check, I see I’ve been called in for an emergency on one of my patients. “I might be late back, depends on how much this derails my service.”
After checking his message, he says, “My day is pretty light after I meet with Aurora, but I’ve got a late meeting at Inferno. Marcus is on your security detail today. Contact him if you need anything and can’t get hold of me.”
“Isn’t it overkill having your second following me around the hospital all day?”
“No,” he says firmly, brooking no argument, even when I glare at his protectiveness.
After another gentle kiss, he heads off to work leaving me to get ready. I may joke that he’s overprotective, but the messages are getting out of hand. I reach for my phone to see what today’s wake up text says, and a shiver rakes itself through my body.
Unknown Number:
I’m tired of playing this game with you.
Your heart doesn’t belong to him.
I let you have your fun, but now it’s time to take what’s mine.
If you won’t rid yourself of the distractions in your life. I will.
My pulse throbs in my neck as I swallow down the sense of dread and screenshot the messages. I know Stefano and Sinclair have cloned my phone so they can monitor the content, but I’m not sure if Marcus has a view of them so I forward them to him too.
Make sure any protection working with the Consigliere takes this threat seriously.
Marcus:
Yes, Ma’am.
I swear to God if you ever call me Ma’am again the next time you need medical assistance I will forget where the good drugs are.
Marcus:
Understood…
Mrs Tiero?
Doc Em.
Marcus:
That’s going to be really confusing when you change your last name. Doc “Tee” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Fuck all the way off, Marcus.
Marcus:
Yes, Ma’am.
I throw the phone on the bed, but I let out a soft laugh. I like that even though he’s now fully aware our relationship isn’t fake, he’s not treating me any differently. The last thing I want is to suddenly be treated like some precious little flower, like the mob girlfriends of old. The ones that sat on the sidelines and did as they were told. My father brought me up to carve out a purpose for myself and I’ll be damned if I let that be undermined based on who I love.
Stefano’s role in the organisation is vitally important, and so is mine. In fact, these last few months have taught me a few things that surprised me. I’ve worked my ass off to be at the top of my field, the chief of my specialty, I’m respected by my peers, but that’s not what’s given me the most fulfilment recently. Being there for the don, stepping in when the family needs me. Nothing compares to the feeling of being able to save them. I’ve spent years leading two separate lives, and now I’m beginning to wonder if I want to keep doing that. There’s no reason why I couldn’t set up my own practice and dedicate more of my time to the family.
As I step into the shower and let the hot water chase away the chill those messages gave me, I let my mind wander and consider the possibility that maybe now would be the perfect time for a change.