Chapter 30 Caterina
Caterina
I’ve been sick with worry for fourteen hours straight.
I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.
When Sofia excuses herself to the restroom, I offer to accompany her.
She shakes her blonde head, and I know then that this is part of the plan, and it might be the last time I’ll ever lay eyes on her.
Will Alessio be hurt by his sister going missing?
What about Gia and Valdo? I even feel pity for Bibi, knowing how much she prizes her beautiful younger daughter.
But Sofia’s chance to escape an unwanted marriage is in her grasp.
I can’t bring myself to spoil it for her.
As the minutes tick by, it’s a struggle not to break down in tears while Frankie is singing her heart out on stage.
At least Carlo is completely absorbed by her performance.
He hasn’t noted Sofia’s prolonged absence yet.
I don’t know what the plan is, but I know I purposely tried my best to keep Alessio away from here today.
Betrayal. The word hangs heavily around me.
A guard rushes in clutching a note to announce that she’s missing. Carlo immediately starts organizing a search. Time speeds up, words and actions passing in a blur, but I pick up on one thing the men don’t after we’re told to follow them outside – things didn’t go as planned.
“Oh God,” Frankie whispers while the men are busy shouting and running around.
“What?” I whisper back, clutching her arm.
“He’s alone. He was supposed to drive her away from here.”
“He who?”
The sidewalk is full of unfamiliar faces and I get no answer before Carlo turns to us, the piece of paper he was handed crumpled into a ball in his fist. “Francesca, I want you and Mrs. De Luca to wait with my driver until more of my men arrive. You’ll be safer there.”
Just a year older than my husband but destined to be Don since his birth, Carlo Vicini is crisp and polished in a way Alessio never will be.
But while he sounds calm for a jilted groom, I sense a great deal of rage lurking under the surface.
He reminds me of Nico that way. I hope not to be anywhere near him when he suspects our involvement because I’m certain that calm facade will disappear in a heartbeat.
A moment later, my mouth falls open in surprise. Alessio is here. I should’ve known he would come.
But I’m concerned to see him staring across the street, his blue eyes flinty and soulless. With a gasp, I recognize who’s got his attention. My brothers. What are they doing here?
The memory of the audio recording comes rushing back to me. Did Nico hear it? Are they here to confront Alessio? They were coming to New York for the wedding anyway, but how the hell would they know to find us here? And, the timing… It's a nightmare.
Alessio is more than ready for a clash as he draws a gun. I have to do something.
I dart across the busy street without a thought, racing to get between my brothers and my husband. Honking horns and screeching tires, none of it matters in the heat of the moment. “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“Caterina, are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
“That’s not how we safely cross the street, Cat.”
I’d be amused that Alessio and my brothers are all concerned over my safety. They have always loved me best and he… he has become my everything.
But then, Alessio roars, “Where is my sister?!” while pointing his gun at Nico.
My older brother stares at the gun as if it’s a child’s toy with cold gray eyes. “How should I know? We’re here to see our sister, not yours.”
“Like hell, you are. You’re involved in this! You’ve stolen her away!” His finger tightens around the trigger.
“Stop! Stop!” I cry. “They don’t know anything! They wouldn’t try to help Sofia run away! They barely know her!”
Alessio levels me with a glare that makes my blood run cold.
My brothers see the look, too. As I’m closest to Dante, he quickly tucks me behind him, protecting me while showing my husband no fear.
“Have you misplaced your pretty sister?” he asks Alessio with his madman’s grin.
“Nico and I can sympathize. It’s a hard thing having a little sister you care about living outside of your protection. ” Does he think this is a game?
“Shut up, Dante, and be serious! And, I don’t need you or Nico to protect me anymore!
” I shout, escaping his grasp as I storm across the concrete to my husband’s side.
“Alessio protects me. I trust my husband with my life, but Sofia has run away. Who is protecting her? We’re wasting precious time we don’t have. ”
Nico nods, my logic speaking to his own logical nature, while Dante continues smirking as if he is indeed playing some game.
Daring to look at my husband, I’m relieved to see the gun falling back to his side.
There’s confusion and mistrust in his blue eyes when he stares down at me.
I can’t blame him but, when I attempt to touch his hand, the subtle way he shakes me off feels like a dagger to my heart.
“Tell me why you’re here, Nico, and don’t lie,” he clips, facing him again.
My older brother doesn’t hesitate. “We wanted to see Caterina. I received an interesting message yesterday.”
My face catches fire, knowing what message he must be referring to. “You should’ve read my text, Nico! But, as you can see, I am not being mistreated.”
“I read your text, but it made me far too curious not to listen. Admittedly, I regretted that choice at once,” he quips. I wish I could sink through the pavement at my feet.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Alessio asks, growing more irritated, and my heart is fully convinced he didn’t know about his father’s nasty scheme.
“I wanted to check on our sister to be sure she was well, and we thought it might be wiser to seek her here than at your hotel since we’re not staying under the same roof as you.”
“For good reason,” Dante adds, giving Alessio’s gun a wry look.
“And, how did you know she’d be here?”
“We’ve had a tracker on her mobile since she first got one,” Nico says with a shrug. “It’s not our fault you’ve never detected it or bothered to have it removed.” I gasp, never knowing they could track my phone. I’d be furious if the circumstances weren’t what they are.
“Perhaps you should’ve done something similar with your sister’s phone years ago.” Dante is going to get himself shot, the fool.
Thankfully, the standoff ends abruptly when more Vicini men arrive, the sidewalk swarming with men in black suits.
Armando walks over to join us, studying the scene before him.
Concern and disappointment swim in his eyes when they land on me.
He suspects me of being involved just as Alessio does and they’re not wrong to.
Alessio tucks his gun away at last. “Congratulations, you’ve seen your sister,” he tells my brothers before giving me a gentle push toward my bodyguard. “Now, get the fuck out of my way while I find mine. I have some assholes to skin once I learn who helped her.”
“Good luck with that,” Dante replies, smiling in a way that makes me uneasy.
“Enough, Dante,” Nico barks, his aggravation boiling over at last. “The girl is innocent and unprotected as Cat said. We will help Vicini and Alessio find her if our help is wanted.”
Alessio doesn’t want it but Carlo does and this is his territory. Alessio turns his back on them all to speak to his friend. “Armando, take both girls back to my suite at the hotel. Take their phones and don’t let any of these fuckers near them.”
Armando nods and, without a single glance at me, Alessio storms away, commandeering one of the Vicini men’s cars to aid in the hunt.
***
Hours later, Armando is glaring at us in the living room of my hotel suite. Now and then, he gets a message on his phone but tells us nothing. I suspect she’s not been found or things wouldn’t be this tense.
When he finally goes to the toilet, Frankie whispers in my ear. “It was my brother.” My eyebrows draw together in question. “I saw my older brother a few weeks ago. He’s not dead.”
“He’s not?”
“No, the hit was botched, and no one told Uncle Silvio for fear of his retribution. Ronan was supposed to whisk Sofia away, but I saw him on the sidewalk without Sofia when we followed Carlo outside.”
Now, I’m even more confused. She mentioned connections yesterday. Why would he help Sofia escape the mob but not his own sister? And, what kind of connections does the outcast son of a rat have? “How-”
She shakes her head. “No time to explain it all. But, I’ll tell them it was me who helped Sofia. I won’t have Alessio angry at you when this was my plan.”
“No, Frankie, you can’t-”
“I can. I’ll tell them-”
Her mouth snaps shut and so does mine when Armando steps back out of the bathroom.
“By all means, keep talking, Francesca,” he says, gruffly.
“Your uncle, cousin and Carlo Vicini would love to hear more.” We remain silent so he focuses his attention on me.
Hopefully, he only caught the end of what Frankie told me.
“If you know something, you should tell Alessio, Caterina.”
“There is nothing for me to tell him that he probably hasn’t already figured out.”
“A wife who loves her husband should be honest with him.”
My eyes narrow. How does Armando know I love Alessio when I’ve never even said the words aloud?
“You seem to know a lot about what a wife should do. Have you had many wives, Armando? I mean women you’ve been married to, not women married to other men that you’ve slept with.
” He raises an eyebrow at my cheekiness, and I wonder if I’ve pushed too far. “I didn’t mean-”
His charming mask slips, and I see true rage in his eyes for the first time.
“Alessio has treated you well, better than you expected. You certainly hold some power over him. But one month of marriage doesn’t mean you know him.
You’ve never seen him at his worst, and you don’t know how severely the De Lucas deal with betrayal.
” I pretend I’m unconcerned by his words, so Armando starts slowly rolling up his sleeves, revealing his powerful forearms. “You’ve never seen me at my worst either. ”
My stomach bottoms out but my voice barely quavers. “You wouldn’t dare touch me without his permission.”
“Who says I don’t have it?” he asks, moving closer, so much closer than I’m used to Armando standing despite knowing him for two years. “Tell me where we can find Sofia, and this will be much easier.”
I try to wiggle further back into the sofa cushions as he leans over me, his hands braced on either side of my shoulders, caging me in.
He’s my bodyguard but he’s a killer first and foremost, just like my husband.
I’m so uncomfortable. No man who is not my kin has ever been close to me this way except Alessio.
“Stop it. You’re upsetting her, Armando,” Frankie says. Her bravado is an act, and I can tell Armando knows it.
“That’s the plan. Do you girls believe you can keep secrets from men like us?
Do you really imagine we’re not capable of getting information out of you?
You love Sofia, and you think you’re doing her a favor, but you’re not.
You’re smart girls. You’re stronger than we give you credit for, but you’ve never been hardened like we have. ”
“What are you going to do to us?” Frankie asks, her voice shaking.
“What would make you talk, Caterina? Would the threat of pain make you spill all your secrets? Or perhaps you fear something else more?” He cocks his head to the side as if he’s sizing me up, letting his eyes slide down my body in a suggestive manner.
No, Armando wouldn't do that. He's bluffing. He has to be. I’m angry that he’s trying to intimidate me. I'm terrified to admit he's succeeding.
I clutch the necklace Alessio gave me, the odd gift of a gold-dipped tooth. ‘Because my kitten has teeth.’ The memory of the murmured words pours steel back into my spine.
I shove my way past Armando, leaping to my feet.
“Stop it, Armando! You’re not going to torture us.
Alessio wouldn’t allow it!” I shove him again, harder, and he grabs my upper arms to stop the onslaught.
Against my will, a shrill yelp escapes from my lips when he touches me.
Doubt and regret flash in his brown eyes.
“I won’t allow it, huh?” a cold voice drawls from the doorway. I whirl around to find my husband has silently entered the suite. He’s got his gun drawn again, and it is not aimed at me. “Get your fucking hands off my wife, Greco, before I slice your throat open.”
The threat toward his best friend combined with his possessiveness leaves me unsure of what to expect for myself but that’s not my first concern. “Did you find her? Is she alright?”
He waits until Armando has taken five steps back before answering me. “No, we did not find her even after hours of combing this fucking city. No useful security video. No witnesses. We’ve got men at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark but there’s been no sign of her. Quite the magic trick.”
I don’t know if I’m more relieved or alarmed until Alessio speaks again.
“Carlo and my father have questions for Frankie at Don Vicini’s home, Armando. You are to take her to them.”
Frankie’s going to be questioned? My knees start to buckle. Armando was right. We have never faced torture. “Don’t let them hurt her,” I plead with my husband as Armando drags a trembling Frankie away.
“If you’re going to beg, wife, perhaps you’d better start by begging for your own skin,” he rasps. He stalks towards me and the room starts to spin under my feet. “I’ll be the one who questions you and, let me assure you, you will give me answers.”