20. ~Julian~
20
~Julian~
Doing business in the dead of night.
That was certainly the mob way.
Or at least what I had experienced from being in the thick of it with Nico and Milo over the many long years of our friendship.
And even when this was done, things like this would still occur with Nico now intent on taking power over the Marchetti Syndicate.
Unless he could turn things completely legitimate.
Although Cat wanted that, it definitely would be a tall order to achieve in reality.
But it could technically be done.
I’d been looking into the entire thing over the last few hours since we’d wrapped up dinner, and there were ways to accomplish that. But Nico would require both mine and Cat’s assistance. And it would also take time.
Given that Cat, herself, was used to operating in the dark and delving deep into illegality too, seemingly without having much of a problem with it so long as the ends justified the means, I figured that this turnabout for her had something to do with the pregnancy. It was shifting things for her. More so, it’d had her realizing that things needed to shift. It wouldn’t be a leap to assume that she believed legitimizing all operations and Marchetti businesses was the key to making damn sure the baby would be brought into a safe life devoid of the darkness and brutality that existed now.
Sure, us bringing down Marco and Santino would achieve that to a massive degree, but if the Marchetti Syndicate, even under new leadership in Nico, continued to be entrenched in illegal operations, it would still invite that darkness and danger.
I shoved a hand through my hair as I stood outside Nico’s office, listening in to the meeting that was taking place with him, Milo, and twenty of his soldiers.
They were strategizing the assault against Shawn Price, slated to take place twenty-four hours before Marco Marchetti planned to launch those strikes against the Benzinos.
Nico was intending to upset those plans of Marco’s with this mission.
We also weren’t going to cover up our involvement in it.
There was no holding back now.
We were going all in.
And I was honestly here for it.
Even Milo, who was usually more cautious and all about protection and defense, was on board with us escalating things and throwing ourselves into the thick of it.
I wanted this shit done with more than I ever had before.
It wasn’t just about the Angelo of it all either.
No. What Cat had confessed to me had shifted things for me, too.
This pregnancy changed things.
There was an innocent to protect now, a baby that couldn’t be brought into a war zone.
A baby that deserved better than what we’d had, that deserved everything.
I listened into the details that Nico and the guys were discussing, taking note of everything pertinent, such as the precise times for their coordinated three-pronged assault against three warehouses owned by Price, all in the same area, all of which Angelo had been moving between, according to the more in-depth investigation that Cat had been doing. She didn’t trust human intelligence alone, which was what we’d gotten from Dante and Matteo. Actually, she didn’t trust people as a rule. Outside of the three of us, anyway. Well, and Joseph Stover, who was also caught up in this shitshow. The fact that he’d basically thrust himself into it when he was in a position to simply disappear into the shadows, all to protect Cat, was a hell of a thing.
I stepped away once I’d gotten the information that I’d needed from the meeting.
Although they were letting me in on things more so now after I’d made it known that I couldn’t take the whole walking-on-eggshells routine, Milo had drawn the line at this. At me having to listen to every little detail involved in their planned takedown of Angelo and that new Marchetti-Leone partner, Shawn Price. They thought I was asleep, anyway.
I was about to get to that as I made my way down the corridor until I heard thuds coming from inside the home gym. Usually, you could expect Milo to be in there working out hard like a fucking machine, but given that he was in Nico’s office attending that meeting, it clearly could only be one other person.
I pushed open the door and peered inside to see Cat there pounding on a heavy bag. She was clad in a turquoise sports bra with matching tiny shorts, her wavy hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, the latter of which was swinging wildly from side-to-side with her fearsome movements and each ruthless punch slamming into the bag.
Sweat was dripping down her face and her body, her beautiful features twisted with determination and what looked like a whole lot of pain and frustration.
“Hey,” I spoke, shutting the door behind me and walking further into the room.
She stilled, stopping mid-punch, and swung to face me.
Her eyes went straight to my right hand and the fact that I wasn’t clutching my cane and that I didn’t have it with me at all.
It was my first time trying to move around without it and it was going well. A little straining, sure, but a lot better than I’d imagined it being.
“Hey,” she returned, panting, and trying to catch her breath. “I thought you were sleeping,” she said, as she headed over to a bench in the far corner and snatched up a towel, starting to dab her sweat-drenched skin as she walked to me.
“Just taking a walkabout.”
“Restless?”
“A little. There’s a lot on my mind.” I eyed her pointedly. “Isn’t there?”
She dabbed at her face, then blew out a breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell them yet.”
“Why didn’t you? I set that feast up to provide the perfect opportunity of togetherness so it could be put out there.”
“I know. I just… I need more time to wrap my own mind around it before I bring anyone else in on it.”
“Especially the likes of Milo and Nico, with their intense protectiveness and cautiousness, right?”
“They’re factors, yes.”
“Well, I can tell you that the cautious approach is out the window for both of them after the kidnappings happened.”
“That might not be the case when it comes to this, though.”
“You’re worried they’ll bench you?”
“Worse. I’m worried they’ll try, and what I’ll be forced to do in order to counter that. I’m needed on this and I also have to be a part of it. Bringing those assholes down has been years upon years in the making. I won’t sit it out.”
“Like I told you earlier, Cat, we can always find a way. And I’ll be there in your corner to make sure that it doesn’t end up with you being benched. I promise you that.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you, Julian.” She pulled her hair tie out and shook out her wavy hair. “But, beyond that issue, what if I… what if I can’t actually do this?”
“Do this?”
“What if it’s just not in me to be a mother?”
Oh.
“And what if it’s a mistake to bring an innocent baby into this life?”
“It won’t be like this by the time the baby is born. You’re only a few weeks along right now, in the very early stages. We have a lot of time to end this and make things safe and far less complicated and nightmarish.”
“That’s true.”
I stepped up to her and slid my hands down to her hips, holding her to me. “As for you worrying about not being mother material, there’s not really any such thing. Every mother is different. Every mother-child relationship is different. In a world where you learned the harsh way not to trust anyone, not to lead with your emotions or even to allow yourself to feel them most of the time, you managed to trust us , you opened yourself up to the three of us, and you’ve cared for us and protected us like we have with you.” I smiled. “You’ve loved us. That’s what a child needs. To feel loved and safe, for their parents to do what’s in their best interests. The rest will come with time and experience. You can’t learn everything all at once where that’s concerned.”
She threw her arms around me and held me tightly to her.
Burying her face in my chest, she murmured, “Thank you. Thank you.”
“Of course,” I said, nuzzling against her.
After a few moments, she lifted her head to gaze up at me. “You knew exactly what I needed to hear, huh?”
“Well, I’ve become as attuned to you as I’ve learned to be with Nico and Milo. And I know that you spent so long on your own being a survivor, cut off from everyone. But now you’ve managed to become a part of a team. You’re thriving in a relationship with all three of us and you have a great deal of love and care to go around. You can do this. And if that’s what you want, if you want this baby, we’ll all be there with you every step of the way. We’ll raise this child together, the way we do everything, Cat. As a family.”
I hadn’t wanted to put any pressure on her, especially not at this dicey stage, but I couldn’t think of anything more perfect than bringing a child into our foursome, of expanding our family like this.
I’d never had a family I could count on, or one that had deserved the title in the first place. Beyond that awfulness and trauma of my father, there’d also been my mother. She’d stood by him every step of the way, no matter what he’d done to me. He’d never touched her. No, he’d reserved all of that for me. And she’d allowed it to play out, never doing a thing to stop it. She’d been too concerned with maintaining her quality of life as his socialite wife. Nothing had trumped that for her. Hell, she’d barely even raised me. She’d employed nannies for that. That life had ended for her, though, once that investigation into my father’s fucked-up business practices and decisions had concluded shortly after his untimely death, and she’d lost everything. Her standing and most of her money, too. She’d used what had been left to disappear and retire to a remote location hundreds of miles away. That was the way that she’d stay as far as I was concerned. She was nothing to me. Nothing but a distasteful memory.
But through all of that, I’d found that familial unit with Milo and Nico. Cat had come along, and now there was the possibility of this baby. For me, it really was the bright spark through all the rest.
“As a family,” she murmured. Her face lit up as she looked at me. “I can picture that.”
“And?”
“And it’s a really beautiful picture.”
“I feel the same,” I admitted.
She eased from me and sucked in a steadying breath. “I’ll tell them once Nico and I meet with Carlo and the Price/Angelo operation is completed. Not while we’re in the thick of it.”
“If you don’t, I’ll have to, Cat,” I warned her. “If not, this becomes a full-blown secret, and a heavy one at that. There’s a difference between giving you time to process, versus keeping it quiet over a longer term.”
“I know,” she agreed. “I’m sorry I put you in this position.”
“It’s okay, I get it. You needed to get it off your chest.”
She smiled and took my hand. “Let’s get some sleep.”
“Good idea.”
As I let her lead me out of the gym and down the corridor, she observed, “You seem to be doing well moving along without your cane.”
“Yeah, definitely getting there.”
I had to. I had to keep pushing it as much as I could.
As we reached the living room that they’d all decked out specially for me, I found myself pulling up short at the doorway.
“What’s wrong?” Cat asked me right away.
“I just… I’ve been having a little trouble falling asleep.”
“I’ll read you a bedtime story.”
“What?”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’ll be good practice.”
“You’re gonna soothe me like a baby?” I said, chuckling.
“I wouldn’t put it like that. I’m just going to help you fall asleep.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Come on.”
“All right, it’s worth a try.”
And she thought she wasn’t cut out to be a mother.
Complete bullshit there.
Caterina Leone was cut out to be anything she desired to be.
She was a force of nature.
She always found a way through.
And this would be no different.
Excitement bloomed at the thought of it all.
I couldn’t wait until she announced it to Nico and Milo, so we could get into talking about every single aspect of it.
This was something to be celebrated to the fullest.
“I’m pregnant.”
Those words were going to change everything for us.
In the best ways imaginable.
I couldn’t fucking wait for it all.