Connor
I chained Cat back to the pole after she gave up all the info on the dealings between her family and the Russians.
I need to call Brody.
By all rights, I should call Finn. I know the order of things. He’s the boss, and Brody’s just an enforcer.
Fuck that, though. I’m enjoying this freedom too much to give it up. As long as I let Finn know the attack is coming, I’ll save the fucking day.
I make my way into the dingy office area and shut the door out of habit, even though I know no one can hear me.
Like a man who’s on top of his shit, Brody picks up on the first ring. “Hey, Con. What’s up?”
“Firsthand intel from Caterina Ricci, that’s what.”
Brody’s voice lifts with a laugh. “Great. I’ll grab Finn. Hey, sweetheart, do you mind seeing if Finn’s free?”
Trinity and I don’t know each other well, and her relationship with Brody is still new to me, but even I can admit that my brother’s in love. It’s a great look on him.
“No time. Cat’s here now. Just relay it to Finn.”
Fabric shifts as Brody grabs for a pen. “Got it. Go.”
I update him about the attacks on the Port, as well as the go-ahead her gorilla of a brother gave Belinski.
“Incredible. You’re amazing, Con.” Brody’s voice stretches and lightens with his grin. “I can’t wait to tell Finn all this. He’ll be pumped.”
“Brody.” Trinity’s voice is almost too soft for me to hear. “Maybe we can help too.” Her voice fades, but I think I hear the words weapon and the Russians.
Wonder what she’s talking about. Whatever it is, I love her enthusiasm.
After we hang up, I’m invigorated with a sense of accomplishment. Because of me, the Gallaghers on both coasts are getting somewhere.
Connor Gallagher, a regular fucking hero.
I snatch the take-out container from the shitty little fridge in the corner and return to Cat. She was sobbing earlier, but I gave her some water to help replenish what she lost and to soothe her throat. She’ll be of no use to me if she passes back out or dies.
Her tears have dried up, leaving shining little tracks on her cheeks. Good, because I kind of hated seeing her cry.
Just because she’s not as pretty when she does.
The fact that my chest got all tight and hot when she started has nothing to do with anything.
“Got your favorite food, sweetheart.”
She glances up, too tired for a proper glare. “A sandwich from my deli?”
“Sorry, no such luck.” I stop at the foldout table I dragged over earlier and unlid a container of cold spaghetti slathered in red sauce. “I brought the food of your people.” I kneel, container in hand, and scoop noodles into my fingers. “Down the hatch.”
Cat opens wide like a good baby birdy. I drop the noodles, which mostly land in her mouth. She’s starving, as she should be. Though she doesn’t know, the woman hasn’t eaten in at least a dozen hours.
“In we go.” I hold up another scoop.
She opens her sauce-covered mouth as I throw the second clump at her.
The noodles hit her chest. “Fuck you, Connor.” She picks them off her negligee, leaving a red stain behind. As she shovels them down, her expression remains free of every emotion except pure determination to survive. This is extremely entertaining.
It’s the least she deserves after trying to kill me.
I get the next bite ready, tempt her, then tilt my head back and eat it myself, with way more finesse than she’s doing. I was trying to torture her just a little bit more with this dish, but I have to admit, it’s pretty delicious.
When she kicks at my shin, I seize her ankle, squeezing tight.
“You might want to think before you do that again. A bathroom break after mealtime is on the line here.”
I mash another fistful of spaghetti on her face like its wedding cake. She manages to snag my finger and bite down.
I hiss as I yank away. “Ouch.” After shaking my hand, I wipe the remains of the sauce on the side of her negligee. “That wasn’t nice.”
Instead of the pretty little thing I picked up at the museum, she looks like a feral cat.
Even covered in sauce and noodles and glaring with the force of a thousand daggers, she’s still beautiful.
In the aftermath of her breakdown earlier, I was a little worried she’d lose her spark, but the fiery woman who sent me into a deathtrap still exists, albeit shivering on the cold concrete floor.
Thank God.
I seize another fistful of cold noodles. “You’ve got to keep up your strength, right? Eat up.”
She shoots arrows from her eyes and shifts away, as pissed off as I’ve ever seen her. I think she even growls.
It’s hard not to laugh considering she has red sauce all over her face and noodles perched on her tits.
I drop the slop back in the container. “Oh, you want to give me the silent treatment now?” Scooting closer, I lean to the side for a better view of her face. “I’m in charge here, Cat.” I pick a stray noodle off her thigh, my fingers brushing her skin.
Her breasts rise and fall as she watches me slurp down the noodle, and she licks her lips as her eyes track my throat.
I’ll be damned. This turns her on.
“Wow, Cat. Who would’ve thought that sadomasochism was your thing?” I grin, reaching out to brush my thumb through the sauce on her cheek.
She glares but doesn’t deny my words.
Death’s knocking on her door, yet despite that and my callous treatment, I’m still turning her on. My cock starts to stiffen. I set the spaghetti aside and adjust myself as I stand.
Apparently we’re both aroused.
She may let her entire family sideline her every single day, but she’s tough as nails. She’s not the fragile, scared woman who was here just a few minutes ago. She breathed and recovered, and that’s ridiculously attractive.
All the information she’s given me has been razor-sharp, just like this current look she’s aiming my way. Sidelined or not, she keeps herself in the know. Not a thing goes on in the Ricci house without her finding out.
So why doesn’t she advocate for herself?
Studying her from two feet away triggers a physical ache in my core. Because I’ve never experienced anything remotely this intense before, I have no idea what to do.
Since I don’t trust or know how to deal with this strange sensation, I decide to ignore it.
I inch my way back to her. Starting with her legs, I caress her calves, then her thighs up to the seam of that silky blue romper and back down.
Though I avoid eye contact, I can sense her glittering gaze on me.
“I think we’ve finally found your natural habitat.” I sneak a glance and smile at her glare. “Where you’re finally free to be you.”
She huffs. “You treating me like a dog you found in the street? That’s the real me?”
“It’s how your family treats you, and you tried to have me killed for them. So, yeah.”
I walk two fingers up her toned quad, teasing the lacy hem between her legs.
Her breath hitches, her skin twitching under my touch. “Shut up. They love me.”
I wedge my hand between her thighs, kneading one roughly.
“Taking out both Verone and me was your play to get a better seat at the table. To prove your cunning. Make Dad, bro, and the whole Ricci clan see you for the boss you are.” I rub more aggressively on the inside of her thigh just below her pussy, then pivot to the other.
“It was smart. I’ll give you that. You want to be heard, even if you can’t be ‘seen.’”
She shifts toward me, her body seeking mine even as her lips thin.
Her shuddering breaths ring out in the quiet of the old warehouse. I just might make her come without using my dick or fingers. Or maybe I’ll bring her to the brink and stop.
What to do, what to do…
“It doesn’t matter if you talk to me or not, Cat. I see you. I’ve seen you since that first day at the Cosmopolitan. You’ve been standing naked in front of me since the moment we met.”
Using her foot on my leg as leverage, she tries pushing away, but a support beam stops her.
She has nowhere to run.
I pry her thighs open just enough to graze my knuckles over her opening. A thin piece of lace is her only protection from.
She’s soaking through the fabric. I knew it.
“Tell me you don’t like the attention I’ve shown you. Tell me you don’t like this.” I massage the outside of her pussy with my knuckles.
She moans, her head falling back.
“You’re starved for it. You want this so badly, Cat.”
She whimpers a little and rocks her hips.
Hell, even covered in saucy noodles, she’s so damn gorgeous.
And brilliant. I need her to see that I see. That I’m the one on her side.
She’s my in—to the Riccis, to the diamond—but it’s also more than that.
I need her. Not the Riccis. Just Cat.
And one way or another, I will have her.
She’s on the verge of coming when I take my hand away.
Her head snaps back down, her eyes wild, her body writhing. Nearly snarling, she kicks out at me with her foot.
I think I might have broken her.
“Fine.” She’s seething, her chest and shoulders heaving. “Yes, I like the way you touch me!”
Her honesty has me grinning like an idiot.
“You shouldn’t be so smug about it.” She fidgets on the cold floor. “I don’t have a lot to compare you to.” Tears well in her eyes again, pooling on her lashes.
Well, damn it all. This isn’t how this is supposed to go. I’m the one in charge of this emotional roller coaster.
She’s the bad guy here.
The liar. Not me.
“And I don’t want your attention, not this way. This is…perverse. Depraved. My family loves me. They love me!” She chokes on her words, coughing into her arm.
She needs water. Since I’m not a complete asshole, I grab the bottle and hold it to her lips.
As she drinks, Declan’s voice from when I was a kid echoes in my head. “You’re weak. A little pussy. You’ll never be a true leader.”
I shake my head in an effort to dislodge his ridicule.
Looking after a captive you might ally with isn’t weakness. It’s just smart business.
“And I love them.” After guzzling water, she pants to catch her breath. “And you…you can’t be trusted.” A tear slips out, creating a track in the sauce on her face. “If getting rid of you was going to protect them from your twisted mind and make them see me for who I am, then so be it.”
That should sting, but I appreciate the hearing the truth. Finally.
Even after realizing I hold the winning hand, she’s still laying her cards on the table. I could kill her if I don’t like what she says. Or just for fun.
Yet, she shows no fear, so I can’t help but listen.
“My brother… He wasn’t always like this.
” Cat wipes her cheek and fixes her gaze on the cement floor.
“He used to be a happy kid, even after our mother died. I mean, hard to manage, couldn’t sit still, but not like he is now.
He got moodier during his early teen years, which I chalked up to hormones.
” She sucks in a breath. “But about three years ago, I found out that he’d been abused by our piano teacher.
This skinny old creep that always smelled like rotten Old Spice. ”
I shudder at the idea. “That’s fucking vile.” I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like for a kid.
Cat peers up at me and nods. “Right in our house. I didn’t even know…”
A visible film of guilt blankets her, and her honesty leaves me speechless. This is some dark shit, coming out of nowhere.
“I failed to protect him. The worst part is, I brought it up after I found out about this prick abusing another teenage boy. You know, once I put it together, I just wanted to apologize…to try to make up for not being there.”
That strikes a chord.
I never protected Brody or Maeve like I should have. Sure, our dad just had a short fuse, but I could’ve done more to keep them out of his way. Especially Brody. He’s technically not Declan’s blood son, and on the bad days, he always took the brunt of Declan’s anger.
I’ve always wondered if Brody could forgive me for that. If I could ever make up for it.
“Anyway, that’s my truth. Why I try so hard…
why I let Nino get away with his bullshit.
” Cat lays her head back against the pillar, her eyes bloodshot, her lips raw from worrying her teeth.
“Just kill me if you’re going to kill me, Connor.
But know that I’m sorry, and I was wrong.
I never wanted to hurt you. Not really. That’s not…
who I am.” She slumps, closing her eyes. “I just wanted to protect my family.”
This woman.
I’ve never been more attracted to her. She’s so disarming, so genuine that I believe her. And I get it about her family.
She was trying to do right by them.
Caterina Ricci isn’t just another pawn on the board.
She’s a knight. A queen. Someone who does what she needs to, however she needs to.
Brilliant and determined, even if she’s not appreciated for her skills.
I see Brody and Trinity in my mind’s eye. Maeve and Kellin.
My siblings fell for their enemies, and they’re both happier than they’ve ever been.
And Cat…
Could she be someone like that for me? Someone to fall for?
My lungs constrict in my chest, my head spinning with the mere thought. Cat’s exhausted and probably still dehydrated. I could slip away without her noticing.
That’s what I should do so I can think.
But I don’t.
Instead, I stand, grab the chain binding her wrists, and hoist her up. After I unshackle her, she rubs the reddened skin while regarding me warily as I wind the chain around my hands. “I killed my first man at twelve.”
Cat freezes, her eyes widening.
I jerk my head toward the exit. “Come on. You have two minutes to wash your face and wipe sauce off your clothes. I want to show you something.”