Chapter 6
Damiano
Earlier, I made sure Alfonso wouldn’t be able to contact her for a while by having Gio "accidentally" take his phone away as he was leaving my club. That should have given me time. Enough time to lure her to my club so I can keep her in my sight. At least until Nicolo’s shipment is sent.
This was the only way I could keep her close without alarming Mateo, who would undoubtedly go berserk if he heard about my suspicions.
I can’t allow him to start a war with the Mafia that he cannot win.
I’m not even sure they are really after Katarina yet.
Until Gio’s guy in Sicily can dig deeper into the fucker’s phone’s contents and confirm my suspicions, I need to be careful.
If I make the wrong move, they will scatter like rats.
If I move right, I can keep Katarina safe and catch Nicolo doing business where he isn’t supposed to.
I disconnect the call when she doesn’t answer again. I check my voicemails just in case she left one. But I see one from Mateo instead. I frown. Mateo never leaves me voice messages. I hit play.
His familiar voice cuts through the muffled bass of the club, ragged with what sounds like a suppressed gasp of pain.
"Take care of her, Damiano. Keep her safe," he says before the line cuts dead.
His words hit me like a splash of cold water, and the realization washes over me. I failed to keep her safe; they got to them.
I shove the phone back into my pocket, the cold certainty of Mateo's message settling in my gut, followed by guilt and hot rage.
I should have just put a bullet in that son of a bitch hours ago.
“Gio, get the car! I have to find Katarina!” I yell at Gio as I make my way to my office, where the private elevator that will take me to the garage is.
Gio follows me, confused, and asks, “What is happening?”
“They got to them. I have to find Katarina.”
I push the door to my office open and walk in, take my jacket from the rack, and turn towards the elevator.
That’s when I feel it.
The cold metal makes contact at the lower back of my head.
Someone’s gun is pointed at me.
“Put the gun down!” Gio yells, and I freeze. The culprit does not respond.
“Who sent you?” I ask calmly, still not able to see whose idiot has his gun pointed at me while my bodyguard is watching.
“Put the gun down, don’t make me hurt you,” Gio warns, but the gun doesn't move at all. So I feign surrender and raise my hands in the air.
That's when I hear her.
“Why the fuck did you do it?”
Gio gasps before muttering, “Katarina?!”
“I asked why the fuck did you do it?!” She shouts.
I see Gio in my peripheral vision take two steps towards her. But before he can grab her, I turn around and pin her to the wall beside us. It happens fast; she could only gasp. I should be snatching the gun from her, but I don’t want to scare her further.
When I see her, the blood rushes to my head, and hot rage takes over.
Her face is pale, and her right jaw is bruised. Her left eyebrow has a gash that is still bleeding. Her top lip is busted. Her right arm stays limp on her side, while the other one tries its best to keep the gun pointed at me.
“Who hurt you?” I ask, watching her wide eyes darken.
“You did it! Didn’t you! You sent those men to kill Mateo and me!” She shakes violently as she yells at me, followed by shallow, hurried breaths as if she’s struggling to get oxygen.
“What?! Why would I do that?” I try to touch her face, but she responds by removing the gun’s safety instead, and I’m reminded that it’s still pointed at my right temple. Her lips pull into a line, and her chin trembles, like a scared child trying to be so brave.
“Dolcezza…” I whisper.
Her brows knit together, and she bites her lips, trying hard to stop a sob from escaping.
In one swift move, I lift her hand and point the gun at my forehead.
Not the way to respond to any threat, but the fear on her face is doing something to me I can’t control.
I want her to trust me. She gasps, and a tear falls down her left cheek.
Her eyes fly back and forth between mine and the gun.
“Look at me. I will never hurt you or Mateo.” She glares at me, but it feels as if she can’t see me at all, like an animal falling into a trance. I shake her body a little bit and say, “Look at me, baby. It’s me. I will never hurt you.”
Her eyes slowly focus back on me, and she pushes the gun against my temples in an attempt to faze me. I let her search my eyes for the answer she’s looking for, her fear and confusion stirring an unbelievable rage in me.
What the fuck did they do to her?
I slowly reach for my phone in my pocket and play the voicemail Mateo left me.
As soon as she hears Mateo’s voice, I feel her arm bend, slowly pulling the gun away, not breaking eye contact. She swallows, and a tear escapes her right eye, but she doesn’t cry. I wipe it with my thumb, and she flinches hard from pain, making me feel it too.
Christ.
“Tell me what happened. Where is Mateo?” I cup her cheeks gently, and suddenly, all her strength leaves her. I catch her by her waist before she drops to the floor.
“Get us out of here,” I tell Gio. I pick up Katarina and place her on the leather couch to inspect her injuries. As soon as she’s lying down, she starts trembling violently, and a sob escapes her.
“Let me see, Dolcezza. Where are you hurt?”
I take off the hoodie she’s wearing carefully and see that she has blood all over her arms. Her top is ripped on the straps, too, leaving her bra showing.
Fuck. I check for any bullet wounds, but I don’t find one.
Still, she winces when my hand grazes her left side.
Then Julian comes barging through the door.
“Katarina!” Julian calls out and appears beside me. “What the fuck happened?” He yells, and I lose it.
“Yeah, what the fuck happened, Julian?! Aren’t you supposed to be keeping her safe?!” I say, and watch guilt replace the anger on his face so fast.
“Stop, please.” Katarina murmurs; the pain she’s enduring is too obvious in her voice. I kneel beside her, and Gio appears with a glass of water. I try to give it to Katarina, but she doesn’t even notice it.
“Mateo,” she sobs, and a wave of cold passes through my body. She holds on to my arm as she shakes her head frantically.
“Where is he?” I brace myself for the answer even though her mere state tells me enough.
“They shot him. God, they shot him, and I left him there.” She sobs violently, the sound ripping my chest. I put my arm around her in an attempt to calm her down, while Julian freezes beside us, and Gio curses.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She keeps shaking her head, panting like she is about to hyperventilate.
“Tell me who did it, Kat? What did you see? Where is the boss?” Julian asks, and I catch a glimpse of some emotion in his eyes that I can’t pin.
“I-I.. don’t know. They were wearing police uniforms. Mateo, h-he mentioned your name… before he.. Before they....” She looks up at me, eyes welling with tears as if they’re searching for something, anything to put her out of her misery.
I don’t like that look at all, and I want it gone.
“Fuck!” Julian curses before pulling out his phone and walking out, barking orders at it. “I need backup. I need people at the boss’s place NOW, everyone we’ve got!” He shouts into his phone.
“We need to go,” I tell Gio, and I try to help Katarina up, but she winces in pain.
“What hurts? Are you shot?” I ask, and she says, “No. My shoulder, I think I broke it.”
“That’s it, you are coming with me.” I grab her cheeks so she can look at me when I say it.
“You’re safe now.” She looks up, biting her lips, trying to hold back her sobs before nodding. I reach behind her and pick her up.
Gio rushes before us, and Julian watches our backs as we take the elevator to the basement.
“Take us to my place.” Gio nods and opens the SUV's door. I settle Kat in the backseat and notice she has passed out, probably from the pain.
“Call a doctor, I need someone to check on her.”
Julian settles on the front seat and pulls out his phone to call someone.
“Any news?” I ask, looking at Julian through the rearview mirror.
His features darken as he says, “The guys are on their way to their penthouse.”
When we’re on the road, I take a deep breath. I look at the woman beside me as she lays her bloodied face on my chest and try to keep the manic rage I feel in control.
These fuckers don’t know what’s coming for them.