Chapter 14
FELIX
“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?” Reese stands over me, hands on his hips, and his face contorting with anger. “Are you trying to get us all killed?!”
“That’s not my plan,” I reply, my head down as I stare into the reflection of my Scotch.
“Not your plan,” he scoffs. “Then why the fuck are both Alex James and his mother locked up in one of your spare bedrooms, huh? With a fucking doctor! Are you treating them?”
“Yes.”
“Felix, what the fuck! You want me dead, don’t you? You actually want me to get me slaughtered by Caterina.”
“I’ll deal with Caterina.” I stand slowly and drain my glass. “I need you to watch them.”
Reese meets my gaze. “No.”
“No?”
I’m exhausted. Racing back to the city with Toph, I didn’t reach Alex in time to save that poor old woman but we did kill the bastards trying to kidnap the poor kid.
Thank fuck I had a tail on Alex ever since I visited his apartment. Without their early warning, I never would have reached him in time.
And just when I wanted to call Dove, she came crashing through the door looking set to murder me as if I was the one who had killed that old dear.
Knocking her out was my only choice.
Just like keeping her and her son here at my penthouse is the only way I can be sure they’re safe.
“Reese, who do you work for?”
Reese grunts and paces away from me. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pull out that schpeel that you’re the one who saved my life, that you’ve earned my loyalty, and this is just one thing you need me to do.”
“It’s true. I am your Don, after all.”
“A Don on a leash held by the fucking Salamones,” he replies bitterly, then he freezes and turns to face me. “Sorry, Boss. That was uncalled for.”
“Yes it fucking was,” I report stiffly. “I’m giving you an order. Watch them. No one goes in. The only person who comes out of that room is the doctor, understand? And you keep him under careful watch, too. I need them safe and I’m entrusting that to you.”
Reese’s shoulders lift and then drop deeply. “Alright.”
“Alright?”
“I said I’d do it,” he grumbles. “But why is this so important? Who even is this woman?”
Before I can reply, the door to my study opens and Toph walks in. “We’ve been summoned.”
I expected as much. Caterina’s been hounding me for a couple of days about the cops I was supposed to look into.
It took me an afternoon but I’ve dragged it out in order to try and keep Dove safe without causing too much of a stir. Something that will be a lot easier with her under my own roof.
“Just trust me, Reese. Please. Keep her safe.” I set my glass down and move to follow Toph. “I won’t be long.”
—
“She’s in the garden.” Caterina’s doorman greets me before I’ve even lifted my hand to knock, and my brows twitch together.
“The garden?” I repeat slowly.
He nods and steps aside, sweeping one arm down the long corridor leading all the way through the Salamone Manor to the garden at the end. I tip my head and step past him.
What the hell is Caterina doing out in the garden at two in the morning?
It’s bad enough she’s summoned me here while I’m in the middle of what is either the best or worst decision of my life, but the last time I found her in the garden, it was extremely unpleasant.
When she gets a drink in her, she’s incredibly handsy.
I walk the familiar floors and slip outside via the conservatory, then follow the inconspicuous line of guards that dot around the garden keeping an eye on their Dona without breaking her likely request to be alone.
The paved path melts into woodchip and within minutes, I’m walking across a familiar grass clearing to Caterina.
She stands over Nico’s headstone with her head bowed and her hands clutched to her chest, eyes closed and lips moving in words I can’t hear but imagine are dedications of love to her son.
I hate being out here.
It reminds me of the hole he left in my life and how the months following his death were the hardest of my life.
Losing him and Dove in the span of four days almost killed me.
For a long time, I wished it had.
“Caterina?”
She doesn’t respond to my voice, nor is there any indication that she even heard me.
Her head remains bowed with her hair swept over one shoulder and her eyes stay closed.
An owl hoots overhead, and the very distant hum of traffic carries through the night air while I wait.
Every second here is a second away from Dove and I hate it. I want to be there when she wakes up so I can explain everything without her freaking out.
“You’re late,” Caterina says eventually as she opens her eyes. She touches her fingertips to her chest, her forehead, and then her lips. “I summoned you an hour ago.”
“I was in the middle of something. My apologies.”
“What was it?” She finally lifts her head. “Was it catching the cunt that killed Tee? Was it hunting down that wretch of a kid? Or was it finding out why the cops even went to the hospital in the first place, hmm?”
“The cops were dirty,” I reply. “Both of them. One ended up dead with Tee. The one who interrogated Alex and his mother. The other is missing.”
“Missing?” She refuses to look at me and walks forward until her fingertips brush Nico’s headstone.
“Yes. His Captain is looking for him. He never turned up to work a few days ago but he has a habit of such things. A drug problem. Still hasn’t shown up.
” And he won’t because as soon as I found him and learned he knew what Dove looked like, I sent his body to the bottom of the river. He won’t ever be found.
“Do you think he ran?” Caterina asks.
“Maybe. Drugs make him pliable. Easily manipulated. Someone killed Tee and his crew, and given how he was involved with you, it could be a setup or jealousy. He killed and ran.” I lift one shoulder. “Won’t know until I find him.”
“Hm.” She shakes her head and sniffles slightly. “The cop evades you. That blasted woman and her kid evaded you, too. How is that possible?” Caterina turns to face me, one hand still lingering on the headstone.
The real question lingers in her eyes, unspoken. An accusation to my loyalty.
“That woman and her kid are civilians, Caterina. They don’t act or react like we expect. They’re like wild animals and when scared, they act even more irrationally. It’s easier to track people in our world because we know how their mind works but a lion has a hard time tracking a goldfish.”
“And that’s what you are?” She blinks slowly. “A lion?”
“Your lion.” The words turn sour on my tongue but the last thing I need is her looking too closely until I’ve wrapped up this mess and saved Dove.
Caterina needs to shift her focus elsewhere and until she does that, Dove’s life remains on the line.
Especially if Caterina realizes exactly who she is.
“Do you remember the night Nico died?” Her words are sudden and cold.
I nod curtly.
“Do you remember where you were when the news came?”
I swallow around the lump growing in my throat. “I was on the highway coming back from upstate when you called me and told me Nico’s body had been found. You’d sent me upstate to deal with some of the Irish and so I—.”
“You weren’t here,” she murmurs, barely cloaking the accusation in her voice. “Do you ever wonder if Nico would still be alive if you hadn’t delayed with the Irish?”
My stomach knots like a fist is clutching at my organs. “Every day.”
“Everyone kept telling me he was assassinated by the Nightingale.” Her mouth twists. “A bullshit ghost story to try and make me feel better.”
The Nightingale.
I’ve not heard that name in years.
They were a ghost story.
Some claimed she was a woman all dressed in white, others claimed it was a man and some insisted that it was an organisation.
The people you called when regular threats just weren’t doing enough to make a point.
Assassins specializing in infiltrating Mafia circles.
I never believed any of it. The Nightingale was just an excuse to shift blame and act like each mysterious death was caused by an outside source rather than the rat who committed the crime.
“You know I never believed the Nightingale was real,” I say softly. “Someone murdered Nico.”
“And we never found that someone. Now my man is dead and I think they’re back because we never found the Nightingale either, did we?”
“No. We didn’t. But I never stopped looking at the pieces.” Nico’s murder. The slaughter of the Healy family. A crashed plane off the coast and a sudden war igniting between internal Russian families.
A lot happened within that horrific week, making it almost impossible to pick out what was related to which tragedy, but I never forgot.
“It was a terrible time,” Caterina murmurs. “A time when everyone looked suspicious. Everyone was out for their piece of the pie and the wolves closed in around me, eager to feast on the heart of a grieving mother.”
She walks forward and stops a foot away from me, then gazes up into my eyes while placing both her hands on my chest.
“You stuck with me through it all, Felix.”
“Of course I did.”
“You’ve stuck with me through a lot. You saved my life.”
“And you saved mine in turn.”
“Then why, if our foundation is so strong, do I find myself doubting you?” A cold edge enters her voice. “How is a case so fucking simple just impossible for you to clean up?”
Anger ignites within me and a smog clogs my chest, straining my next breath. It takes all my control to keep my face passive. Lifting my hands, I gently clasp her shoulders.
“Caterina. I know Tee was important to you. And I know how much pain you’re in at his loss. I swear to you that your pain is my pain and I will get to the bottom of this for you. I will bring the culprit before you and let you deal out the justice you desire. You just have to give me some time.”
Her lips press into a thin line, then she lifts her hand and cups my cheek. “I want to trust you, Felix. But I feel you drawing away from me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“We rely on one another, remember that. And if you do this for me?” She smiles suddenly. “There may be a promotion on the table for you.”
My heart stalls faintly in my chest. “A promotion?”
“Yes. You’ve been my right-hand man for so long and my current Underboss is seeking to return to Italy in order to care for his sick mother. I can’t have my underboss leading from across the world, which means there’s an open position. Who else to fill it but you?”
A few years ago, such a position would have been a dream.
But over these past couple of years, a growing urge to break off and start my own real path has risen inside me.
Reese is right every time he points out that it’s my tactics, my charm, and my ideas that bring about half the deals Caterina takes credit for.
Can I really commit the rest of my life under her?
“It would be an honor.” There’s no other response I can give, not while I’m in the middle of her Estate.
“I know.” She sighs softly and finally drops her hands away, stepping past me with a brush of her shoulder. “So fix this.”
“It’s really that important to you?” I turn on the spot, following her with my eyes as she begins to walk back to the Manor.
“Of course it is. No one takes anyone away from me, civilian or not. And Felix?” She pauses and turns back, her eyes glinting sharply in the moonlight.
“It goes without saying but if you fail this again? There will be consequences. Your life only grants you one forgiveness for betrayal. Do it again and I’ll mount your head right next to Nico. ”