Page 72 of Poison and Wine
Rafe’s gaze moved past mine to Callum. “That will all depend on how our meeting goes.”
Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I huffed out a frustrated breath. “You’re seriously telling me that because I’m married to Callum I wouldn’t be welcome in New York?”
When he looked back at me, Rafe’s gruffness faded. “There’s never a time you wouldn’t be welcome in New York.”
“And the same can be said of Boston. Right, Callum?” I asked.
Callum cocked his brows with a smirk. “Aye. As long as your brothers play fair.”
Leo’s jaw clenched while Gianni tensed. When my gaze shifted to Rafe, his expression was venomous. “Quite hypocritical for you to be talking about playing fair after what you did to Caterina,” he remarked through gritted teeth.
“Rafe,” I warned.
“This isn’t your business, Kitty Cat,” Leo said.
I shoved away from him. “Excuse me? This became my business the moment I was kidnapped to form an alliance.”
“Unfortunately, you’re only a pawn in all of this, Caterina. It’s up to us men to make the decisions,” Rafe replied.
“That’s such…” I stared into their expectant faces. “Bullshit!” I pronounced.
My brothers all stared at me with the same disbelieving expression. I hadn’t raised my voice to them since entering the order. I’d also never cursed at them before either. “This is my life and my future, so you can sure as hell believe I’m going to have a part in it.”
When they realized I wasn’t going to budge, Callum suggested, “Perhaps you would like to take this into my office?”
Before anyone could argue about my place in the meeting, I marched across the hallway and threw open the office door. Turning back to them, I motioned with my hand, “Gentleman?”
Chapter Twenty: Callum
So far, my meeting with the Neretti brothers wasn’t going as expected. While I was used to pivoting when the unexpected occurred, I hadn’t planned on my wife being part of that pivot.
“You’re actually going to allow her to sit in on this meeting?” Rafe questioned as he took a seat across from my desk.
I eased back in my chair. “Normally, I would’ve forbidden it, but after seeing your interactions with her, I would wager her presence is very much needed. At least for now.”
“That’s a very emasculating statement, don’t you think,” Leo challenged with a smirk.
“I would suppose it is for you since apparently you need a woman to keep you under control.”
Leandro shot out of his seat. Before he could lunge across my desk, Rafe threw out his arm to stop him. “Sit. Down,” he bit out.
With a snarl, Leo flopped back down in his chair. His arms gripped the sides until his knuckles turned white. “Fine. Continue,” he hissed.
Rafe exhaled a harsh breath. “The only thing I’m going to address to my sister is this, and then I will not acknowledge her presence in this meeting again. I came here to speak to the head of the Kavanaugh family, not his wife.”
“You’re being such an unimaginable asshole,” Caterina spat.
I couldn’t hide my chuckle at her cursing at Rafe. From the reaction of her brothers, I knew it had rarely if ever happened. Rafe turned to Caterina. “I’m sorry. But it’s the way things have always been done.”
Caterina crossed her arms over her chest. “Say what you want to say, and then I’ll leave, so the big, bad men can have their meeting.”
Rafe’s lips momentarily twitched like he was fighting a smile, but then his expression grew serious. After leaning forward in his chair, he took Caterina’s hand in his. “It’s still not too late, Kitty Cat. Say the word, and we will take you away today, annul the marriage, and put you under our protection.”
While Caterina gasped in shock, I rose out of my chair. Jabbing my finger at Rafe, I growled, “You’ve got fucking balls to come into my house and threaten to take my wife.”
Rafe ignored me and continued staring earnestly at Caterina. “I mean it. Just say the word, and we’ll do it.”
Caterina jerked her hand out of Rafe’s while furiously shaking her head. “If I was to leave now, it would bring war upon you, Rafe. It’s one thing to defy Father when you’re aligned with the Kavanaugh’s and quite another if you aren’t. Too many people could get hurt or killed if you had war on every side.”