Page 16 of Mafia And Taken

“No one calls me Caterina except for my father. Everyone calls me Cate.” This was the most she had said to me since I had brought her here.

“Caterina is a pretty name. You don’t like it?”

“It was my mom’s name. I was named after her. But everyone always called me Cate because it was too confusing having two Caterinas. After my mom died, my father started calling me Caterina. He said it helped him remember her.” She sounded wistful thinking about the past.

“How long ago did she die?”

“It happened seven years ago. I was fourteen years old.”

I recalled that her mom had been shot in a home burglary. Christ, in our world there were so many deadly dangers that you didn’t expect anyone to be killed by a burglar.

My t-shirt, which she was wearing, dwarfed her petite and slender body. I liked seeing her in my clothes.

I could see the outline of her breasts under the fabric, and the visible points of her nipples made it obvious that she wasn’t wearing a bra. The thought of her in my t-shirt with no bra pleased me.

Her hazel eyes were huge in her face, green pools flecked with swirls of amber. For some reason, I found myself wanting to reach out and run my fingers through her auburn hair again.

“You should get some rest now.”

I took the tray downstairs and then went to the office to do some work.

I doubted Cate would be awake for long, as she had already been looking drowsy again by the time she’d finished the soup.

CATE

Later on, I heard a noise and opened my eyes. Alessio was settling down on the couch in the corner of the room with a pillow and spare blanket. He had stripped off his top and pants, leaving just his boxer briefs on.

He’d changed after he’d brought me into the main house. He’d said he now believed that I knew nothing about what had happened with the Russians. He’d believed my lie.

Still, I needed to get away from here and away from him. But right now, I felt too weak to fight his insistence that I stay until I was recovered.

He unstrapped his knife holster from his thigh and placed his revolver on the small table next to him.

Tattoos decorated his chest, including a small tattoo at the top of his left shoulder depicting a knife piercing a hand. The latter was the tattoo that all members of the Fratellanza received upon their initiation—I recognized it because my father had the same tattoo.

The Fratellanza’s business interests were mainly in the drug trade, laundering the dirty money through their legitimate businesses of hotels and clubs, and the net result was that they had become extremely wealthy. There was, however, danger always present.

But I didn’t have the energy to think about any of that right now. Instead, I snuggled back down under the covers. I could smell the scent of him on his t-shirt that I was wearing—it was a mix of soap and something like sandalwood.

As I drifted off to sleep, I inhaled the comforting smell and thought that, despite his deadly appearance, Alessio being nearby made me feel safer somehow.

***

During the night, I had that nightmare again. The one about my mom and brother…

“Mom, can I have some more juice please?” I asked.

“Sure, honey. There’s another bottle in the pantry.”

I had been in the pantry getting some more juice when I heard a commotion coming from the kitchen.

My mom started screaming. And some men were shouting at her. My mom was saying that she didn’t know where my father was.

I heard my brother trying to talk reason to the intruders. He’d already been initiated into the Fratellanza and was seventeen by then. He was my only sibling, and I idolized him.

I’m not sure what they were arguing about. I was frozen to the spot in the pantry. My brain told me that it was safer to stay put.

The men didn’t seem to know I was there or if they did know, they didn’t care—maybe because I was just a young girl.