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I would do anything to make my way back to him. It didn’t matter that I had to fight the king of New York’s underworld to do so.
Gino didn’t say a single word to me on our way back. He drove in complete silence, forcing Roman to ride in the back with me, like he was afraid I’d jump out of the car. I couldn’t blame them. I had just threatened to pull the trigger on myself minutes ago.
“Are you ok, Cat?” Roman’s voice cracked the silence, but he couldn’t look at me. “Are you…hurt?”
“No!” This was ridiculous. “No, I’m not hurt. And stop avoiding my eyes, Roman. You’re acting like I lost my halo or something.”
In their eyes I had. I had lost my halo and my wings, and I’d been stripped of my sanctity. I was always the little girl. Sweet Catherinelle, the precious child, but not anymore. It was about time everybody started seeing that I hadn’t been in junior high for quite a while. I didn’t braid my hair; I didn’t go to the petting zoo to ride the ponies, and I could love a man. I loved him with everything I had.
“It’s hard, Catherinelle. You’re my little sister too, you know?” It was hard not to love Roman. He was the voice of reason most of the time, even when he was battling his own demons. “Mustafa was supposed to protect you.”
“He protects me, Roman. He’s my…”
“Stop it!” Gino yelled from his seat right when he was pulling to the townhouse.
I closed my mouth and wanted to open my door, but Roman stopped me with a slight touch on my knee, making me wait for Gino to open the door. My brother held both my wrists, like I was a serial killer walking into a max security prison. I saw Hugo walking like this once, when he served his last sentence. They took him from our house, and Mom tried to force me to stay in my room, but I peeked through a window and saw him walking out of the house, handcuffed and flanked by two policemen. The two lawmen were scared he might make a run for it, and now my brother had the same fear for me.
All the men on guard on the street were in front of our house, waiting for instructions. Usually, especially in the winter, they’d sit in the car or the building next door that Gino had set up for them, but I had no doubt some unhappy soul would end up spending the night under my window.
We walked into the house, and my mouth dropped when I saw the brand-new keypad on the elevator.
“You’re joking. You put a code on the elevator?”
“Yes. Stairs too. Turn around, I need to call it.”
“Gino, this is ridiculous.”
He was planning to keep me captive in a high tower.
“Catherinelle, turn around, or I’ll have Roman put a bag over your head. Your choice.”
Damn it! I spun on my heels and puffed out a breath, irritated by this entire situation. He was overreacting, and it was ridiculous. He almost shot his best friend, God damn it!
“When did you even have this installed? It wasn’t here this morning.”
“Right after Bianca came by looking for you.” Shit. I should have kept her up to speed. How could I have been so stupid? “After you told me you were spending the night with her and after one of my men saw you walking hand in hand with your guard and kissing him in front of his building.”
So we had a tail; that was how he knew. That was how he came directly to Hugo’s apartment, knowing he’d find me there. This was all my fault. Hugo would have never missed that he had eyes on him if I wouldn’t have distracted him. I was his liability.
When we got to the third floor, Muse was waiting in front of the elevator, walking in circles. The moment she saw me, I got pulled into a hug and responded gratefully. It was nice to see someone who didn’t want to gut me.
“Hey!” she said, and I smiled, filled with guilt.
My brother looked at both of us, his eyes still clouded by pure, visceral fury.
“You two will spend a lot of time together because you’re not going to see the outside until you’re thirty,” he said.
“You’ve lost your mind. You’re mad, I get it, but you can’t treat me like that just because I have a boyfriend. I’m going to call mom!”
“Don’t bother. She’ll be here tomorrow morning to help you pack. You’re moving to Great Neck.”
His words hit me in the solar plexus like a brick, cutting my air supply. He was kicking me out? No. He was making sure I couldn’t get near Hugo again, which was a thousand times more painful. I couldn’t even form the words to protest.
“Cat, are you ok?” Muse asked, concerned by my pale face.
“Why is everyone asking me that? He,” I pointed to Gino, “caught me with a man, not cutting my wrists. Muse, you need to talk to your man and calm him down. He pulled his gun on Hugo. I had to threaten to kill myself to stop him from doing something stupid and…”
“You did what?!” She grabbed my shoulders, staring at me. “Are you hurt; are you ok? Gino, what did you do?”
