Page 153 of Unruly

A beat of silence passed.

Then another.

Catherine expected that.

She was going for shock, after all.

“Yes.”

“Yes, reginella.”

“Yes.”

One by one, each girl spoke.

Once they were finally done, Catherine waved at the door and said, “Have a good day, girls. I’ll be back in a month for another meeting. You know how to contact me should you need me otherwise.”

Quick as a blink, the girls moved to leave.

Catherine had one last thing to say.

Of course …

“And remember, we’re a family, ladies. We don’t talk about the family.”

Soon, the hotel room was empty, and Catherine was alone. She let out a heavy breath, and sunk further into the couch. Knowing she had a few minutes to spare, she kicked off her heels and reached for the water she had set aside earlier.

She was ready to go home.

She wanted to call her husband.

Cece was probably missing her like crazy.

She really wanted to sit back, rest, and enjoy the rest of her pregnancy with as much peace as she could manage. It was as though all of the things she had needed to take care of finally caught up to her. The exhaustion was strong.

Your job is finally done, she told herself. You’ll have all those things soon.

Sometimes, it was good to remind herself when everything else felt like it was holding her back from the wonderful things in her life. The things that made her most happy. The things that she liked to keep close because it kept all the sad, difficult thoughts and feelings at bay.

Yeah, she really needed to get home.

Catherine didn’t get up to go get her phone to call Cross, despite how much she wanted to. She knew he was on his run—he only used a burner, and it was for absolute emergencies only. Once he was across the border, had made the drop, and safely on his way home, he would pick up a second phone and give her a call to let her know.

For him, she would have to be patient.

For Cece, she would see her first thing in the morning after she got in a decent sleep.

Catherine wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that on the couch. Eventually, Miguel made his way into the room.

“The men are handled,” he said, passing her by.

Catherine waved a hand high. “Good, good.”

“How did the girls go?”

“Fine.”

Miguel dropped down beside her on the couch with a heavy thump. “Did you think it would be anything different?”