Page 51 of Cross + Catherine: The Companion

“Fix yourself,” Catrina hissed at him darkly. “Look at you, Dante. Acting like a stupid fool in a public restaurant. Why not just pull your gun out and wave it around, too? Really make a scene for us, if that’s what you’re trying to do. Marcellos don’t half-ass anything, after all.”

“I beg your fucking pardon?”

Catrina didn’t back down. “Fix the mess you are making of yourself, bello, or we will not be leaving here together.”

It would not be a very pleasant day in their marriage, never mind once they were actually home. She knew it already.

Still, Catrina held her ground. Sometimes, she had come to learn with her husband, this was exactly the kind of thing he needed her to do. Besides, had he wanted an easier, more compliant woman, he would not have married her.

Dante took a deep breath, and schooled his features. Still, his eyes blazed and his fists clenched. That rage of his would not be going away for a while. It was not something Catrina would be able to soothe for him.

“Was that why I woke up alone in the ER the night of Catherine’s suicide attempt?” Catrina asked. “Because you had left to go after Cross?”

The look he passed her said it all.

She still needed to hear him say it.

“Dante, you will tell me.”

“Yes,” he growled.

Catrina nodded, and let out a sound that voiced her disgust. “Why, because you blamed him?”

“Obviously.”

“Use that attitude with me again, Dante.”

Dante checked himself. “My apologies.”

Catrina wished it helped.

She knew it wouldn’t.

Certainly not for their daughter, anyway.

“You had better work on something far better than an apology to fix this, Dante. Start now.”