Page 57 of The Reaper's Bride
“Caterina, are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
“That’s not how we safely cross the street, Cat.”
I’d be amused that Alessio and my brothers are all concerned over my safety. They have always loved me best and he… he has become my everything.
But then, Alessio roars, “Where is my sister?!” while pointing his gun at Nico.
My older brother stares at the gun as if it’s a child’s toy with cold gray eyes. “How should I know? We’re here to see our sister, not yours.”
“Like hell, you are. You’re involved in this! You’ve stolen her away!” His finger tightens around the trigger.
“Stop! Stop!” I cry. “They don’t know anything! They wouldn’t try to help Sofia run away! They barely know her!”
Alessio levels me with a glare that makes my blood run cold. My brothers see the look, too. As I’m closest to Dante, he quickly tucks me behind him, protecting me while showing my husband no fear. “Have you misplaced your pretty sister?” he asks Alessio with his madman’s grin. “Nico and I can sympathize. It’s a hard thing having a little sister you care about living outside of your protection.” Does he think this is a game?
“Shut up, Dante, and be serious! And, I don’t need you or Nico to protect me anymore!” I shout, escaping his grasp as I storm across the concrete to my husband’s side. “Alessio protects me. I trust my husband with my life, but Sofia has run away. Who is protecting her? We’re wasting precious time we don’t have.”
Nico nods, my logic speaking to his own logical nature, while Dante continues smirking as if he is indeed playing some game.
Daring to look at my husband, I’m relieved to see the gun falling back to his side. There’s confusion and mistrust in his blue eyes when he stares down at me. I can’t blame him but, when I attempt to touch his hand, the subtle way he shakes me off feels like a dagger to my heart. “Tell me why you’re here, Nico, and don’t lie,” he clips, facing him again.
My older brother doesn’t hesitate. “We wanted to see Caterina. I received aninterestingmessage yesterday.”
My face catches fire, knowing what message he must be referring to. “You should’ve read my text, Nico! But, as you can see, I am not being mistreated.”
“I read your text, but it made me far too curiousnotto listen. Admittedly, I regretted that choice at once,” he quips. I wish I could sink through the pavement at my feet.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Alessio asks, growing more irritated, and my heart is fully convinced he didn’t know about his father’s nasty scheme.
“I wanted to check on our sister to be sure she was well, and we thought it might be wiser to seek her here than at your hotel since we’re not staying under the same roof as you.”
“For good reason,” Dante adds, giving Alessio’s gun a wry look.
“And, how did you know she’dbehere?”
“We’ve had a tracker on her mobile since she first got one,” Nico says with a shrug. “It’s not our fault you’ve never detected it or bothered to have it removed.” I gasp, never knowing they could track my phone. I’d be furious if the circumstances weren’t what they are.
“Perhaps you should’ve done something similar with your sister’s phone years ago.” Dante is going to get himself shot, the fool.
Thankfully, the standoff ends abruptly when more Vicini men arrive, the sidewalk swarming with men in black suits. Armando walks over to join us, studying the scene before him. Concern and disappointment swim in his eyes when they land on me. He suspects me of being involved just as Alessio does and they’re not wrong to.
Alessio tucks his gun away at last. “Congratulations, you’ve seen your sister,” he tells my brothers before giving me a gentle push toward my bodyguard. “Now, get the fuck out of my way while I find mine. I have some assholes to skin once I learn who helped her.”
“Good luck with that,” Dante replies, smiling in a way that makes me uneasy.
“Enough, Dante,” Nico barks, his aggravation boiling over at last. “The girl is innocent and unprotected as Cat said. We will help Vicini and Alessio find her if our help is wanted.”
Alessio doesn’t want it but Carlo does and this is his territory. Alessio turns his back on them all to speak to his friend. “Armando, take both girls back to my suite at the hotel. Take their phones and don’t let any of these fuckers near them.”
Armando nods and, without a single glance at me, Alessio storms away, commandeering one of the Vicini men’s cars to aid in the hunt.
***
Hours later, Armando is glaring at us in the living room of my hotel suite. Now and then, he gets a message on his phone but tells us nothing. I suspect she’s not been found or things wouldn’t be this tense.
When he finally goes to the toilet, Frankie whispers in my ear. “It was my brother.” My eyebrows draw together in question. “I saw my older brother a few weeks ago. He’s not dead.”
“He’s not?”