Page 37 of Poisoned Promise
A thorn in my otherwise perfect evening. Not long after my dinner with Dove, she called, demanding a face-to-face to discuss what I’ve learned. The truth will stay with me and I need to find some way to spin the details to appease Caterina enough that she lets this go.
Judging by the stormy look on her face when I enter her office though, this won’t be easy.
“Well?” Caterina barks at me when I’m barely over the threshold and into her office. “What did you learn?”
“It’s nice to see you too.”
“Don’t give me that,” she snaps angrily, then she places a fist to her chest, clutching a crumpled tissue. “It’s been days and I still don’t know who murdered Tee.”
“Was he really that important?”
“Of course he was!” she snaps. “How fucking dare you? Do you know how hard it is for a woman like me to find romance? Everyone’s either scared of me or, god forbid, thinks I’m too old.” The personal accusation leveled at me is scarcely hidden in her tone. “I finally found a sweet young thing willing to fuck me and this happens!”
My teeth catch briefly on the inside of my cheek. I imagine there are countless men in the lower families who would love the chance to fuck her.
What better way is there for them to secure power?
I can’t decide if Caterina knows this and uses them for sex, or if she’s blissfully unaware of that reality.
“I’m sorry, Dona. I meant no disrespect.”
“You better be,” she snarls angrily, then her face crumples again and she sinks down onto the couch. “Tell me about this Alex James.”
“He’s just a kid. A regular kid. Yes, he was in the car.” There’s no hiding that from her. “But only as a passenger. The real culprit was this other kid, Michael. He stole the car and I think Tee knew this which is why Tee brought him in. They killed each other, Caterina, so the man who killed your lover is already dead.”
It’s a disservice to call that poor kid a man but in Caterina’s eyes, that’s what he is.
“No,” she snarls suddenly, lifting tear-filled eyes to meet mine. “I want that Alex bastard dead!”
“Why?” Moving closer, I sink down onto the couch next to her. “He’s just a kid.”
“Bullshit. Him or his family, I don’t care how they did it or why. I want them all dead, you hear me? Every single one of them!”
“Caterina—.”
“No, you listen to me. You work for me, understand? That fucking Michael rat was dead an hour,at least, before Tee died. The coroner told me as such. So that means someone else killed my Tee, you hear me? Someone else and the only other people involved at that fucking passenger and whoever the fuck his family is.”
Shit.
It really was Dove.
My stomach knots slightly. “Or it could have been one of Tee’s enemies. Not a civilian.”
“He didn’t have enemies,” Caterina weeps, switching back to the grieving woman at the drop of a hat. “He was sweet and kind and his cock was so fucking beautiful. You don’t know what it’s like to lose something like that.”
“No,” I say, biting back an amused smile. “I don’t.”
“Kill them, Felix. No one steals from me and certainly no one kills my man! You hunt them down and you slaughter them, you hear me?!”
I hesitate only for a second as Dove’s face flashes in my mind, and that second fuels Caterina’s fury.
She prods at my chest with one long fingernail. “Fine. You don’t want to bring in a kid? You’re fucking weak. I’ll have my own people bring them in while you track down the cops investigating the crash, understand?”
“Caterina—.” My heart plummets to my gut. There’s no way I can let anyone else near Alex, not with Dove.
“Enough!” She yells in my face and stands abruptly. “Do you know what was in that car? I don’t need the cops tracing that back to me either so put an end to that. I’ll deal with that fucking kid. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”
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