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Gia wouldn’t have hidden that from me.
Which means, regrettably, that Caterina is right again.
I stew on this information much longer than I should. Hours go by, and from my office, I hear the household progress through the routine that is now normal.
I hear the sounds of Luna eating dinner, hear her chat and chirp away like normal. I hear the noises of Francesca laughing, then of Luna having the strange burst of energy that always seems to happen to her right before bed.
Eventually, Caterina puts her to bed, and I hear them laugh and giggle, noises that are somewhat indiscernible but somehow comforting.
They’re calm.
Steady.
They sound right, in this beautiful home that I once thought would be filled with such sounds.
Caterina’s anger from earlier still burns my skin. She was genuinely furious with me.
As she had every right to be.
Now that the adrenaline has faded from my veins, I realize that I was not only wrong, I was extremely wrong. I hadn’t been sure, precisely, what the plan was when I rushed up to Caterina on the beach.
All I had known was that I wanted to get out of there, and I had needed to rush Caterina and Luna to do so.
I had lost one family on a beach, a long time ago.
I hadn’t been about to lose another.
It was a gut reaction. Instinctive, a reflex born of a lifetime of requirement. The process had been simple.
Grab them.
And run.
But Caterina had been absolutely correct, putting additional stress on Luna would have been a bad decision. And, I needed to be smart before I reacted.
Heaving a sigh, I pressed my fingers against my eyes, pressing just enough that I felt the sting of it in my brain.
I took two seconds to experience the significant discomfort that I was in. After all, it was not often that I was wrong.
And in this situation, I had in fact been quite wrong.
A fact that I needed to rectify as soon as possible.
I grabbed my phone and sent quick texts, first to Gia and then to Nico. Gia I gave our code to continue working, but quietly, and to Nico I said that we would at current not be seeking those who took responsibility for the situation in New Jersey.
I trust Nico.
However, he isn’t Gia.
Messaging complete, I sit back. There’s one more thing that I need to do, and it’s the thing that I’m looking forward to least of all.
Yet somehow, I’m also sure that it’s the most important.
I hear the padding of soft feet, and quickly I rise, hoping to catch her in the hallway. I don’t: she’s remarkably fast for someone who doesn’t seem to exercise all that much.
I guess that avoiding me gives her plenty of motivation to move quickly, though.
I follow her down the hall.
