Page 89 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

“Yes, I think he said that you were going to do what you wanted to do, and he could fuck off.”

“I did not use those words.”

Giovanni smirked. “I colored them up, Catty. Life is better when you color shit up.”

She laughed. “Is that so?”

“Yes. Remember it. It’s good advice.”

“Mmhmm.”

“However, knowing that there’s been some tension on the streets doesn’t tell me why you weren’t surprised to see me here.”

“You know what, no, that’s a lie. I am kind of surprised.”

Giovanni’s brow raised. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I mean, if he was going to send one of my uncles, he should have sent Uncle Lucian. At least he can be mean when he wants to be. You’re kind of a—”

“Watch it,” Giovanni murmured darkly.

Catherine grinned. “A sweetheart, zio.”

“I’ll … accept that, as long as you never repeat it outside of us.”

“Cross my heart.”

Giovanni folded his arms over his chest. “It almost was Lucian who came, but your father and he are in a bit of a spat. Once he figured out why Dante wanted him to be here this morning, he refused.”

“Shame,” Catherine said as she opened the driver’s door. “I suppose he meant this to be a warning for me. That he knows where I was last night, and with whom, right?”

“Saves me the time of explaining.”

“I’m already aware that my enforcer lets him know those things.” Or rather, Jordyn filled Dante in on details that had nothing to do with her business with Andino. It satisfied her father’s need for information. “I figured someone might be down here this morning because he called me last night, and I didn’t pick up.”

“Maybe you should have.”

“Maybe I was busy,” Catherine shot back.

Giovanni coughed, and glanced away. “You’re going to give your father a stroke if you talk to him like that. Or, God, a heart attack.”

“He’s perfectly healthy, so no worries. Daddy doesn’t like to be told no, and that’s the real problem. I’m more than old enough to make my decisions where Cross and I are concerned, and he needs to let me make them. He doesn’t have to like them.”

“I agree.”

Catherine hesitated as she was climbing into her car. “Do you?”

She looked back to her uncle.

Giovanni smiled. “Dante will only push you so hard, Catty. You’re too much like your mother for him to try much else, and he knows it damn well. He’s already tested his waters with you, and clearly it’s gotten him nowhere.”

“Clearly,” she echoed.

“Try not to make this too hard on him, okay?”

“And what is this?”

Giovanni waved a hand flippantly. “Leaving him behind, of course. You’re not a little girl anymore. You don’t need him to save you. He might be holding onto that idea, and you could say that Cross is the thing he’s trying to protect you from. So yes, leaving him behind. What else?”