Page 149 of Unruly

All most over.

Tilting her head down, Catherine lifted the edge of the wide-brimmed hat just enough that she could finally look at Evira fully. The woman met her gaze head on, and her blue eyes instantly widened at who she saw looking back at her.

Sure, Evira had not met Catherine face to face.

Catherine, however, looked just like her mother.

Evira had met Catrina.

“I don’t believe we’ve been properly acquainted, Evira,” Catherine said with a cold smile. “I’m Catherine Donati. Forgive me for being rude, but I’m sure you can understand when I say it’s not very pleasurable to meet you.”

It took a whole three seconds for fear to register in Evira’s eyes. The woman grabbed her bag at her feet, and stood, making the mistake of turning her back to Catherine.

Catherine, on the other hand, shook her head as she stood from the chaise. Evira wasn’t getting out of this hotel room alive, so what did it really matter?

“Oh,” Evira whispered.

Standing at the locked door, with his hands behind his back, was Miguel. No one was getting past him. Evira looked over her shoulder at Catherine, and inhaled a quick, shaky breath. Shame, really.

“We have all the time in the world today to settle this out,” Catherine said with a shrug.

Evira tried to straighten her shoulders. Her features schooled into a calm expression, yet her gaze couldn’t possibly hide the fear. Catherine saw what the woman was doing—respected her for it, even—but it would not help her in the end.

“There is nothing to settle between us,” Evira said, moving toward Miguel at the door, “and so if you’ll excuse me, I think I will—”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Evira stiffened and her steps halted at Catherine’s words. “Excuse me?”

“You heard what I said.”

The woman spun on her heel, but the fire Catherine expected to see was nonexistent. Some women had fire and brimstone bred into their hearts. Women like her were born with it, passed on from a better woman who taught them how to use it.

This girl?

Evira?

She could only fake it.

“You know,” Catherine said, tossing her hat aside to a table, “I might actually have felt sorry for you under any other circumstance. I fully believe you’re some girl who grew up in a shitty situation that learned any opportunity was your opportunity to take. This whole thing was likely no different. How long did you expect this to go on before someone noticed you were stealing our clients? How long did you think we would allow you to go unchecked for this kind of slight on our business?”

Confusion dimmed Evira’s eyes.

Catherine didn’t back down. “What, now you don’t have anything to say? The least you could do is explain to me why you assumed neither my mother, nor I, would figure out after you left our organization you snuck back in like a little rat to steal what you could.”

“I—”

“Shame on you, Evira. You dumb girl. My mother did not get as far as she has in this business because she is known for turning cheek to competition. Honestly, you’re lucky it’s me in this room right now and not her.”

“The regina does have quite a flair for handling girls who betray her,” Miguel murmured from his position at the door. “Not only does it rid the problem, but she always made sure to drive the point home with the other girls about what is expected.”

Catherine tilted her head to the side as she eyed Evira once more. “Didn’t you hear any of those stories? Didn’t you know?”

“Pretty sure you were here for the whole Marnie incident a couple of years back, Evira,” Miguel added. “Catrina bled that girl out like a dead pig while the rest of you watched.”

“Stupid girl,” Catherine repeated.

“Then why did she let me go?” Evira asked, barely whispering and hiding shaking hands down at her sides. “Why when she caught me a year ago did she let me go?”