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Cato’s door was still closed.
I was sure his men had informed him I was preparing to leave, but he didn’t try to argue with me. He didn’t see me off. He kept the door shut, giving me a cold goodbye. He didn’t even come out to kiss Martina.
I stared at the door for another minute before I walked away, choking back tears at his coldness. We’d been so deeply in love days ago, and now that love had disappeared. It was like it never happened in the first place.
I walked outside and found the car waiting for me.
Distraught, Giovanni stood there with redness in his eyes. “I’m sorry to see you go, Miss Siena. I didn’t expect this, not after everything we’ve been through.”
“Me too.” I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodbye, my friend.”
“He’ll come around, Miss Siena. That man loves you too much not to.”
“I hope you’re right.” I got into the car and put Martina in the car seat. Then the car slowly started to pull away, circling the roundabout and the fountain. The gravel crunched under the tires as we left the property. I looked up at the three-story estate and wondered if Cato was watching me leave his life forever. Or if he was still in his bedroom, shutting me out because I’d hurt him so much.
Whatever hurt he thought he felt, I felt it a million times more.
He said loyalty was the most important thing to him. But when it came down to it, he wasn’t loyal to me. I’d sacrificed myself to save him, but he wouldn’t make sacrifices for me. At the end of the day, he made the same mistakes as my father. His arrogance blinded him to the truth, made him think he was invincible. My mother died because of my father’s stupidity. But I wouldn’t be let anything happen to me because of Cato’s stupidity. Cato didn’t learn from other people’s mistakes.
But I sure did.
The air was stuffy and stale, but it was exactly the way I remembered it. I would have to get a new battery in my car because it was definitely dead by now. There were dishes still in the sink, and a pile of folded laundry sat on the couch.
It’d been so long that I couldn’t remember the last time I was here.
“This is our new home, Martina.” I held her in my arms as we stepped inside the living room, her body resting on my shoulder.
Instantly, she started to cry.
She knew this wasn’t her home.
She knew her father wasn’t here.
She knew everything was different.
Someone knocked on the door, which made Martina cry harder.
I opened the door and came face-to-face with one of Cato’s security men. “Yes?”
“Mr. Marino asked us to bring some things and set them up.” In his hands, he had a box with a picture of a crib on it. The other men behind him all carried something, toys, diapers, and everything else I needed to take care of Martina long term.
“Oh…thank you. Set it up in the empty bedroom.”
Setting up baby stuff probably wasn’t in their job description, but they didn’t complain as they went upstairs and got to work.
Martina wouldn’t stop crying.
Martina was constantly fussy.
She cried more than she ever had before. I checked her diaper, tried to feed her, and rocked her back and forth. Nothing worked. I abandoned the crib and had her sleep with me, but she didn’t like that either.
I knew exactly why she was crying.
Because she missed her father.
I missed him too.
Anytime I looked outside, I saw army men around the perimeter of my property. Cato must have asked them to guard me, to make sure no one bothered the two of us. It was strange to look outside in the middle of the day and see the black cars everywhere, but I knew there was no other option.
After four days of silence, Cato called me.
I stared at the screen for a long time, my heart falling into my stomach. This moment was inevitable so I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still felt my nerves fire off in fear. Martina was still crying, so I put her in her crib and went downstairs—that way I could actually hear what he had to say. I answered. “Hi…” I missed the sound of his voice. I missed his strong body in my bed. I missed the quiet noises he made when he slept.
He was just as pissed off as the night I rejected his proposal. “I want to see my daughter. I’m not asking for permission.”
I felt stupid for thinking he would be sweet and apologetic. I hoped he would say he missed me so much that he would give me whatever I wanted. But instead, he was as livid as before. “You never have to ask for permission, Cato.”
