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As in, the police commissioner?
I look at my fiancé as if seeing him will give me the answer to the question.
Sensing my gaze, he looks up from speaking with Jane. I’m not certain of my expression, but it must be grim because his darkens. He says something to Jane and then he’s crossing the room back to me.
There must be something wrong with me because I can’t help but think Declan is the most devastatingly handsome man I’ve ever seen. Despite the gruesome trauma I just endured...
I’m going to need to find a therapist. Immediately.
Declan stops a foot away, staring at me with concern. “It turns out I need to stay here until Commissioner Gasso arrives,” he says, confirming his link to the city’s police leader. “But you should go rest. There’s no need for you to subject yourself to being here any longer.”
“I was just about to take her to our father’s,” Nero replies before I can respond.
“Good.” His eyes don’t leave mine. “I’ll come by once I’m done here so we can talk.”
Strung out from the day’s events, I don’t have it in me to insist he come with me now.
“Okay,” I murmur. “See you later.”
I let my brother lead me out of the building and into his town car, unable to stop from wondering what this latest change in circumstance is going to have on my relationship with Declan MacKenzie.
If I’m being honest, I fear my abduction and Declan’s involvement with the police might be the final straw that breaks my father’s frail acceptance of the alliance with the MacKenzie family.
Chapter23
Declan
“How’s she doing?” Jane walks up and stands next to me where I stare out the window of Salvatore Furnari’s brownstone, facing the back garden. Catarina sits in the metal garden chair where I found her father just yesterday—when I told him his beloved daughter had been abducted by my enemy.
“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her yet.” According to Nero’s text this morning, Catarina has spent the better part of the day out there, staring at nothing and barely eating the pastries on the plate in front of her.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” she asks.
“I don’t know.” I tried to get here last night, but the cleanup at the hotel took longer than expected, and Gasso insisted I stay behind while his men processed the scene so I could identify evidence to link Diaz to the trafficking ring. His request was an inconvenience, but I couldn’t blame the commissioner for wanting to be thorough. Dismantling this ring will make his career. And I owe him for helping me out all these years.
Unfortunately, the delay has given me time to question things. Will Catarina want anything to do with me after her abduction? Does she know the truth about her brother’s involvement with Diaz? And what does she think of the role I played in everything?
Salvatore has already sworn me to secrecy on the matter—not that I want to disparage a dead man’s reputation. Especially not when it would hurt my fiancée. The Italian Don even went to far as to guarantee an alliance between our families, marriage to his daughter or no, to help motivate my compliance.
I can still feel the way my stomach clenched when the implication of his words hit me square in the chest. I don’t want our families’ agreement to change, and I’m sure my grandfather would blow a gasket if he learned that was an option. But what does Catarina want?
For as selfish as I want to be, I can’t force her to fulfill the terms of our agreement if it’s no longer required to guarantee an alliance between our families. She deserves to decide her fate. And if she decides I’m not part of it, I’ll have no choice but to let her go.
Even though that’s the last thing I want to do…
“You need to talk to her, Declan.” Jane places an encouraging hand on my shoulder. “Right now. You have no idea what she’s thinking. Don’t let her thoughts continue to spiral. Not when you can help.”
She’s right. And I’m not typically one to avoid tough conversations. But just like with everything else revolving around my stunning fiancée, things are different with Catarina.
“You’re right.” I inhale through my nostrils. “I’ll go speak with her. In the meantime, will you call Ailish and check on Liam and Nolan?” Both men were found bound and gagged in a room in the abandoned hotel where we found Catarina. They were beaten, but the last I spoke with Ailish, she said they’ll make a full recovery. Still, I’d like confirmation that my third and fourth are stable.
“Of course.” Jane squeezes my shoulder. “I’ll call now.” She turns on her heel and disappears down the hall. Before I lose the nerve, I step out of the French doors and onto Salvatore’s patio. Catarina doesn’t so much as blink. She continues to stare out at the garden, unmoving.
Wordlessly, I sit in the chair next to her. Still, she doesn’t look my way.
I use the opportunity to take her in. Other than the odd scratch from her scuffle in the basement, she’s unharmed. A miracle considering how unstable Luis Diaz proved himself to be.
“How are you feeling?”
