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Everyone in the room gasped, me included. From the corner of my eye, I saw Roman clenching his fists, looking at my brother like he was ready to put him down if he said another word.
“You think Hugo hurt me, humiliated me, used me. He didn’t, Gino, but look at what you’re doing. You’re humiliating me by talking about my sex life in front our mother and Roman!” I was fine with Muse being here, but everyone else’s presence made me feel mortified. “Hugo might not know what love is, I’ll give you that, but he feels it for me. He’s gentle and playful when it’s just us. He brings me flowers and makes sure I eat. If you insist on knowing, he did fuck me. Several times.” God help us all. “But he also held me when I was lonely; he made me laugh, and most important, he made me love him. Why can’t you be happy for me? If it wouldn’t have been Hugo, it would have been someone else. A guy who probably didn’t give a shit about me the moment we stepped out of bed.”
“Catherinelle, I swear to God, you’re gonna make me do something I’ll regret. Shut up.”
“That man you found me in bed with? He was sick with guilt because we were going behind your back. He tried to break it off, but I wouldn’t let him. Gino, I’m sorry I lied to you; we both are, but I’m not sorry for taking a chance on Hugo.” Nothing could ever make me regret loving him. Ever. “I mean it. Whatever you do to him, I’m going to do to myself. If he hurts, I’ll hurt too.”
Mom turned on her heel to look at me, horrified.
“Whatever are you saying, Catherinelle Nucci?”
“Look at him, mom. This is not my brother; he’s an angry man who wants to gut someone, and I won’t let that happen. Not to my man!”
“We’ll figure it out, Cat. I’m sure if Gino talks to Hugo…” She was cut off by Gino’s bark.
“However I choose to handle Mustafa is none of your damn business. You,” he looked at me with cutting black eyes that were still predicting death, “will never see him again. If – and I mean if – I let him live, the moment he steps within a hundred yards of you, I will turn the assassin into the target.”
My mouth dropped for a second, but I bounced back. This was what I prepared for. This war.
“You might not get a choice, Gino! This is not about you, and you can’t control me for the rest of my life.”
“You will not get out of Great Neck any time soon, Catherinelle, or so help me God.”
“I am NOT going to mom’s house! Oh, my God, you…you are just like dad.” I knew I had fucked up the moment my own words hit my ears, but it was too late to stop. I felt my ears ringing and the blood flowing through me, and I felt heat and a clutch in my chest. “Crazy with anger. You just care about your stupid ego and the fact that Hugo disobeyed you. He is not a dog, so suck it up. Right now, Gino…right now, you’re acting like the man you swore you’d never be.”
To say that enraged him would be a joke.
“Watch your fucking mouth, Catherinelle. I don’t give a shit how mature you think you are….” And then suddenly, his words started mushing together, like a low buzz. I couldn’t make out sounds or syllables anymore, and my movements were slow and heavy. It was like a fog fell down on all my senses.
Not knowing what to do, I looked down, and to my horror, a huge red stain was growing on my immaculate white jeans. Good Lord, what was happening to me? I thought I should have known why I was bleeding, but my mind was too lazy to connect any dots.
My name echoed somewhere in the room, and I realized it was Roman when his face came toward me, and he stretched his arms. Only then did I realize I’d been falling. Roman’s worried eyes were the last thing I saw before being swallowed by a pitch-black void.
