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“You don’t have to be scared, princess.”
“I wish my mom was still alive,” she says quietly, so quietly that I almost don’t hear it.
But I do and the words cause a searing pain through my chest. Because that’s the one thing I can’t do for her. No matter how much I want to.
She’s fast asleep by the time I walk out of the room. I run into Rico on the way out of the house and while he does arch an eyebrow in question, he doesn’t ask me anything.
“She’s not feeling too well,” I inform him. “Maybe just let her sleep.”
He nods before telling me goodbye. Things can change in the blink of an eye. When I came to her house earlier today, I didn’t expect all of this to happen. But I’m happy it did. Glad that we’ve at least made some progress. That we’re both finding it within ourselves to heal.
Two days later, I’m alone in the penthouse. Katerina came over for dinner last night but aside from a few lingering looks and a secret kiss goodbye, we weren’t able to talk. She has a lot of work to do and only came because Nate asked her. I’m currently biding my time until she’s free so we can continue our conversation.
Because while a part of me doesn’t want to be too hopeful, I’m almost sure she wanted to tell me she loved me. And hearing those words would be a defining, irrevocable change. One that would completely uproot my life. And if she can’t say it yet, then I’m prepared to wait until she does. I’d wait forever to hear those words from her.
I’m working on a plan for a new job when I hear the elevator open. My brows furrow, because I wasn’t expecting anyone and I should have been informed by the receptionist downstairs if I had a guest. I get to my feet and the sight that greets me is a platinum blonde woman in her early fifties, dressed head to toe in designer clothing, a fur coat thrown over her outfit. There’s a large red suitcase behind her and a look of irritation on her face that clears only a bit when her eyes meet mine.
“Oh, hello darling,” she greets.
My jaw grinds. “Mother.”
CHAPTER 25
Katerina
I can’t do this anymore, Sophia. I gave you enough space but I’m done. You need to talk to me and let me explain. Even if you end up hating me, at least here what I have to say. Please, sorella.
Isend the text with my heart in my throat. I’m worried that she won’t reply. I’m also worried that she will and her answer would be for me to fuck off. After sending it, I place my phone down, sure it’ll take a couple of minutes at least before she eventually replies.
“We were able to dig up some information on the man running for mayor.”
My eyebrows rise as I stare at Rico.
“I thought he had a squeaky clean record,” I question. “Even Roman and Christian couldn’t get anything on him.”
The mayoral election has been causing some problems for the outfit because the man most likely to win seems to be a hard ass and we’re finding it hard to get him under our control. If the city has a mayor like that, it would make it exponentially hard for us to do our business here.
“Well yeah but then I decided to ask your boyfriend for help and he did his thing with hacking. Went as far back as Sanderson’s college years and got some information a DUI and an arrest for possession.”
It takes a couple seconds for me to digest all that.
“You asked Xander for help?! Rico, he’s not my boyfriend and I don’t want him being a part of any of this.”
This is my life, it doesn’t have to be his.
“He’s going to be a part of your life is he not? This is the Cosa Nostra, Katerina. You’re either in or you’re out, there’s no in between. Xander’s going to have to decide if he wants to be in. But for what it’s worth, he seemed happy to help when I contacted him. He didn’t even blink, he just got down to the request immediately.”
I chew my bottom lip as I consider it all. Xander and I are in a semi good place right now. We haven’t had much time to ourselves after we had sex two days ago, thanks to me being busy managing the issues with the election but I’m hopeful that things will eventually work out. We’re so close to being okay and while there haven’t been any heartfelt declarations of love, I can still feel it.
And if I think back on it, he’s never given me any inclination that my career bothers him. It should. Most normal people would never want to be involved with a woman that leads a criminal outfit. It’s the reason I’ve stayed away from any serious relationships this past few years. I sigh softly, it’s just one of the many issues we’re going to have to work on.
“None of that matters. Don’t contact him again unless I expressly ask you to, understand?”
“Yeah, I got it,” he says. “But like I said, he was useful. He got me the dirt we need.”
I fix him with a stare. “But will it be enough?”
“The race is pretty close. And while it won’t make waves, releasing the news could potentially damage Sanderson’s campaign especially this close to the election. We just have to consider what we do with the information. Blackmail him or ruin his chances.”
