Caught In Between - Book 1

26

CHAPTER 26
Domenico

Walking into the closet of the overpriced room at The W Hotel, I grabbed my Glock and tucked it into the waistband of my black jeans. I tiredly yawned, rubbing the back of my hand over my eyes.

Unsurprisingly, I was barely able to get any sleep last night. All I could think about was the anger in Catalina's eyes while she was yelling at me. Then that look she gave me when I threatened to spank that little ass of hers. I almost had her, too. If it hadn't been for Matteo intruding on us.

Mother fucker.

As much as I wanted to wring his fucking neck, I couldn't because it was my fault for going with E's bullshit for this long. If we had done things my way, we wouldn't still be dealing with Olivia's shit. In fact, she'd be six feet under. But no, I let Enzo handle things, and look where that got us.

The way I looked at it was her father still had us by the fucking balls. Olivia may have my body, but she will never have my heart.

No. That belonged to—

My phone vibrated, catching my attention, and I quickly answered, seeing that it was E.

"Come stai questa mattina fratellino?"

"Sto bene. Dove lo stiamo facendo?" he replied unconvincingly, and I ran a hand through my hair.

"We're meeting at Via Emilia. I booked our usual table," I answered as I got into my car.

"Okay, meet you there, Nic."

"Oh, and, E?"

"What's up?"

"No funny business. I fucking mean it. You know what's at stake."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Lorenzo groaned, and I hung up the phone.

Before putting the car in gear, I scrolled through my contacts, debating on whether or not I should call her. Taking a deep breath, I rested my head on the steering wheel, exhaling slowly. I needed to get my head in the game. Put this shit on the back burner, but fuck, I wanted her to know that I was still thinking about her. So, I lifted my head and firmly pressed on Catalina's name, opting not to call but to send a text instead.

N: Happy Birthday, little one. I hope you get everything you wish for.

—because I wished for you, and I missed you. Is what I wanted to say. But I didn't.

Staring at the screen, I watched the three bubbles beside her name pop up, then disappear, pop up, and disappear again. That repeated for a few short moments before I began to experience a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I swallowed heavily before tossing my phone into the passenger's seat.

Cracking my neck, I put the car in drive, and sped toward my destination. I needed to shake this shit off. I had to be cool, calm, and collected because I knew Lorenzo wouldn't be. The last thing I wanted was anything happening to her because we let our emotions get the best of us. When I pulled into the parking deck of the restaurant, I saw E leaning up against his car waiting for me. I slid into the spot next to him, then hopped out of my car.

"Brother," I said, and he nodded before we both turned to walk inside.

"Hi, welcome to Via Emilia. I'm Vianna. Do you fine gentlemen have a reservation?" A tiny little blonde standing at the hostess podium that I didn't recognize asked Lorenzo and me. She twirled a piece of her wavy hair in her dainty finger, giving us both a once over before bringing her bottom lip covered in red lipstick between her teeth and smiling.

"Domenico Mariano, I reserved my usual table," I said, not giving her the time of day. There was only one person I wanted, and it wasn't her.

"Um, I'm not seeing your name down everywhere. Are you sure you handsome men made the reservation for today?" Vianna extended a hand, touching my arm, and my eyes immediately followed her hand. My jaw tensed before I yanked myself from the grasp of her fake acrylic red nails, and I gave her a look, letting her know I wasn't the least bit interested.