Caught In Between - Book 1

49

CHAPTER 49
Catalina

I stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed. Matteo was awake, sitting up in bed resting against the headboard, scrolling through his phone still wrapped in a thin white sheet. I tucked mine into the back pocket of my denim jeans.

"Hey you," I said, drawing his attention.

He dropped his device, beckoning me over to him with a finger and a sexy smile. I bit my bottom lip before crawling up the bed, settling between his legs. I kissed his lips while his hands ran up the back of my body. I loved the place we were in, how comfortable this all was.

"Why in God's name are you dressed right now?" Matteo asked, generously squeezing my ass through my jeans, causing me to moan into his mouth. I wanted so badly to tell him the truth, to tell him about the messages I'd received fifteen minutes ago.

Instead, I said, "Lola called and wanted me to meet her for drinks before dinner with you guys tonight." I kissed him again. "Plus, I have to show off this gorgeous baby." I held up my left hand, wiggling my fingers. It felt like shit lying to Matteo, but I knew if I told him, he'd try to stop me. I needed answers if I was going to marry them. It was evident that Nic and Enzo were still hiding something from me. Hopefully, meeting with this person, whoever they were, would give me some clarity. 

"Yeah, I should probably head over to my place to get ready," Matteo said against my lips.

I nodded, deepening the kiss before I pulled back, breaking the connection. I grabbed Matteo's phone. It had a fingerprint lock on it, so I held it out in front of him to unlock it for me. He tugged his eyebrows together in confusion, but did it anyway. Once I was in, I quickly synced our iPhones, so he'd have my location. It wasn't lost on me that meeting a stranger was dangerous. So, if something went awry, I could easily send Matteo a notification and deal with the repercussions of my actions later.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a questioning grin painted on his swollen pink lips.

"I just realized we don't have any pictures together," I lied, opening the camera. I leaned over, kissing his cheek, and he laughed while I snapped the pic. Handing him back the phone, he smiled before tapping a few times. Then he held it up, showing me we were now on the lock screen on his phone. I shook my head—this man. I glanced over at the time on his phone.

"Well, I should get going. You can let yourself out." I sat back on my knees, looking down at him. He agreed, kissing me once more before I told him I loved him.

"I love you, gittina," Matteo said with ease, like the weight he carried our entire friendship was finally lifted for good.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵


I was sitting in my car outside Nic and Enzo's club, staring down at my phone. I messaged the unknown number. I was here ten minutes ago, and I hadn't gotten a reply yet. Was it weird that this was the place they wanted to meet? Yes. But did it give me a little comfort knowing my guys were so close? Also, yes.

I waited another five minutes, and still, nothing came. Sighing to myself, I hopped out of my car and headed towards the club. Since I was already here, there wasn't any harm in going inside to see my guys. The club was closed tonight, but I still had my key. I unlocked the door, and I was instantly met with yelling coming from one of the back rooms. Closing it softly behind me, I tiptoed, following the voices. The closer I got, the clearer it became.

"We know you're the asshole that broke into our office while we were in Spain," Nic yelled. "You were slick. I'll give you that. Our security is top-notch, but somehow you were able to bypass our alarm system. One that no one had been able to before. Then I thought to myself, how the fuck would some simple piece of shit frat boy hack our state-of-the-art system?" he growled a growl that made me jump. "You had help, didn't you?"

There was a silence that sat between them for a moment.

"Start talking, asshole, before I break your fucking face!" Lorenzo's voice boomed before what sounded like a hand striking a slab of meat as a pained groan ripped through the air before a menacing laugh filled the room. The door was cracked but not enough for me to see anything, so I stood there, listening. I heard something spit before a familiar voice spoke.

"You think beating the shit out of me will make me talk? You're mistaken." Liam laughed. "The way I see it is with the newly found information I stumbled across, the odds are solely stacked against you. So, give me all you got."

Another round of loud punches sounded from the room, along with a few more pain-filled grunts. I placed my hand on the doorknob to stop whatever the hell was going on. I didn't care for Liam anymore, but that didn't mean I wanted him to be torn to shreds by two significantly larger men. However, Liam's following words stopped me in my tracks.

"What do you think Catalina will do when she finds out who you really are, huh? You think she'll want to spend her life with two low-life degenerates like you?" He laughed again. "Tell me something. Does she know that her accident wasn't an accident?" More silence hung in the room before Liam continued taunting them. "Didn't think so."

"You know nothing," Lorenzo growled.

"I know the car that plowed into you two was meant for her," Liam said with ease. My chest tightened as my heart began to hammer. "I know it's your fault she almost died," his voice was sharply lined with anger.

"Shut your worthless fucking mouth," Nic roared as another set of punches rained down on Liam. I tried to move, but my feet were planted by the cement of my ex-boyfriend's statement. 

"Hit me all you want," Liam coughed out. "But I'm going to tell her everything. The real truth about your deal with Victor. About the warehouses. All of it." He laughed again. "And when I do, she'll leave you and come crawling back to me."


The real truth? Warehouses? What the hell was he talking about? Was Liam only talking out his ass to provoke them, or was what he said founded in fact? I heard enough, and I wanted my answers from them.

Gathering myself, I threw open the door. I sucked in a sharp breath, discovering Liam tied to a chair with Lorenzo pointing a gun at his head. Everything felt like it was happening so fast, yet in slow motion at the same time. They were so focused on the man sitting in front of them that I didn't think they registered me walking into the room. Before I could even find my words, Lorenzo pulled the trigger, and an ear blistering bang rang inside my ears. I screamed out as the back of Liam's head exploded, brain and bone fragments came flying towards me as his warm blood covered the front of me.
So much blood.

There was a softball-sized hole gaped in the back of his skull before his lifeless body slumped backward, the remainder of his brain spilling out and slapping down onto the floor with more blood puddling around the chair. His eyes were still open, but there was no longer any light in them. I looked up at Lorenzo, who was still holding up his gun, which was now pointed at me. I shook my head and turned on heels, attempting to run out of the room, but two strong arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Ow, fuck!" Nic bellowed.

In a full-blown panic, I tried to wiggle from Nic's tight hold and budded heads with him. "Please, Catalina, calm down. We aren't going to hurt you." He lifted me off my feet, carrying me back towards Enzo.

"Calm down? Calm down?" I cried out, still trying to break away from him to no avail. "You're killers! You killed Liam!" More tears fell down my face as the realization of my own words set it.

Holy shit. They killed Liam. What if I was next? What if I saw too much?

"Please, princess, hear us out," the man, who not even thirty seconds ago had a gun pointed my way, said to me. It's funny how quickly things could sour and how that term of endearment sounded so rotten coming from the lips of the man I loved, or that I thought I loved. But how could I? I didn't know who he was, who either of them were. I only knew what had just happened in front of my eyes.

"Don't call me that, murderer," I snapped at Lorenzo, and he flinched at my words. Nic sat me in one of the club chairs right outside the room where Liam's dead body was. My stomach churned at the thought of even being this close to him.

Looking down, I studied my clothes that were painted in his sticky blood. I shook while reliving the moment he got shot in the head over and over. I hadn't even registered what either of the men standing across from were saying.

"What did he mean my accident wasn't an accident?" I cut my eyes up at them.

Enzo shifted on his feet uncomfortably while Nic swallowed hard, and they glanced at one another before turning back to me. They looked caught. They knew I had heard everything and that the jig was up.

"So, are you going to speak, or you going to keep fucking lying to me?" I was scared, but I wouldn't let them see that. If they were going kill me, the least they could do was give me my answers first.

Nic stepped towards me, though when my body went rigid, he stopped dead in his tracks and held his hands up in surrender. He let out a deep sigh before raking his fingers through his hair, and he started talking. He told me everything from what Lorenzo did in college to the car wreck being a setup.

"So, I almost died because of your bullshit with Olivia," I said, anger spiking through my veins. My mind was reeling. "Everything between us was a lie." 

"Cat," Nic breathed out, but I held my hand up, cutting him off.

"No, Nic, I asked you if there was anything else, and you said no."

"I know, but it wasn't my place—"

"Are you fucking serious right now?" I yelled. "It wasn't your fucking place? Fine, I get that. It was his job to tell me because he was the one who killed that guy. But you could have left me alone. You could have left me out of it. No, instead, you put me right in the middle of it, knowing the type of people you were dealing with while I was a sitting fucking duck."

I will admit that I knew there was more to them than just being club owners. I just never thought this was the answer because with money comes power, right? So, I just chalked it up to that. But now, everything was starting to click in my head. The cash and gun I found in Nic's dresser. The way he and Lorenzo commanded respect when entering a room without even saying a word. Or the way Matteo and Salvatore did what they ordered at the snap of a finger.

Matteo. Did he know what they were into? Shit. Did Lola know? Was everyone in my life lying to me?

I stood from the chair, not even looking in Lorenzo's direction. I was disgusted with him. Well, disgusted with both of them. But I had seen him kill a man, and I couldn't bear the sight of him at the moment.

I lifted my chin to Nic to ask him one of the many questions that were running through my mind. "So, are you going to kill me now, too?"

"What?" Nic asked, almost offended by the words that left my lips. "We would never hurt you, Catalina," he said, but that was a lie because their actions and mistruths continued to hurt me. "So no, we are not going to kill you."

I breathed out a sigh of relief before looking down at the floor.

"So, if you aren't going to kill me, then can I please leave?" I kept my eyes downward, I not wanting to look at them. I didn't want to see something that would change my mind. I knew what I needed to do, and I couldn't second guess myself because of the way I felt about them, even if I didn't know exactly what those feelings were at the moment. "I need a shower," I continued. "I'm tired, and I really want to go home and get some rest."

"Nic, I don't think that's a good idea," Lorenzo finally chimed in, and I clenched my jaw and balled my fist at my side.

Closing my eyes, I slowly inhaled before exhaling. I was trying to get out of here, and I didn't want to say something that would deter that plan. I was about to open my mouth to tell him my idea was perfectly fine, but Nic beat me to it.

"She's right," Nic said. Lorenzo grunted disapprovingly. "This was a lot, and I'm sure she needs some space to work through everything she's found out."

I nodded, not giving Lorenzo room to argue. Walking towards the door, Nic called out my name. I paused mid-step without turning to face him. I couldn't.

"Catalina, I know what you must think of us," his voice cracked, and so did my resolve, but I quickly shook my head, fighting the urge to look at him. "Yes, we lied because we wanted to protect you from this side of our lives, but one thing that was never a lie was the way we feel about you. So, if you don't believe anything else, believe that we love you more than anything else in this world."

I choked out a cry, tears covering my face before running out of the building, his words breaking me down.

ツ hope you enjoyed it.

Vote ♡ Comment ♡ Like ♡