After I Fall

Ch 24: Caterina

The gunfire sounds through the phone, and then the line disconnects.

I look over at Enzo, who has a smile on his face.

We've been plotting this ambush for three days. Enzo told me father had most of the men already in place. All I had to do was ensure Lex was at his warehouse once the shipment arrived. If it weren't for Enzo, I would have chickened out on making the call. He snuck into my room at six am this morning. I gave my father props. He found someone with Erick's personality but a mindset like me.

It was easier for Enzo to come and go—Fredico, Moreno, and Luciano don't hang around my Father's home in the wee hours of the morning. Actually, I don't think they hang around at all. If they do, it's more outside than inside. I saw the look of disgust placed on their faces once we arrived the first morning—as if they hated my father.

I made everyone's job easy over the last five days.

I left one glided cage to another. I've stayed indoors, making everyone's job protecting me easier.

"What if it comes back that I had something to do with the ambush?" I tuck my legs under me as I watch Enzo get off the baby blue sofa in the corner of my room. He smiles brighter.

"No one would know. Your father paid a small gang in Italy to do the hit. It was only a distraction, though. Lucifer would never die from a bullet."

'Distraction? What else did you and father have planned?"

"Tick tock boom." He winks, and I'm off the bed within a blink of an eye.

"A fucking bomb! I said do not kill him."

Enzo dodges my swing. "No, you didn't."

I swing at him again. He dodges, and that's what I wanted. He doesn't anticipate me kicking him, and once it connects, he falls back. I straddle him and land punch after punch in his face. I swore I told him not to kill Lex. I know it.

"Caterina," Enzo grabs my wrist, flipping me onto my back, hovering over me. "You don't spare his life. Sparing a life would only result in bigger problems in the future. The entire Valentino family will die. We planned this. We have to see it through." He gets off me, wiping the blood from his busted lip.

There is a knock on my bedroom door. "Caterina, is everything okay?" It's one of my father's men.

"Everything is fine. I had a nightmare." I close my eyes. Counting down from ten, my chest tightens at the thought of losing Lex. This is what I wanted, right? I wanted to put an end to the Valentinos, but I got to know the Valentino brothers, and maybe they aren't the ones who killed my mother—No, don't get soft now, Cat. I have to see this through.

Enzo squats next to me. "Pull yourself. We have another ambush to set in place," he whispers.

"Give me ten minutes," I say, listening to the man outside my doors. Footsteps fade away. Enzo has kept himself hidden from everyone in the mansion. Coming and going undetected. There have been times when I wanted to ask my father about him, but Enzo made a great point that we don't know if Lex had his men bug certain areas of the home. We do two sweeps of my bedroom day and night, and it is the most secure place in the mansion to hold a conversation.

"It needs to be done now. Matteo should be at the restaurant. If you want innocent people to die, take all the time you need to boss up."

I scoff. "Now you care about innocent lives."

"Lex and his men aren't innocent people. They are murderers." His jaw clenches.

"Aren't we all? No one in this lifestyle has clean hands. Our hands drip with blood." No one but Fran. If only I lived a carefree life such as hers. Her entire family was murdered, and yet she survived. She's living. Fran wasn't and isn't hellbent on revenge as I am. Maybe it could be because her mother was a snitch, but she doesn't like to talk about it. She would tell me: When life deals you a fucked up hand, you play as if you've already won.