Caught In Her Vengeance - Book 2

62

Chapters 62

Matteo

Steam began to fill the shower, fogging up the glass walls around me. My brother and Nic were still following up on locating more information about Sal's missing contact while it was my turn to keep tabs on Catalina.

She and Lorenzo had returned from training together twenty minutes ago, and I told her I was going to shower before we started dinner. She quickly agreed, saying she was going to do the same before darting off to her bedroom.

While he barely said two words to me before heading to the kitchen. That man was always eating. Surprised there was any food left. If Lorenzo didn't want to talk to me, it was fine by me because I had nothing to say to him, either.

Pressing my open palms to the glass, I stood under the showerhead rinsing off my soapy hair while silently hoping Sal and Nic didn't return empty-handed. Again.

Damnit. I smacked my hand down hard in frustration. It shouldn't have been this hard to track that piece of shit Reaper down, but he was working with snakes, and they tended to function best when concealing themselves in the tall grass. That was what Miami was to them: labyrinthine grasslands.

And she was their helpless prey.

I despised thinking of Catalina as a weak person. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yet it became increasingly clear from the way she pushed back so fiercely the day Nic told her one of us had to be with her at all times. That she had no idea how truly vicious things could get. How cruel and unforgiving the men after her could really be.

The sound of my phone vibrating from the bathroom countertop caught my attention, but I continued to rinse myself. I sighed through my nostrils, finally turning off the water, and I reached for my towel. I had my phone set to send five-minute reminders if I missed a call or message, and I couldn't take it anymore after the third time.

Drying myself off, I walked over to the sink and picked up my phone, and immediately opened my text messages. The hand holding my towel halted as I read what was written on the screen. 

Bane of my existence: lose something?

I wrapped the towel around my waist and jetted out of my bathroom, leaving a trail of wet footprints in the hall before jogging down the stairs two at a time to Catalina's empty bedroom. I clenched my jaw, smelling her favorite warm embery vanilla perfume in the air, and I knew she was up to no good.

Without giving it a second thought, I tapped on Bane of existence at the top corner of the screen and brought the phone to my ear. I didn't even wait for Lorenzo to answer before I darted back into my room and began slinging clothes on my bed from the dresser. I heard the call finally connect just after the second or third ring, and before he could speak, I barked out, "Where the fuck is she?

"Well, hello, to you too, Matteo." There was music blaring in the background, wherever he was loud enough to bust my eardrum. Yet, I still hadn't missed the way his grim snigger carried through the line, making my throat tighten. I swallowed hard at how my pulse kicked at the careful way he spoke my name. "She's obviously giving you the slip. Luckily I'm in a forgiving mood, so I'll go easy on you this time."

Rolling my eyes, I snorted in irritation through the phone, "I'm not in the mood for one of your little fucking games, Lorenzo." He loved to play those in high school, but I was unwilling to give in to that bullshit anyone. "Where is she?" I nearly stumbled over my own feet as I tried to get my shoes on while holding the phone up with my one shoulder.

"Hm, you're no fun anymore," he told me, but I was more worried about the notification that had just come through my phone.

Bane of my existence: *Dropped location*

"Lucky it's me on your ass rather than Nic."

I pressed my lips into a thin line so I didn't say anything I'd regret. I already fucked up with losing track of Cat tonight. I didn't need to add more fuel to the fire. It was extremely difficult. His smug tone had me suppressing the desire to tell that pompous asshole to go fuck himself.

"Yeah," I returned, a bit more irritated than I intended. Nope. It was exactly as I intended. I wasn't going to apologize to him for my tone when he's never apologized to me for anything... ever.

"Yeah?" he repeated my words with a hint of amusement in his voice, and it had me wondering what the fuck was really going on? I didn't have much time to contemplate my thought process because he went on to say, "I'll let that slide for now too. But Matteo... next time that smart mouth of yours will learn some goddamn manners," before the line went completely dead.

I paused what I was doing for a beat. Had I just heard him correctly, or was I just so angry that I had reached the point of delusion and was just hearing what I wanted? Shaking my head, I honestly couldn't even think about that right now.

Catalina's choices tonight were the real issues here.  She was hard-headed. I understood that, but my God, if she hadn't gotten how dangerous things were from the car chase and Massimo's warning. I wasn't entirely sure what the hell we were supposed to do about that because clearly, she didn't.

I snatched the keys to my car off my dresser while typing in the address he'd sent me into the GPS. Catalina and Lorenzo by themselves were enough to drive anyone insane. But together, they were both the rudest self-centered childish obnoxious people I'd ever met.

Yet, here I was, driving myself toward their all-consuming madness. I guess if you can't beat 'em... Maybe I didn't want to be sane, or there was the most feasible rationalization I could come up with at the moment.

I just didn't want to be alone anymore.

ツ hope you enjoyed it.

Vote ♡ Comment ♡ Like ♡