Destined For The Mafia (18+) (3 of 3)

Chapter 10 - Developments

[Cat's POV]

A few miserable hours later, I find Enzo walking along the empty shore on the sand. I know he hears me coming because he slows down his steps, but he doesn't turn around or speak.

"I should have told you myself," I admit to him as I catch up to his side.

I watch as his jaw twitches, his hooded eyes focused forward.

"It was the night you left in the middle of the night, wasn't it?" He asks, still not looking at me. He continues before I can answer, but I don't think I needed to anyways. "Saturday. I woke up with you. You had every chance. Why wouldn't you tell me you found him?"

I sigh and accept the truth even within myself.

"I didn't want to be stopped."

He stops walking suddenly and turns toward me, so I stop too.

"I am not your keeper, Caterina," he says.

I reach up to his face but he steps back. "I know-"

"-No." He shakes his head. "I am your husband, not your master or controller. But, I will not support you jeopardizing our safety. You don't know everything you think you know. I know things that you do not about the way these people work. I have been around them for longer. Tony will not accept this. He will not claim it. Even if he did, he knows the truth. You made it crystal clear."

My teeth are clenched so tight, I'm surprised my voice is audible. "It could have been anyone, Enzo."

He looks at me point blank. "Then you should have shot him up, dumped him in the river, and prayed to god that he was never found. Instead, you chose for Tony to find the body. You teased him. Your signature was written across it without you even meaning to."

He starts stomping across the sand again and I try to fall into step with him.

"Enzo-"

He spins and grabs my forearms so suddenly, I almost yelp.

"You don't understand how many people want you dead, Caterina!" He is almost shouting, the vein popping out in his forehead as he clings to my arms. "They know about your knives. They know what you have done. What you are now. Please, for the love of god, wake up!"

I can see his panic. It is very clear. I know logically it is out of his love for me and Stef. He isn't saying anything that isn't probably true.

Yet, still, I glare at him. "Let go of me," I command.

His chest is rising and falling with every breath through his nose. He looks down at his hands, still on my arms, and his lips part slightly. His hands drop to his side quickly.

"He won't strike right away," I say, half meaning it, half trying to change the topic as he stares at the red on my skin where his fingers were.

It won't bruise. It's just red from the pressure. But I know my husband. And I also love him. And no matter how much he angers me, I still don't want him to beat himself up over potentially hurting me. He still apologizes for my cheek years later... to have done it again will break him.

He slowly draws his eyes up to my face. "You don't know that," he says, calmer, more humbled than before. "But I do know that you started a war."

He looks over my head at our rental house behind me. Then huffs. "We need to go home."

- - -

I don't fight him on leaving. There is no point anyway. I don't want to be here and in an argument. We can be home for that. Our vacation is ruined either way now.