Cato suddenly turned rigid, his ferocity palpable. His presence took up the entire room, along with his rage. He slowly inched toward his brother, his broad shoulders thickening as the muscles tightened. “Get to your feet so I can push you back down.”
Bates chuckled again, like this was a game. “Come on, who cares? I was just having some fun.” He moved to his feet. “It’s not like she actually means something—”
Cato slammed his fist hard into his brother’s face, making blood explode from his nose.
“Fuck.” Bates stumbled back against the wall. “Fine, I deserved that. But I couldn’t help it—”
Cato hit him again. “Don’t touch her again. I mean it.”
Bates’s face dripped with so much blood, he was hardly recognizable.
Cato walked to Giovanni and snatched the knife out of his hand. “You did that to her?”
He must have seen the blood dripping down my neck. He’d examined the situation so quickly it was almost impossible to believe he could be that fast.
Bates squeezed his forefinger and thumb together. “It’s just a little tiny slice—”
Cato snatched his arm and sliced him down the forearm, cutting through his expensive suit and making him bleed.
“Shit!” He yanked his arm back and gripped the wound. “Come on, that was my favorite suit.” He made a joke like this was funny, but he gritted his teeth with pain.
“Touch her again, and I’ll kill you. Do you understand me?”
“Until she has your baby. Got it.”
“Not even then.” Cato didn’t raise his voice, but it seemed like he was yelling. “I mean it, Bates. I understand you don’t like her or respect her, but if you like or respect me, then you’ll listen to me. That woman is carrying my child, and I will do everything necessary to protect her. So fuck with me, and I’ll put you in the ground. Alright?”
Blood dripped from Bates’s arm and onto the ground. It got all over his hand as he kept pressure on the wound. “Yeah, whatever.” He moved to get around Cato.
Cato got in his way. “That’s not good enough. Do you understand me?”
Bates rolled his eyes. “Yes…I understand you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta take care of this.”
This time, Cato let him pass.
Bates walked out.
Cato watched his brother go before he walked over to me. “Fuck, this looks bad. You’ve got blood all over your neck.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said honestly. “It feels like a paper cut.”
“I should take you to the doctor.” He grabbed a towel and wiped away the red blood that had smeared all over my neck. When he’d cleaned most of it away, he held the towel over the small incision.
“Really, I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt.” I didn’t just say that to be brave. It was a small injury, nothing I wouldn’t recover from. It wouldn’t even leave a scar. “And I’m sure the baby is fine. The whole thing lasted less than five minutes.”
Cato pulled the towel away to see if it was still bleeding. “Looks like it’s stopped.”
“See?” I said in relief.
Giovanni grabbed a bandage from the first aid kit and handed it to Cato. “Sir, I have to tell you that Miss Siena was provoked. The two of us were just talking when Mr. Marino came inside and turned hostile.”
Cato placed the bandage across my neck. “Don’t worry, Giovanni. I know my brother better than you do.”
“And he threatened to rape me—twice.” I could deal with being knocked around a bit, but being threatened like that bothered me the most. It was barbaric and made me think of Damien—the man I hated the most.
Cato met my gaze, the rage entering his expression. “He did?”
“Yes,” Giovanni said. “Said he would bend her over the counter.”
Cato’s nostrils flared like an enraged bull. “I’ll handle him. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not.” There was no doubt in my mind that Cato would take care of me. He would never let his brother hurt me—and not just because I carried his child.
“You’re sure you’re alright?” he asked. “I know you like to act tough, but you don’t need to do that with me.”
“I’m fine, Cato. I got some good hits in.” When I looked down at my shirt, I saw the bloodstains had ruined my blouse. Even though my injury was small, I really looked like something worse had happened. “I should probably take a shower and get rid of these clothes.” I walked away from the two men and exited the kitchen.
Cato started speaking once I was gone. “I don’t know what to do about him…”
“You better do something,” Giovanni said. “Because Miss Siena deserves better.”
“Didn’t know you were so fond of her.”
Giovanni was quiet for a while. “She’s the best thing that’s walked into this house in a long time.”
I stood under the warm water in the shower and tried to forget what had happened. If I’d had a gun, I would have hit him right between the eyes because I was an amazing shot. I could lock on to my targets within two seconds and hit the mark. My father and brother always told me I had a knack for it, regardless of the distance to the target or how quickly it moved. If I’d been armed, I wouldn’t have missed.