Cato looked at me, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Bates kissed her on the forehead before he handed her back. “She’s beautiful—just like you.” He got into his car and drove away.
Cato came to my side and wrapped his arm around my waist. “That was gracious of you.”
“He’s family…you forgive family.”
He brushed his lips against my hairline. “You’re a great role model for Martina. She has the best person to look up to.”
I looked into my daughter’s face and thought of my mother, the woman who had always been my role model. “Thanks…that means a lot to me.”
I fed Martina as Cato got ready in the morning.
He put on all the pieces of his suit then tied the laces of his shoes.
“Where are you going?” I sat in the armchair while Martina breastfed. My nipples were so raw I could barely feel her sucking lips anymore.
“Work. Where I go every morning.”
“Oh…” After everything that had happened, I guess I expected Cato to stop working. All of the horrible things that had happened to us were because of his business. Damien and Micah wanted to overthrow him. That was why we’d experienced this nightmare in the first place.
“Why?” He rose to his full height then smoothed out his navy blue suit.
“Why what?”
“Why would you think I wouldn’t go to work? The doctor said I’m fine.”
That wasn’t why. “I just… I guess I thought you would take more time off.”
“All I’ve done is take time off for the last six weeks. Now that I’ve recovered, I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. I’ve got to manage the new cigar business, and I’ve been inundated new clients since I executed Micah.”
So, it never stopped. It would never stop. This would be our lives until one of us was killed.
He caught the look in my eyes. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Once the dust had settled, I’d had this daydream that he was going to walk away from the business and we would have the quiet life I always wanted. After almost losing his life and nearly losing me, I’d thought his attitude would change. But it was exactly the same. “Nothing.”
19
Cato
Bates fell into the chair facing my desk. He pulled out a cigar as he started to ramble on. “Since the Skull Kings didn’t participate, I was able to restore our original agreement—”
“Don’t smoke around me.” I pointed at his cigar then the ashtray. “Siena doesn’t want me to smoke, and I don’t want that shit to get in my hair and clothes.”
“She’s that anal?”
“No. I just don’t want to bring it around Martina.”
Bates would normally call me a pussy or just do it anyway, but now, he listened to me. He slipped the cigar back into his pocket. “Alright.”
“Thank you.”
“That means I’m going to have to smoke less…which means I’m going to be healthier…which means I’m going to live longer. And that’s entirely your fault.” He eyed my liquor cabinet before he grabbed the decanter and a glass. He sat down again and helped himself. “Or maybe my liver will go bad, and I’ll die anyway.”
“My fingers are crossed.”
“As I was saying…the Skull Kings will repay their full debt.”
“I’m surprised they agreed to that.”
“Well, they didn’t have much of a choice. They agreed to provide us a service, and that service was never provided. Henceforth…no deal.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Henceforth? Where did you learn that word?”
“Shut the hell up. I read and shit.”
“What do you read?” I challenged. “Other than your bank statements.”
“I read books, asshole. I read every night before I go to sleep.”
“Unless you’ve paid for a hooker,” I countered.
“Which is rare. I don’t buy hookers all the time.”
“You buy them too much…”
He drank from his glass then rolled his eyes. “What’s gonna happen with you and Siena?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re pussy-whipped and she’s happy. You’re playing house in that big mansion. You told me to make sure she gets everything if you die. I just assumed you were going to marry her at some point.”
Siena told me she wanted me for the rest of her life. She wanted to make more babies. She wanted to grow old with me. Marriage was exactly what she wanted. She’d been behaving differently lately, especially when I pressed her on making another baby. I assumed marriage had something to do with it, but she was too proud to ask me about it directly. “When the time is right, I’ll ask.”
“You’ll ask?” He abandoned his drink and gave me his full attention. “Does that mean you have a ring?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t.”
“Dude, why won’t you just tell me?”
“Dude?” I countered. “Is that another word you learned from your books?”
“I don’t know why you’re being secretive about this. She and I are on great terms now. She even let me hold Martina. Water under the bridge.”