Page 89 of Poisoned Promise
I squint at her. As an Enforcer back then, my knowledge of the intricacies between families was on a strictly need-to-know basis, and what Nico told me of what he was working on was vague at best. “I remember a deal, yeah. Drugs, right?”
“Mhm. I’d been working the Healys down for some time because they were toeing the line at entering my line of work with their loan sharks but never got wet enough to be a real threat. Back then, the Healys were an empire. But something changed one night. I got a call from their Captain and he told me, in not so many polite terms, that the deal was off.”
I squint slightly.
Captain Healy was a man to be reckoned with but never someone I personally rated highly, given how eager he was to marry Dove off to some stranger.
Unless that was part of her cover for the Nightingale.
“So I sent Nico to speak with him. I thought a face-to-face would get to the bottom of whatever gave the Healy’s cold feet and from there, we’d be able to work out a fresh deal that soothed any worries and satisfied all parties.” Caterina clears her throat suddenly and gazes upward as if forcing herself not to cry. “They sent Nico back to me in pieces.”
My heart clenches painfully in my chest and that agony radiates in waves through my body.
“My baby boy…” She shakes her head. “At first, I thought they had reached out and hired the Nightingale to kill him as somesort of punishment for whatever slight they had against me. I was ready to go to war for my baby.” The words catch in her throat. “But one of my own Generals had been working on the Nightingale for a long time, intent on bringing him under our wing permanently. Nico’s death confirmed his suspicion and he brought me the intel that thatbitch, Dove, was the Nightingale. Captain Healy’s precious little assassin that he sent all over the place to keep himself in power, and hired out when wanting to help his friends.”
Her face twists as if she’s reliving that very night and I’m struck by the urge to comfort her.
“Anyway. I couldn’t stand it any longer. So Felix… I lied to you. I didn’t send my people to the Healy Estate with the intent of helping after hearing they were in danger. Iwasthe danger. I sent everyone and everything I had at them and ordered them all slaughtered because they took my baby from me and no one,no one, takes my baby from me. I had them all killed with extreme prejudice.” A cold anger laces her words. “And I’d do it again. Without hesitation. My only regret is that, at the time, I thought Dove had died too quickly when I wanted her to suffer. So imagine my surprise when Reese calls me and reveals that you’ve been harboring the little cunt in your penthouse?”
I’m at a loss of what to say.
Every detail she’s given me makes painful sense.
She acted on the same revenge I harbored in my own heart for years after Nico’s death, revenge that was fueled by the loss of Dove.
A loss I could never speak out loud because of our secret relationship but it was the darkest period of my life.
And yet, Dove caused it.
She murdered him.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” My words escape waspishly thin. “People would have understood.”
“Would they?” She blinks quickly as her eyes glisten. “The Healys sold Dove to the highest bidder. How do you think those families would have reacted to learn that I not only slaughtered the strongest Irish family in the city, but I also slaughtered the assassin they paid for? Most would assume I now held all their secrets and that would make me a target. And…” She takes a deep breath. “I was mourning. Nico’s death pains me even now and I didn’t care for anything but trying to soothe the loss of my baby.”
Every word makes sense. Her actions, out of anyone, are more than justifiable and had I the means and the intel, I probably would have done the same.
But it still collides in my mind.
The dark shadow of the Nightingale with the sweet warmth of Dove. They’re like chalk and cheese and yet the truth demands they are the same.
I should speak. Caterina watches me as if she expects me to say something but my mind is empty of everything except Dove and an unwillingness to accept the truth right in front of me.
“And she survived.” Caterina’s voice drops to a low whisper. “She’s been alive this entire time, held and protected byyou. Nico’s best friend.”
She pushes off the table.
“You hid his killer.”
She slowly walks toward me.
“You kept her safe and let her murder yet another person close to me.”
My entire soul trembles as the weak justification of protecting Alex rushes through my mind.
“You lied to me.”
Caterina stops in front of me and cups my chin, lifting my head another inch.
