Slow burn PART 2

Chapter 42 (Renzo's POV)

         Everything was happening so goddamn fast I couldn't get a handle on it until it was too late. If Kat didn't escape my grasp I would have explained everything. It's not at all what she thinks. But when I ran after her, and saw Vittoria in a fucking towel, I knew what Kat thought happened. And it didn't. 

I chased after Kat with only half my pants on. By the time I came rushing back inside to get dressed and go find her, Dante was all in my face about cheating on her. I didn't fucking cheat on her. I shoved my cousin off and went to put some clothes on. 

It was all happening so fast that I didn't think to ask Vittoria what she might have said or did. I just went looking for Kat. 

        Her apartment, work, I called Teagan, Raquel, I called Rocco, the restaurant. I checked the building she takes her pottery class in. I called Dante and made him swear he didn't know where she was.

I had no choice, I had to reach out to my guy Marcello who's a top tier hacker I use often when needing off limits information. He can do almost anything. It's how I track people down. It's how I look into crime databases when I try looking into enemies I don't recognize. 

Like all the men who got into a gun stand off on a residential street the other day. I get answers. That's what I do.

 I didn't want to have to track Kat this way, but I need to speak with her. Hopefully when she's calmed down, and not throwing shit around my room...or shoes at Vittoria's head. 

        When I saw the message a couple hours later from my inside guy Marcello, I quickly opened it. Her phone pinged in New York. New York? Why the fuck is she in New York? A terrible feeling came crawling into my gut. She thinks I cheated on her. The last time she was upset that I went off with a woman she let that scumbag piece of shit Gabriele Moretti get his hands on her. 

No. Did she fucking run off to go jump in the sack with Moretti?! Instantly my spoiled gut turned into red hot anger. I could feel the heat in my chest so uncomfortably. 

I called the prick and he didn't answer. I called Kat about 50 times, but she's shut her phone off. I didn't bother wasting time waiting for a call back. I just jumped in my car and peeled off to make the four hour trip to New York. 

So many things can happen in four hours. My mind was racing with all kinds of cruel images. Fuck.

        How do I always get myself into stupid situations like this?! She doesn't trust me. She never has. Instead of asking me why Vittoria was in my apartment she flipped out and wouldn't listen to my explanation. Dante didn't help either. He would barely let me tell my side of the story at all. He was pissed at me. 

Everyone's pissed at me, and all I did was fucking help someone out when they were in a dangerous situation. I wanted to flip. I'm so pissed off. If Moretti lays a single finger on her I will cut that finger off, along with his useless cock. Chopped.

        With the way I was swerving in and out of traffic I knew I could cut this trip down to maybe 3 and a half or even three hours. I was plotting in my head on how all this would go down. My heart was pumping so fast I probably shouldn't have been handling a vehicle. 

I hate this goddamn feeling that only Kat has ever been able to drag out of me. It's this burning in my chest, and such unease in my gut. It makes me less sharp and more frantic with my thoughts and actions. 

It's this uncomfortable feeling that settles over me. It's the prickling at my neck when I think about Kat possibly breaking things off with me.

        When my phone kept ringing incessantly I finally answered the call because I figured if Dante is calling this much it might actually be because he spoke to Kat. "Where are you?" was his first question, no greeting. When I grit my teeth but didn't answer he added, "I know you aren't home, Ren, because I came to check up on you, and you aren't here. So where are you?" He kept pressing on.