(3 months had passed since the hospital)
DANTE MORALES
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas Aria," I grumbled getting up. Leave it to my baby sister to wake me up at the crack of dawn.
"So... What did you get Kat?" Aria said in a light hearted mood.
"Something special."
"Ok thanks for telling me what you got her," she huffed, "Don't forget to-"
"To come to Leon's house for lunch, I know. It's hard to forget when you keep reminding me."
"Alright, well go surprise her. I'll see you in a few hours."
I freshened up and walked to Katerina's door which was already ajar.
"What do you want?" she said coming out of the walk in robe, already dressed for the lunch.
"Merry Christmas to you too. I have a present," I said walking in, "Close your eyes."
She just furrowed her brows.
"Please."
She reluctantly closed them and put her hand out. I took her hand and placed my gift on her palm, closing her fingers.
She opened her eyes and took a look.
"A USB?"
"I know you don't believe me but just look through the files saved on this. This is the proof. I'll leave you for a bit," I said taking a few steps back.
I closed the door behind me praying that Katerina would understand.
KATERINA SOLDANO
15 minutes had passed since Dante left. I stared at the USB laying on my desk. I hadn't plugged it in yet. To be completely honest, I was scared. My life as I know it would change if Dante was telling the truth. I was sweating even thinking about it. Surely Dante was lying. I knew my cousin, he could never do that to me.
Eventually I couldn't take it anymore. I quickly plugged the USB in and browsed through the folders. Recordings, Bank Statements, Witnesses. I decided to go through the recordings first. 40 videos quickly loaded as I clicked the first one.
"Dante, finally I get to meet you," Gabriel exclaimed walking in.
"Make it quick. Why have you called a meeting?"
"I want to form an alliance. My partner and I are currently planning to overtake the French Mafia. We can help each other-"
"Stop. You're trying to take your mafia from your cousin? Why?"
"She's a kid. She doesn't know how to run a mafia."
"Who's your partner?" Dante asked.
"Natalie Sharpe, my girlfriend."
"What do you need me for?"
"We need around $10 million from you to make this happen. In return once we succeed, you will have a cut from the profits."
"What if Katerina finds out?"
"She won't. I'll make sure of it."
"I'll have to think about it."
"Of course, thank you. I'll see myself out."
I felt my heart slowly drop as the video went on. I clicked on the bank statements hoping to be proven wrong. Transactions in the millions were made between Natalie and Gabriel multiple times.
Dante was right. Gabriel was going to betray me. He never believed I'd succeed as leader. The man I had mourned so heavily for the past 3 years was living a lie. I felt my world closing in. The hours I spent at his grave. The people I killed in revenge for him. All for nothing. All for him to be a liar.
DANTE MORALES
I had been pacing back and forth downstairs, wondering how Katerina would react. It had been around 30 minutes since I'd given her the USB and I could hear quiet sobs coming from her room. I raced up the stairs and slowly opened her door. She was sitting up on a couch. I had never heard her weep like this as her head hung low. I sat next to her and took her hand.
"You were right, Dante. He was going to betray me. I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot, Katerina. I'm sorry you had to find out like this," I replied moving the hair that was sticking to her face from the tears.
"I killed people for him," she whispered, "I killed your best friend because of him. I ruined your shipments. I fucking mourned for him."
"You didn't know..."
She suddenly took me by surprise by wrapping her arms around me.
"I'm sorry... for everything," she mumbled.
"I'm the one who should be apologising. I'm so sorry for everytime I hurt you," I said kissing her forehead.
We held each other for what felt like forever. It was perfect. Until my phone started ringing.
"What is it?" I barked.
"Now that's not the way you speak to me, is it?"
"K-Konstantin," I muttered turning away from Katerina.
"I want to see you. The 13th of January. You better be there or I'll be angry and I'm sure you remember what happens when I'm angry."
I let out a deep breath as he ended the call. I was shaking at the thought of seeing him again. I flinched as Katerina tried to take my hand.
"S-Sorry," I replied as I took hold of her hand.
"Who was that?" she said concerned.
"I think it's time I told you something about my past."
KATERINA SOLDANO MORALES
"You remember my cousin Mark, the one who hates me, right? Well he had a brother, Julian. He was 3 years older than me."
"What?..." I whispered.
"When it was my 9th birthday, our families went to the beach. I wanted to explore the caves a bit more but my parents told me to wait. I was an impatient child so I went anyway. Julian saw me walking off by myself so he followed. Everything was fine that day, perfect actually. Until we were kidnapped."
What the fuck. He was kidnapped. What the actual fuck?
"We were taken by a man named Konstantin Petrovic for a week. He did unspeakable things to us. Starved and tortured us. Julian took the bulk of it but he was only 12. His body wouldn't be able to survive. And he didn't," Dante had tears in his eyes, "9 year old me had to see my cousin die in front of me."
"Oh God..." I said caressing his face with my hand, "I'm so sorry."
"That's the reason I have nightmares. That's the reason I take meds. That's the reason I've had to go to therapy for almost 20 years. That's the reason Mark hates me. I took away his brother. I'm the one who got us in that situation."
"Dante, you were a child. There's no way you could've known."
"I shouldn't of been so reckless. Maybe Julian would still be here."
"Was that Konstantin who called you just now?"
"Yeah... He wants to see me. He called me for the first time at the hospital just before you woke up."
"You're not going though right?... Right?" I asked taking his hand as he looked down.
"Katerina... I know I pretend like nothing scares me but he does," Dante said looking up, "He fucking terrifies me. If he was able to get my phone number after all this time, I can't imagine what he'd do if I didn't listen to him. He could hurt my family... He could hurt you."
"I'm not letting you see him alone. I'll come with you and kill the fucker. I promise."
"I'll hold you to it," Dante said with a weak smile, "Shit we're late, it's already 1pm."
"Ok, ok go get ready, I need to redo my makeup," I said pushing him off my bed, laughing.
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"Look who finally decided to show up."
Dante and I walked in meekly, holding hands and looking at the floor.
"Shut up Leon, we lost track of time," Dante answered.
"We were going to wait for you to show up before we would start eating but after an hour and both of you not answering your phones, we gave up," Leon said rolling his eyes.
"Don't worry I saw the 36 missed calls from Aria," Dante remarked as we all laughed.
"Anyways, I had presents to give. Kat here's yours," Aria said, sliding me a large, heavy box.
I unwrapped it and gasped. Inside were solid gold sculptures of Athena and Ares.
"It's beautiful Aria, thank you," I said wrapping her in a hug, "I have my present for you but we'll have to go outside."
She smiled curiously as we all went to the front garden. There lay a white vintage Mercedes car. She looked back at me speechless as I chucked the keys to her.
"Merry Christmas," I said winking.
"You are the best," she said running up to hug me.
"You are the worst," Dante came up behind me whispering, "You're making my presents look rubbish. How am I supposed to compete?"
"That's the thing... You don't," I said grinning.
"Follow me, I have something else for you," he said pulling me away from everyone.
We quietly snuck away as everyone gathered around the car. He led me to an empty room and closed the door.
"I have your present," Dante said walking up to me.
"I thought the USB was?"
"It made you cry and I'd barely call it a present," he said rolling his eyes, "Anyways I wanted to give you this because we never went through the motions properly before we got married."
He opened a small box and pulled out a beautiful ring. It had a platinum band and tanzanite rock with smaller diamonds encrusting it. He held out his hand and I placed mine in his.
"I've loved you for so long Katerina. Truly. I fell for you from the day I saw you play piano at your house during the night after our honeymoon. Even though I've never told you, your success pushed me to become better, to aim higher. I could get lost in your eyes for the rest of this life and my next. Your wittiness, your love for your family and the urge to protect everyone around you is admirable. I was scared, angry and too foolish to ever let my love show. I'm so sorry for all the hurt I've caused the past few months. Now, you have me, every step of the way. You won't ever have to be alone. I promise to love, help and protect you all days of my life... because I love you Katerina Soldano with my-"
I kissed him.
He kissed me back softly, his hands wrapping around my waist. It felt so right, so perfect. We both pulled away and stared at each other.
"God I'm so lucky," he said as we chuckled.
"You should probably put the ring on," I said teasing him as I lifted my hand.
"Right of course," he said as he slipped it on.
"Wait," I said before he opened the door, "You still have my lipstick on your face."
I quickly used my thumb to wipe it off before we both made our way back down.
"Where did you guys run off to?" Mateo asked with raised brows.
"Get married and then you'll understand," Dante said with a wink.
"You're disgusting."
The rest of lunch went without a problem. We all joined for a game of golf after which Mateo won. As much as I tried to enjoy the afternoon, the revelations from this morning still hung around in my head. I had to tell my family as soon as possible. Fortunately, we were going to my parents house for dinner.
"Mon chere, finally you two have arrived," my mum hugged me as we walked in.
The dining table was set out with a mix of French and Italian foods with of course chapon de noel in the middle.
"I need to tell you all something," I said, "You might need wine for this."
Everyone looked towards me in confusion and waited.
"I got shown this morning proof that our cousin Gabriel Blanchet was working alongside Natalie Sharpe to take the position as leader in the French Mafia."
A moment of silence before the sound of glass shattering and shouts of denial.
"There's no way Gabriel would ever do that," my dad immediately said.
Natalie I can understand, but Gabriel? Our cousin? You've got to be mistaken," Cela said.
"Kat, that's a heavy accusation. Are you 100% sure your source is correct?" Stefan asked.
"I'm her source," Dante said, his voice raised above everyone else, "And I assure you Katerina is telling the truth. Gabriel came to me 3 years ago with ambitious plans to take over the mafia. I gave him a bit of money and he ended up stealing from me. I have files containing many pieces of evidence that cannot be refuted. I'm sorry but Gabriel was working against the family."
"Dante, what did you do to Gabriel when you found out he was stealing," Stefan asked. His voice was low and dangerous, as if he suddenly knew the answer to his question.
Dante stayed silent.
"You-You killed him didn't you? You killed our cousin, and now Katerina is married to a monster," Cela said, with tears.
"I'm about to stab you myself, Dante. Did you seriously think telling us you killed our cousin was a good idea?" Stefan said getting up
"Wait! Since we're all being honest, I have something to say," I said taking a breath, "I was there when Gabriel was killed."
"Katerina!" my mum said shocked.
"Gabriel had taken me to the beach in the morning and he said he needed to go somewhere quickly. He told me to wait in the car but he was taking too long so I went to find him and that's when I witnessed him dying."
"What the fuck is going on?" Stefan exasperated.
"Gabriel was going to kill me if he needed to. He said that in one of the tapes. He was blinded by his love for Natalie and would've done anything for her. Dante did kill him but you can't blame him for that entirely. I knew Gabriel was killed by him. I never said anything. I hid it from you all for all this time."
"What is Selena going to say? My dear sister knowing her son was a traitor... That would kill her," my dad said with furrowed brows.
"Zia Selena doesn't need to know. I don't want to cause anymore heartbreak than what she's already gone through."
"I want to apologise for bringing this about right now, and I know that I've wronged you all incredibly but I've changed and I'm not that person anymore," Dante said quietly.
The mood was sombre as we all reflected on everything that had been said in the past 10 minutes. The nephew, the cousin, the friend that we had all come to know and love was a lie. He was a traitor. I felt Dante take my hand and flash me a small smile while I gulped the tears back down. I'd wasted so many tears already on a man who would've killed me.
I didn't want to waste anymore.
21/12/22