Page 46 of Midnight Salvation

Catarina grabbed my hand and sat down beside me. “What’s going on, Lucy?”

“Some very bad men are after Papa,” I answered, squeezing her hand in reply. “I think they’re trying to get to him through us.”

She stiffened beside me. “What about Sofia?”

Ash had told me about the alert on Papa’s phone. “She was attacked and activated her escape bag.”

Catarina dragged her hand away and stood up to glare down at me in accusation. “You never told me!”

“I wasn’t supposed to know,” I defended. “I overheard it one day and didn’t want to worry anyone. Papa said he had to wait a certain time before he checked in with whoever her safety person is.”

Catarina’s eyes narrowed. “You’re bleeding from your wound. I said we shouldn’t have washed your hair.”

I was too exhausted to argue with her. “It’ll stop soon, it was because I was trying to brace myself against falling into the bath. Help me get dressed since we have work to do for Harold.”

Her eyes were wide with horror. “You can’t work today, you’ve been injured.”

“It’s as well you’re here then to help me,” I quipped.

Half an hour later, I was settled downstairs in a loose black jumper so no one would see the blood. Catarina was happily researching armour, both medieval and fantasy so that we could try to envisage what would go with the top I had designed. In my head, I wanted to put a skirt styled like the ancient Spartans with gold panels with jewels at the tips. A cupid’s bow and arrow could be her weapon of choice and little golden wings to adorn the shoes.

The bullet had hit my left shoulder, so at least I could sketch with my right hand. Catarina chatted in the background, stopping every so often to show me something she’d found on her tablet or make a suggestion.

She garnered my attention when she went still and silent. “What’s up, Cat?”

She glanced up at me and back down at her tablet. “Nothing.”

I held my hand out. “Give me it or just show me.”

Reluctantly, she handed me her tablet with the image of Ash and Nicole on it. She was smiling up at him as they pushed their way through paparazzi. Ash was staring forward as he led her. A photograph to the side showed her engagement ring. The inner jewellery designer in me recoiled in horror at the size and setting of it on her finger. The entire design was to catch the attention of others as opposed to a ring that the user wanted to wear forever as it symbolised the love they had for the man who gave it to them with his heart.

“I’m sorry,” Catarina whispered.

I shrugged and winced. “We both heard the rumours when we were staying with Xavier,” I replied. “It’s his life.”

Papa chose that moment to enter the library. “I have a few business meetings and I thought perhaps it would be better if you two return to Tuscany.”

“We can’t,” Catarina replied. “Lucy isn’t allowed to travel with her injury. She’s supposed to see the doctor again tomorrow morning.”

“My personal doctor can see her in Tuscany.” The set of his jaw said he’d already made his mind up.

“Papa.” Catarina got the same look in her eyes. “We are not little girls anymore that you can order around. This house is secure and we have people watching over us. If the wolves are at our door, I doubt Tuscany is any safer than here. It may have taller walls, but helicopters and drones can fly over them.”

He glowered at her for several moments, but both were as headstrong as each other. Catarina was the most similar to Papa of us, and when they both dug their heels in, sparks tended to fly.

“Giving me your death stare will not change the fact that Lucrezia is not allowed to fly, so you’ll just need to accept that and move on with your plans for world domination.” Catarina took the tablet from my hand and returned to studying it.

“How’s your wound?” Papa asked, moving to beside me.

“Fine.”

“It was bleeding earlier,” Catarina said at the same time.

Papa narrowed his gaze at me and tugged the loose jumper slightly to reveal my bandage. I bit back the gasp of pain. His furious stare returned to study me for a brief second before he lifted his phone from his pocket. He put it to his ear as he paced to the window.

“Yes, I need a home visit for a patient… Lucrezia Black… No, I can’t bring her in since there is a threat on her life… Her wound seems to be bleeding…” I could almost hear his back molars grinding together. “That is unacceptable.”

He hung up and dialled someone else.

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