Page 161 of Where the Wicked Reign

The pain.

The fight ahead of us—hell, the fucking war.

What I’d had to endure while we played this dangerous game with the outside world.

What I would still have to endure.

And what it could very well cost me.

I just didn’t know if I’d ever be the same.

Even if by some miracle we did actually manage to survive it all.

32

~Nico~

I’d been able to keep Bianca hidden here at my home for a few days thanks to the fallout of the Leone Estate attack and the camouflage the chaos had provided.

But things were settling down now, so time was up where that was concerned.

She had to leave now. We had to get her out tonight.

Between my contacts and Julian’s, we’d found a way to spirit her out of the city and set her up in a safehouse that no one knew about. And with Caterina and Milo working together, they’d forged the necessary paperwork for her new identity, as well as finding a concealed way to finance her new life.

Unfortunately, that new life began with her living off the grid, so she would be near-impossible to contact in that time—for the next six months at least. It meant that Caterina wouldn’t be able to connect with her.

These precautions were absolutely necessary, however.

I was positive that if we hadn’t gotten her out of there that night, Santino would have executed her.

The life she’d known was now over.

At least until we were done with our mission.

The truth was, even if it had actually been possible to keep her here longer with us, I wouldn’t have entertained it. That night, Caterina had been on the verge of taking a massive risk and even outing her involvement in the takedown of the human trafficking ring, taking full responsibility for it in a bid to take the heat off her mom, to protect her.

I wouldn’t have that.

No fucking way would I allow her to make a sacrifice play like that.

Having her mom here was also impeding her focus on the mission. Even possibly undercutting it because her mom was a person of healing and peace, that influence bearing down on Caterina whether she could recognize that or not. I didn’t think she could, because she was too taken with actually spending quality time with her mom over the last few days, something she hadn’t been able to do for years because of the way things had been with her father’s strict control over Bianca’s movements and Caterina being considered an outsider all that time.

There was no peace for the likes of us.

And she needed to breathe in that reality deeply.

If she didn’t, it risked her very life.

Because there couldn’t be that peace until we were done with our mission, until we tore apart our enemies, supplanted them, and utterly annihilated the status quo.

So, as I watched her saying goodbye to her mom in the courtyard while the unmarked black van waited a few feet back to take Bianca away to safety, far from here, I reminded myself of the necessity of it even as tears filled Caterina’s beautiful emerald eyes, pain and grief at their impending parting hanging incredibly heavily.

Julian and Milo were over there with her, while I leaned against the entrance door, watching from afar.

I couldn’t let it get to me or impact my decision to do this.

While I’d expected Julian to absorb the emotions around him as he was known to do when it came to those closest to him being impacted by something, it was odd to see Milo comforting her and being a part of it too. He’d become somewhat of a simp for her. Perhaps that was why he’d resisted so much initially when it came to bringing her into our fold, he’d felt himself going that way, realizing what a shocking effect she’d have on him if he'd let go. Now that he had, and he was all in, that effect was strikingly apparent.

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