Page 151 of Vicious Little Princess

His desktop computer was crushed to shit, a bullet even embedded in the screen. Chairs were overturned, paintings off the walls and sliced to pieces too.

Milo eyed the fallen four. “His security,” he confirmed.

“Check behind the desk,” I said, as I went to approach Caterina, holding up my hand and keeping Julian back. With what was going on with him, I didn’t want him interacting up close with her while she wasthisfar gone in her animalistic state.

“Fuck,” Milo uttered as he rounded the desk, pulling my attention from Caterina losing it all over the cabinet. “It’s him. It’s Santino.”

“What?” I bolted over there and took in the sight of the notorious Boss of the Leone Family stabbed to death, drenched in his own blood.

“Christ, she killed him,” Julian gasped, coming up behind me and taking it in for himself.

Milo eyed me with a whole lot of worry. “This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. It’s too early. This means that—”

“Later,” I said, holding up my hand.

I pushed away and walked to Caterina.

I brushed her arm, and she jolted, then spun toward me aggressively.

But then she pulled up short, her wild eyes managing to meet mine.

“Nico?” she uttered, through harsh breaths.

“Yes, it’s me. Milo and Julian too. We’re here.”

She pulled at her hair and started shaking her head, then went to blow past me, and I was very aware of the knife in her hand as she zoned in on one of the dead guys right near us. Even though they were all dead, she clearly wanted to do more damage.

“Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?” I called out quickly, while blocking her path.

She stilled again and blinked up at me. “What?”

I couldn’t stop her or bring her back from this physically.

Not when she was this far gone. It would take some intense restraining and force, something I couldn’t stand to use with her at the best of times. Last time in that garage had been bad enough. But now that she was pregnant, it was a whole other level. The thought of it made me sick to my stomach.

But there was something else that sometimes worked for me when I was in one of myferalstates similar to this.

And that was being jolted out of it by a strong emotional trigger.

I was hoping that our child would be that for her, even at the early stage of things.

“Our baby, Caterina. Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?”

She blinked again, but her hand holding the knife was still clenching it tightly.

“It’s gotta be a boy, or Nico’s gonna lose his shit and be the most overprotective dad known to man and beast alike,” Julian commented, forcing a light tone that I could tell he really didn’t feel right now.

It worked and Caterina swung her head toward him, frowning, stumped by that intruding into her current monstrous state.

“I…” she murmured, blinking rapidly.

“No, it has to be a girl. A mini-Caterina would be incredible,” Milo spoke.

I watched carefully as she took a step back and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I… he was going to take her away, going to kill me tonight,” she uttered, her voice cracking, emotion beginning to break through.

Her?

I wanted to revel in the moment of that.

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