Page 19 of The Enforcer's Possession
“She thinks she’s won,” I muttered, my voice too loud in the empty penthouse.“Thinks she’s outsmarted me.Outsmarted her father.Thinks she’s chosen safety over --”
I cut myself off, my hands clenching into fists at my sides.The knuckles went white with pressure.I could feel my nails biting into my palms hard enough to break skin.
No one rejected Marco Vitale.No one humiliated me like this and walked away unscathed.
Giuseppe could reconsider all he wanted.Could weigh the De Luca alliance against ours.Could even decide that Dante’s offer was more valuable.Fine.I’d handle it.
But Caterina.Caterina would learn what happened to women who thought they could choose for themselves.Who thought they had any power in this world beyond what men allowed them.
I grabbed my phone from the desk, scrolled through contacts with fingers that were still shaking.Found the name I needed and hit call.
He answered on the second ring.“Yes?”
“I need information.”My voice came out controlled now.Cold.The rage channeled into something more useful than breaking crystal.“Everything you can find on Dante De Luca.Patterns, weaknesses, associations.Where he goes, who he sees, what he values.”
“How soon?”
“By tomorrow morning.”I moved back to the window, looking out over the city lights.Somewhere out there, Caterina was probably celebrating her victory.Probably thought she’d escaped me.“And get me everything we have on the Lombardi girl.Recent activities, friends, routines.I want to know where she is at every hour of the day.”
A pause.“You sure that’s wise?Giuseppe won’t appreciate --”
“I don’t give a fuck what Giuseppe appreciates.”The words came out sharper than intended.I took a breath, forced my voice back to that measured calm.“Just get me the information.Discreetly.”
“Understood.”
I ended the call and set the phone down carefully on the windowsill.My reflection stared back at me from the glass, and this time I studied it properly.The flush was fading, the vein at my temple no longer quite so prominent.Good.Control returning.The rage still burned, but it was focused now.Useful.
I walked to my desk and pulled open the bottom drawer.Inside sat a folder I’d started years ago, before Giuseppe had first suggested the engagement.Photos, background information, details about Caterina’s life and schedule.I’d told myself it was preparation for marriage, learning about my future wife.
Really, it had been possession.Claiming her before the wedding even happened.
I spread the photos across the desk.Caterina at charity events, at restaurants, shopping with friends.Long dark hair and green eyes that held too much defiance.She was beautiful, I’d give her that.The kind of beauty that made men stupid.Made them forget that women like her needed firm handling, clear boundaries.
I’d planned to provide both.Still would, eventually.
One photo showed her leaving a club, slightly disheveled, laughing at something her friend had said.Another caught her at some family dinner, her expression carefully neutral in a way that suggested she was hiding real thoughts.A third was more recent, taken at the engagement dinner, wearing that black dress that had been designed to provoke.Designed to defy.
My finger traced the edge of that photo.Such spirit in her.Such fire.It would have been satisfying to break her down, to mold her into the obedient wife she should have been.To teach her that defiance had consequences.
Still could be satisfying.Just required a different approach now.
I pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began making notes.Not a random plan born of rage.Structured.Methodical.Precise.The way I’d been taught to handle problems that required permanent solutions.
Dante thought he’d won something valuable.Giuseppe thought he was making a smart political move.Caterina thought she’d escaped into safety.
They were all wrong.
This wasn’t over.Not by a long shot.
I wrote quickly, my handwriting precise even as my thoughts raced.Points of vulnerability.Opportunities for interference.Ways to make them regret this choice.
Because that’s what this was about now.Not just getting Caterina back -- though I’d have her eventually, one way or another.No, this was about teaching both her and Dante what happened when people thought they could humiliate me without consequence.
I paused in my writing, looking back at the photos.At Caterina’s face caught in crystallized moments -- laughing, composed, defiant.All that spirit that had initially attracted me.All that fire that needed to be controlled.
“You think you’ve chosen the better option,” I said softly, addressing the images.“You think Dante De Luca will protect you.Give you freedom.Let you maintain that illusion of independence.”
I picked up the photo from the engagement dinner, held it up to the light.Her eyes stared back at me, challenging even in stillness.
