Not ever.
“Mr. Valentinetti,” Sypher said through the phone. “I know you must be angry and confused right now, so maybe this will help you decide. The woman that was guarding Matrix’s son. She offered to help us, but she had a request. She never gave us her name, so we didn’t know anything about her. However, after we rescued her, she kept repeating one name over and over again.”
“I don’t see how that helps me, kid.”
“The woman we rescued. She kept saying, Reggie. Call Reggie.”
Reaper and Gio both turned to look at me.
I didn’t know what Sypher was saying or how this woman knew about me. Technically, I didn’t know anything.
“It wasn’t till after we had her transported back to the main chapter that we learned her name. Mr. Valentinetti, she is the sister of your bodyguard Angelo Demarco. Do you have any idea as to how she would have ended up at the compound watching Matrix’s son?”
“Catarina?” Gio whispered as his eyes never left mine.
“WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK!” I shouted, jumping to my feet. The chair I was sitting in flew back against the wall.
This was not happening!
NO! NO! NO! I screamed in my head because if I said it out loud, I would start tearing this room apart.
“What the fuck do you mean, Sypher? Cat was at the compound? What the fuck was she doing there? How? She was safe in Chicago when I left. What the fuck is going on?”
Reaper and Gio never took their eyes off me as I started shooting off questions. When Sypher stayed silent, I shouted for the only person I knew I could trust. “Massacre!”
Seconds later, my brother Massacre and the rest of the Golden Skulls kicked in the bedroom door. With them were Antonio and Lorenzo, who looked about the room, wondering what the hell was going on.
“What? What the fuck is going on?” Massacre asked, looking about the room, his guns drawn, ready to shoot.
“It’s Cat! She was at the compound!” I shouted, slamming my hand down on the table. “I swear to fucking God, Sypher, you fucking better start talking right now, or I will let Massacre tear your ass apart!”
“Yes, sir,” I clearly heard the kid gulp. I hated saying that shit to him, but I needed answers, and the kid was the best. “Understand, I’ve just started to gather information on her, but this is what I have so far. Four years ago, her brother Angelo Demarco sent her to Italy to finish her degree in Medicine. But according to all the colleges, there is no record of her ever attending any school. Well, none that I could find, and you know I can find anything. Anyway, the next time I found her trail was about a year after she left Chicago when she was seen with a man named Gary Hughes.”
“Who the fuck is that?” Massacre asked.
“Um…I’m going to need to patch in Phantom and Matrix. Is that okay, Mr. Reaper?”
“Go ahead, kid. It’s starting to look like this shit is never going to end.” Reaper sighed, retaking a seat, along with my cousin Gio who looked as concerned as I was. My brother and other cousins all moved closer to the table, so they could hear better.
“This better be good, kid. I was just about to take a shower,” I heard Phantom’s sultry voice over the line. Phantom was our sister. The first woman ever patched into the club. We all liked her, and well, she was one of us and didn’t pull her punches. We all knew never to fuck with her when she wanted a shower.
“Now is not a good time, kid. I have to get my son to bed.” We all heard Matrix's voice as a small boy laughed in the background. I was happy that Matrix got his kid back, and I couldn’t wait to meet the boy, but I wanted less banter and more seriousness.
“Shower and bedtime later. Sypher needs help,” Reaper ordered, then added as he looked about the room, “Did any of you think to bring a laptop?”
“I have mine with me,” Antonio said, speaking up. However, when he looked at Gio, I worried that my cousin wouldn’t allow his brother to give the Skulls anything. I’d already fucked up so much, I didn’t know what would push Gio over the edge.
“Go ahead, Antonio,” Gio nodded. “This concerns us too. It’s about Catarina.”
“She’s in Italy,” Antonio said, placing his laptop on the small table.
“Apparently not,” Gio sighed.
“Okay, kid, do your thing,” Reaper said, then turned to Gio and spoke. “I swear this kid is a mastermind. You can’t find anything, call the kid. He’s a genius. The real deal.”
Seconds later, Antonio’s computer turned on, and the screen changed to show three boxes, one where I could see Sypher, Phantom, and Matrix.
“How did he?” Antonio gasped as he pointed to his computer.