Agony twisted through my chest at the mention of our nickname for our younger sister. We loved to tease her by still calling her that. We’d even called her Kitty Cat earlier today when the three of us had face-timed her to wish her a happy twenty-first birthday.
As a range of terrifying scenarios played through my mind, I fought to catch my breath. Three years ago, Caterina had joined the Sacred Heart–a missionary order of nuns. Her decision wasn’t about being an overly devout Catholic girl.
It was her only way of escaping the impending arranged marriage sanctioned by our father to an abusive bastard twenty years older than her.
Those outside of our world would’ve thought her choice drastic, but when you’ve been raised as the daughter of a capo destined for an arranged marriage, it made sense. She couldn’t run away.
The only way you left the mafia life was in a body bag.
In Caterina’s case, her only way out came because of the one thing our father remotely feared.
God.
He might’ve been torturing late into the night or fucking one of his mistresses, but you could bet his ass would be at mass in the morning. Fucking hypocrite that he was.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“A group of men broke into the Sacred Heart and kidnapped her.”
As the world around me shuddered to a stop, my chest clenched in an agonizing vise. No, this couldn’t be happening. Caterina couldn’t be in danger. She was too young, too pure….too beautiful.
Sure, we’d taught her self-defense and how to shoot when she was just a kid, but I didn’t see her getting out of this without our help.
“This is about business, isn’t it?”
“Father thinks so.”
“If it’s a rival with a beef with us, why the fuck would they take Kitty Cat? She’s a civilian!”
“It’s clearly an enemy family with their sights set on gaining power through us with a marital alliance.”
With a shake of my head, I countered, “No. It can’t be. Not after she worked so hard to escape a fucking arranged marriage.”
“I know.”
“Do we have any leads?”
“The Mother Superior says the assailants had Irish accents.”
I tugged a hand through my hair. It was one thing for Caterina to have been abducted by Italians or Sicilians. But the Irish? They were some of our worst enemies. Jesus, I couldn’t bear it.
As I paced around the penthouse, I asked, “When do we leave for Sicily?”
With a grimace, Rafe replied, “We don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“Father’s only taking Gianni with him.”
While it made sense to take our younger brother who was a hacking genius, I wasn’t going to sit this one out.
Starting to the elevator, I snarled, “Fuck that and fuck him.I’mgoing.”
Rafe grabbed my arm. “You’re to accompany me to Philadelphia to sign my engagement papers.”
My mouth gaped open. “Since when have you been promised to someone?”
“For a while.”