Chapter 167: Sympathy

Chapter 167: Sympathy
In the simple, slightly threadbare hotel bed, their naked bodies were intimately entwined, the humid air of the small room clinging to their skin. The storm of passion had passed, leaving behind a profound, aching tenderness. But the peace was fragile. Kieran’s body tensed, and he let out a low groan, shifting slightly beneath the sheets.
"Are you alright?" Catherine asked instantly, her voice soft with concern.
"Yeah," he managed, his breath catching. "Just... can you pass me one of those painkillers Amelia gave to Solomon?"
Catherine quickly retrieved the pills and a glass of water from the nightstand, handing them to him. He took the medication, swallowing hard, but she could see the effort it cost him. The pain was still there, a constant reminder of how close he’d come to the grave.
"We should have taken it easier," she chided gently, running her fingers across his bruised shoulder. "You still haven't fully recovered."
Kieran turned his head, his gaze dark and intense. "It was worth it," he murmured, pulling her face down to his and pressing a brief, fierce kiss to her lips.
"I know," Catherine said, smiling sadly, kissing his face in return.
He pulled her into his chest, and the silence returned, thick and comfortable, until Catherine pierced it with the harsh reality of their situation.
"So..." he began, his voice heavy. "Allegra conspired with her uncle to get me killed and attempted to claim that we were not divorced and her child is mine?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it.” Catherine sighed, the sound a mixture of defeat and controlled fury. “She almost got away with the divorce part."
"Is that why you decided to stay?" Kieran asked, his thumb tracing the curve of her collarbone.
Catherine stiffened slightly, the ease dissolving instantly, replaced by the rigid armor she’d worn for months. She pulled back just enough to look at him, her eyes shadowed. "I was a mess at first. I couldn't stop crying. Then I saw Allegra on TV, playing the grieving widow, claiming she was pregnant with your…" The contempt in her voice was visceral. "The grief turned into rage."
“Solomon was supposed to get you and Chiara out of the country immediately.”
"Yes. Solomon wanted to get us out, to Abu Dhabi… He made all the arrangements. But I couldn't run. Not again. Not after they killed you, Kieran. Not after they tried to kill Chiara. I told Solomon I wanted them dead. All of them. Allegra, Gabo, every single one of them."
Kieran nodded, a grim understanding settling over his features. "And Solomon, being Solomon, listened to you instead of me."
"He honored his promise to you," Catherine countered, her voice firm. "He secured the safehouse, the men. He gave me the leverage I needed. We started building the loyalist faction. We were hitting Gabo where it hurt, strategically. We took down Allegra’s claim to your estate, exposed the fraud."
"You got your hands dirty, Catherine. You were running operations, giving orders… Exposing yourself and Chiara.”
“What was meant to do? Chiara would never be safe while her father’s killers were alive.”
“Why is Frederic Olmo after you now?"
Catherine looked away, pulling the sheet up higher. "Olmo was a necessary evil. He controlled the West Coast Capos; we needed him to fight Gabo."
"He was also a disgusting pig," Kieran stated, his voice hardening. “What happened, Catherine?”
She hesitated, the vivid, nauseating memory of Olmo's mouth on hers and his oppressive weight flooding her senses. She spoke quickly, deliberately omitting the worst parts. "He got aggressive. He made demands. He implied I owed him something for his support—me, sexually. I pushed him away. He got angry, but I managed to leave. That’s when I decided I couldn’t do this anymore and told Solomon I wanted to leave. So Olmo he sent his men for us at the airport."
Kieran was silent for a long moment, his hand still on her shoulder. But his body language shifted. He didn't believe her. His grip tightened almost imperceptibly. "You’re lying," he stated, his voice dangerously soft. "You're telling me the truth, but you're not telling me the whole truth."
"Kieran, what do you want me to say?" she whispered, her fear returning. "He was a creep, he tried to kiss me, he was gross. I shut him down. That's why he ambushed us."
"Catherine…" Kieran pressed, his gaze piercing. "What else did he do? Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?" His voice was low, filled with a controlled, terrifying threat directed entirely at Olmo.
Catherine's eyes filled with tears, the memory of his invasive kiss and the feeling of utter violation overwhelming her carefully constructed facade. "He kissed me," she confessed, her voice barely audible, thick with shame. "He grabbed my face and he kissed me. I felt… Sick. I let him continue so he would stop and let me go." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I couldn't lose his support, Kieran. He was the key. I had to let him think he had a chance."
Kieran pulled her against him with sudden, raw force, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe. The rage in him was a palpable, trembling thing. "He's dead," he vowed against her hair, his voice a low, murderous growl. "I'll make him pay, I promise."
Catherine let out a couple of silent tears while Kieran held her tight. She finally felt safe.
"It was very risky for you to stay in the country with Chiara," he said, his voice dropping to a low, possessive rumble.
"Someone had to do something, Kieran. I tried to do something. Those motherfuckers were getting away… Gabo Valente made himself don, Allegra seized all your money... Money that belonged to our daughter, not that freak incest baby." Catherine paused, then added, almost as an afterthought, "Jesus… Poor thing."
Kieran went rigid. "I'm sorry, what… What incest baby?"
"It's very likely that Allegra is pregnant with her uncle's child. We had a source close to them saying that Gabo killed the doctors who did the IVF and everything to cover it up."
"Fuck..." Kieran closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I think Marco tried to warn me about this years ago."
"What do you mean?"
"When Marco asked me to marry Allegra, he said something about the Valentes being wolves and Allegra being a lamb they can’t wait to hunt. I think he knew what kind of creature Gabo was."
"Please don't make me sympathize with that bitch.” Catherine rolled her eyes, pushing back against the sudden wave of sympathy. “I'm almost feeling sorry for her now."
"Allegra refused my protection over and over again.” Kieran pulled Catherine close, his voice low and ragged, his breath stirring her hair. “Unfortunately, she will pay for what she has done with more than her own life."
Catherine’s body stiffened. She looked up at him, her eyes wide with a sudden, chilling fear. "Are you going to kill her… And the baby?"
Kieran sighed, a sound heavy with the weight of decisions he never wanted to make. Maybe a while ago, in the depths of his grief, he wouldn’t have hesitated at all. But now, with Catherine warm against him and Chiara sleeping soundly in the next room, the thought of killing Allegra and her innocent, unborn child was agonizing.
"Allegra is a terrible person, and she tried to harm my family more than once," he admitted, his voice rough. "The only reason I ever got involved with her, slept with her, and eventually married her was because she elicited in me something similar: both times I had a relationship with her, I had lost you. I felt the emptiness of not having someone to protect, to guard, to shield from the world."
He explained the twisted logic. "Allegra, as a mafia heiress like you, fit that hole in my life perfectly… Without the guilt and attachment to her innocence, because I knew she wasn’t innocent at all… And I never truly loved her. But she needed to be protected, too, maybe even from herself. Marco had warned me over and over about this when he was alive."
Catherine kept listening to him silently, unsure of what to say. She understood him and his reasons more than she would like to admit.
"I am a father now, Catherine. And my daughter comes before anyone else’s." Kieran’s gaze hardened, the softness replaced by a fierce resolve. “Allegra has to die, and I’ll be the one to put a bullet in her head. The last thing I need is a child that can grow to come after mine out of revenge for me killing their mother.”