The Twelve Vitali Ch. 34

Ricco had stopped Matteo just outside the hospital room door and motioned to him to be quiet. Matteo's brows rose as he heard the voices. He didn't understand, but he had the feeling Ricco knew more about what was going on than he did.

Ricco motioned him away from the door and began to explain the story of meeting Cat and what Pete had done for Cat after telling her what he had done for Peri as a way to get her to trust him.

"She needs time, Matt, and I think this time we have to give it to her," Ricco said softly. "If we don't we could lose her forever."

*****

The ten minutes warning Ricco had sent out to Matteo's friends had saved lives and enabled each of the tables to capture at least a few of the Suebi who had attempted to impersonate, or in some cases infiltrate the watchmen of the tables. Carmella Martino had died instantly, and Marina Battaglia clung precariously to life after taking the bullet meant for Audrey as she had tried to protect the baby in her arms. Audrey was injured, but not as seriously. The mothers of the other tables had managed to get to safety, as the men who protected them confronted the men who would have assassinated them. The injuries to the men had been numerous, some more severly than others, but no further life was lost.

As if on a suicide mission, many of the Suebi who had come to kill the mothers had died fighting the families they had come to destroy. The few who had been taken said nothing as they were taken to cells within the training facilities that belonged to each family.

Romey Donati sat with his Uncle Charles and listened sceptically to the small envoy that had come to their facility claiming to be part of the mysterious Tater Dynasty. The three women seemed unconcerned that their information was being checked, and talked quite openly about why they had come and identified themselves to one of the Italics as they called the families of the Twelve Tables.

The Suebi had tried to destroy the tables while implicating the Tater as those responsible for the evil deeds, which made them decide as a people to work with the Italics to take down the Suebi as best they could without resorting to the same violence that had been perpetrated by them on their enemies.

The Tater had decided on a plan to take away their main sources of income by informing the police of their activities. Each of the twelve families had captured some of the Suebi men, and the Tater delegations, using their best psychics, as well as their own resources and information networks, added to the information already collected by the Italics.

Convincing the men of The Twelve tables to work with them was not easy, but with the goodwill of the Vitali and Papillo men, most families agreed to give them the benefit of the doubt. The actions began in Tasmania where the Suebi main base was located. The Pellegrini family was more inclined to work with the Tater after experience with the mysterious mystics before their journey to their new life in Australia when they took over the table. Within two days federal law enforcement had swooped on several poppy plantations which had legal holdings and permits, but found evidence of illegal secondary businesses for the excessive crops they maintained which the local authorities had turned a blind eye to. The facts of the case were confirmed as Ben Donati came back into the room and nodded.

"It's just like they said," Ben said. "The Pellegrini confirmed it, and Ricco told Dante that he had been working with the Tater to shut down their operations in Melbourne."

"Each table will be approached by a delegation," the oldest of the women said. "There is no joy to be found in violent vengeance. It is time to take away their power and resources and leave them weak in both financial and human resources. We need to not just chop off the head of the snake only to find another two grow back in the future. We must weaken them so that it will take generations to recover, if ever."

"At least half of the tables have already have been approached, and for what it's worth you're plan has my vote," Ben said, his voice harsh. He still suffered daily for the betrayal of his wife and the Suebi's role in facilitating both his sisters and his wife's plans against the family, not to mention the death of his brother, Lio.

"Okay," Romey shrugged. "The Suebi we caught are downstairs, but they haven't told us anything yet. I'll show you the way."

"They don't have to speak for us to learn what we need to know," the older woman spoke again with a sly smile.

*****

The fallout from the unified attack around the nation had been great, keeping the leaders of the tables engaged in various dealings with the Tater and each other. Ricco was being hailed a hero by most of the men, and justice had been swift against the Martino family who had protected and aided the delusional Giovanni. Those men had been horrified by the loss of Carmella and the attacks on all of the families. They had assumed that only the Vitali family would suffer from Giovanni's madness, and had not only allowed it, but in some cases encouraged it.

Theo Martino had welcomed Ricco and several members of the Tater who had sped up the investigation; and by the end of the week many of the Savoy-Martino men and their families found themselves flying back to the seat of their family's power in Italy to face the very real justice of the family hierarchy.

The Suebi were finding themselves under siege from all sides, and with their home base and resources decimated they were unable to pull what was left of their resources together to protect themselves.

Content that their work was done, the Tater started to retreat back to their colonies and their lives away from major cities. The men of the Italics had all the information they needed to ensure a vast blow was struck against their enemies, and both dynasties found a new respect for each other.

Sava and his younger brother, Vedran, did not return home immediately with the others who had gone to Melbourne with the Vitali to assist their family rebuild from the disaster that had befallen them. Instead, they had travelled to the country retreat where Cat hid away from all the stresses of her world.

"Nobody has come to visit me for almost two weeks," Cat said, tilting her head at the young nurse who informed her that she had visitors who insisted that she see them.

"They said it was very important they speak to you," The nurse said softly. "They said their names were Sava and Vedran Mizik."

"Can you tell them I will meet them at the café on the deck?" Cat asked and went to get a sweater.

"Yes, Mrs. Vitali," the nurse said equally quietly, and left the small retreat that was Cat's temporary home.

For once she was reassured that the hulking Bradbury stalked her. To his credit he had never bothered her, and she rarely saw him, but she knew he was there watching and reporting back on her boring days. Though she doubted anyone could get near her in here, it was reassuring to know he was nearby. He had been the one to pull her from the plane, to ensure Matteo got her to the hospital when she collapsed. He had been there every time she needed someone, and she had never thanked him properly, she realised.

Isaiah had been true to his word and had taken her somewhere to rest and think, and as long as she ate and slept well, he kept to his end of the bargain, all except for Bradbury and Hugh, who took shifts watching over her. She spoke to both Ricco and Matteo every day, she loved them, she couldn't deny it, but she needed time. Time to just be alone and to heal. Time to work out if love was enough for them or if she would always let them down like she had done so often recently. Not that she had told them that, her conversations were about their days and members of the family and how much they missed her in their home and daily lives. For her part, she apologised excessively, never saying what exactly she was apologising for.

She stepped out of her retreat and walked up the path toward the café, curious as to who her visitors were and what they were doing here. She walked slowly up to the café, sensing rather than seeing Bradbury as he tailed her. She stopped as she entered the café and turned to face him, seeing him stop at the entrance before moving further inside to find her mysterious guests.

"Catriona, I am Sava," a man with dark hair and blue eyes like hers greeted her and held out a chair at the table he sat at with another younger man. "This is my brother, Vedran," he introduced the other man.

"Hello," she smiled. "To what do I owe this visit?" Cat asked.

"My brother made a new friend recently," Vedran spoke first. "He told him this story about a princess who battled chaos and misfortune her whole life and was scared of nothing. Then she found love and peace and became frightened and ran and hid from the world in a high tower guarded by an angry guard dog. It is the way of fairy tales, perhaps, but it seems such a waste. So, I came to see if the story was true. Are you scared to be happy, Catriona?"

"What?" she shook her head. "I'm afraid your friend has told you a fairy tale," she laughed. "I am no princess, and there is no high tower here. Who is this friend of yours?" She asked Sava.

"My brother is always too eager and skipped to the end of our story instead of telling you the beginning, which you do not know," he said in a deep quiet voice as if soothing her anxiety about meeting two total strangers who obviously knew all about her. "We have ordered a range of treats to share, and coffee for while we talk. I hope that is alright?" he asked pleasantly, as waitresses approached the table with a tiered stand and a large coffee pot for them to help themselves as they talked.

"Could I please have a peach iced tea?" Cat asked the waitress. She had changed her diet in the last two weeks in an effort to get her morning sickness under control. She had given up coffee, although she still craved it. "Thank you for the offer of coffee, but I just can't drink it at the moment," she said apologetically.

"Whatever you like is fine with me," Sava inclined his head to her as he spoke. "Are you unwell?"

"No, not in the way you think, just a little upset tummy in the mornings, though some days it seems to last longer into the afternoons than others. It will pass, I am told," she said with a half laugh. "Tell me your story." she encouraged.

"My great-grandmother was a queen among our people, her name was Catherine. She married a very powerful psychic, for want of a better word, and they came to be the leaders of our tribe. Catherine had two daughters, my grandmother, Katerina, and her sister, Katinka, your grandmother," Sava paused for her to take in this information with a wide-eyed gasp.

"My grandmother?" Cat frowned, "My grandmother's name was Tina!" she argued.

"She would have changed it to hide her origins, most likely. Gypsy blood was not always looked on kindly, particularly in that era. The sisters were beautiful, and, as was the way of my people, marriages were arranged for them to men of high standing and ability. Katinka, or Tina, though, was unhappy, and allowed herself to be swept off her feet and away from her family by an outsider who belonged to one of the great dynasties, which might be why she had to change her name."

"If she left and hid, how is it you know this much?" Cat asked.

"She reached out to my grandmother more than once in her life, but she was forbidden from responding in any way. Once the bonds to our tribal ways are severed they can never be regained. Or, at least, that is the most traditional view. We are, perhaps, a little less rigid these days. Here, I have photos of your mother," Sava placed three small photos on the table that looked like they had been taken in a photo booth.

Cat looked at them silently. The resemblance to herself was startling. Her only memories of her grandmother were of a grey hair and wrinkles and stooped shoulders, as if she held the weight of some tremendous burden on them. Her memories of her mother were blurred together images of giddy, drunken smiles and drug-induced sleep. These pictures showed healthy, happy women, these were people she didn't know at all.

"They aren't of my mother or grandmother, or, at least, not as I knew them," she sighed sadly.

"And so we get onto Vedran's version of the story," Sava nodded knowingly, using the same calm voice. "You are the princess who survived the evils the world threw at you, and now that you have the chance for happiness you are scared. How long do you plan to hide here and keep the men who love you, the family who love you, and the friends who love you at arm's length?" He asked.

"Their life is simpler without me constantly causing drama in it," Cat bit out, defending her actions.

"If you truly wish to hide you can come home with us and meet the rest of your family, princess." Vedran offered. "We would welcome you and your baby, if you truly wished to leave the Vitali behind you. You have royal blood flowing through your veins, and you are far too precious to be left with the Vitali, who have a habit of not protecting their women sufficiently. Our family would expect us to offer you sanctuary with us."

"That's not true, none of it. I am not a princess, and Ricco and Matteo have done nothing but try to protect me, even from myself!" she defended them automatically. "It is me who has never been good enough for them!"

"A princess of royal lineage is not good enough for an Italic?" Sava asked, horrified by her assessment and shaking his head. "You do not know your worth, but if that is how you feel then make your choice, cousin. You cannot stay here forever, it has already been weeks, and the men who love you are withering without you," Sava said. "It is time to choose to regain your life and the love it holds or sever the ties that bind you to it and choose a different path. You cannot hold yourself or them in limbo any longer, it is cruel, even for a princess of the Mizik line. Ricco is my friend, and it is hard to see him suffer so much while trying to support Matteo, who fares much worse."

"They seem okay when I talk to them," she said slowly, wondering why these strange men were giving her an ultimatum while claiming to be long-lost cousins.

"If it was them refusing to see you and deny you their love..." Sava said gently. "How would you fare?"

"That's unfair!" Cat blurted, biting her tongue before the next words rolled out of her mouth. She was about to say that they would never do that, and she realised how true it was. They would never make her suffer the way she made them suffer. The thought of them suffering because of her selfish demands to be left alone and given time jolted her. Her cousins were right, she had been here too long, and it was time to go home. She wanted to go home to her husbands; the thought surprised her with its clarity.

"Is it?" Sava asked calmly.

"Perhaps not, but whether I admit it or not, the decision was made for me months ago. I just needed time after the moment on the plane," Cat admitted.

"I was there," Sava said. "I read you as you arrived. You had been prepared to die to protect the Vitalis'. Is it so hard to live now because you survived when others didn't? What happened to Vanessa was of her own making, and no fault of yours."

"Are you reading me now?" Cat narrowed her eyes at him. It wasn't Vanessa she felt guilt over, but rather Theresa's injuries, because they were her fault.

"The Suebi men planned to kill you all, regardless. Your actions saved Theresa's life, she will recover from her injuries. I know it to be true." Sava smiled, admitting he had been trying to read her.

"Tell me about your family." she said, suddenly changing the direction of their conversation. She wanted to know where her grandmother came from, even if she had no plans to discover their way of life for herself. Perhaps she might visit one day with Ricco, if they were friends, but these people had turned their backs on her as surely as everyone else in her young life did.

*****

Thomas and Zion walked into the penthouse, concerned as to why Matteo and Ricco had wanted to see them separately from the rest of the table. They'd been working hard with the Tater to ensure as many of the Suebi were rounded up by the police as possible. They'd been holding meetings with each member of the table, staying on top of everything that was being done and every skerrick of information they could glean from their own contacts to make sense of what the Tater supplied them with. The last two weeks had seen both men barely take a break for their own lives.

Matteo and Ricco had to face the Thirteenth Table and give full accounts of the events that culminated with the events at the Papillo airport, which had taken almost a week by the time judgement had been passed on Trevino Martino and his family. Matteo spoke up on Theo's behalf, saying that he knew that had Theo known of what was occurring he never would have sanctioned it or turned a blind eye to what was happening.

Marcus also spoke for Theo and about the findings of his investigation, but he only stayed briefly at the deliberations due to his wife's injuries and his need to be at her bedside. Each of the Chairs lauded Ricco's actions in giving the tables as much warning as possible of the attacks no one would have been expecting with their eyes firmly focused on what was happening to the Vitali and Martino families.

"Hey, come on in," Matteo invited, seeing them come through the foyer. "It's been so busy we've barely had time to catch up, let alone have a proper conversation."

"You look like you need to catch up on sleep rather than on what we've been doing," Thomas joked, but, like the other members of their table, he worried about how Matteo was handling the fallout from the event, especially with Cat disappearing the way she had and refusing to see anyone.

"Meh, I love Lisa's cooking, he can invite me any night. Not having access to Lisa was the worst thing about going back to my place," Zion chuckled. "I've decided it's time to get a housekeeper of my own and send her over here for Lisa's recipes. Unless, of course, you want to gift me Lisa," he grinned.

"It's an open invitation, come and stay whenever you want," Ricco said, walking into the room with a beer for everyone. "But Lisa isn't going anywhere, if I have any say in it." He grinned as Lisa came into the room with a plate of Bruschetta for them to share as they drank their beer.

"So, the two quietest members of our table turned out to be the better leaders in our absence," Matteo said. "Apparently the Chair suits you, Zion," he raised his eyebrow at his brother.

"And you, Thomas, stepped in and let Lucca be the watchman, which was who he needed to be," Ricco added. "Cobi was there to support, but everyone tells me it was you, even while we were both stuck in the Battaglia stronghold giving testimony, you both had a tight grip on the reigns and pulled everyone together on what needed to be done."

"Everyone had their role and did it," Thomas shrugged. "Zion asked me to jump, and I said how high."

"Honestly, when the alarm went off I kept asking when your plane would land," Zion chuckled. "I had no idea what I was doing, and Lucca was working his ass off with Cosimo. He made sure everyone was safe and accounted for, he tracked you and Cat."

"Lucca, himself, said it should be the two of you," Matteo said.

"What should be the two of us?" Zion said.

"Matteo charged onto the jet when the guns started going off," Ricco said carefully. "You may have had to step up permanently, Zee. I doubt anyone who has worked with you over the last two weeks would challenge that decision. Lucca wouldn't, and neither would Cobi."