Dante & Catrina
December 9th
Catrina Marcello had never been much of a holidays or Christmas person until she had a reason to be. Mainly, once she was married, settled, and had kids. Before all of that, the holidays simply came and went.
It was just another day in her already busy year. She didn’t make time to do anything special for it because back then, she hadn’t needed to.
Now, though?
Catrina loved it.
Her son and daughter helped a lot with that, honestly. The closer Christmas came, the more excited they became. Michel was at an age where he no longer believed in Santa thanks to a few older kids at school who broke the news.
However, Catherine, their youngest and only biological child still very much believed in the magic of Christmas. Catrina had kept a little bit of the magic alive for Michel by having him help set up Catherine’s Santa things.
It worked.
It was also the only time of year when Catrina really stopped to slow down and enjoy the things happening around her fully. Throughout the rest of the year, she was so incredibly busy between work, family, and everything else.
It was only Christmas and New Year when she had no guilt about clearing her schedule, turning off the phones, and whatever else she needed to do for her kids and husband to be entirely present.
There with them.
Only them.
This year, on the other hand, was turning out to be less pleasant than years past. Not because of her, but rather, her husband.
Already, she could hear Dante’s anger and frustration becoming louder, and leaking down the hall. Catrina stood at the other end, and listening to her husband bark at someone on a phone call—likely one of his men, but she couldn’t be sure.
If the past month or so were any indication, Dante would only get progressively louder and louder until he woke everyone up in the goddamn house. Catrina didn’t want Michel and Catherine woken up by their father’s yelling.
Dante wasn’t typically a loud man. He rarely had bad moods. Lately it was an everyday kind of thing. The smallest thing could set him into some kind of a fit. Never to her or their kids, of course, but still.
Catrina didn’t know what in the hell was up with her husband. Dante was masterful at balancing his responsibilities between his family life, and business life. After doing it for almost a decade with no issues, these new moods and problems were a bit concerning.
He was her perfect match—a loving yet challenging husband. He was the best father, a fantastic boss when it came to his crime organization, and he never missed a click.
Until recently.
He was struggling.
Catrina didn’t know how to help.
She figured the best thing to do for the moment would be to leave Dante alone to his phone call. She headed up to the third floor of their large Amityville home to where Catherine and Michel’s bedrooms were situated.
A quick check on Michel told Catrina the boy was sleeping away. An I Survived book was still overturned on his extra pillow. It wasn’t unusual for Michel to fall asleep reading. He was incredibly book smart—apparently that was a thing. He much preferred reading, learning, and school to friends, playing, and whatever else.
Catherine, on the other hand, was still wide awake in her bed.
Not a surprise.
Catrina leaned in the doorway of her almost five-year-old’s room. Catherine pretended to be asleep when she noticed her mother peering in on her.
“I can see you’re not sleeping, Catherine.”
“I am, Ma.”
“Then why are you talking?”
Catherine giggled. “Sorry, Ma.”
“Go to sleep.”
“I had to pee.”
“Okay, but now you have to sleep. Santa is coming, and we have to be a good girl. Right?”
Catherine nodded. “Right, Ma.”
“Night, reginella.”
“Night, Ma.”
Since at least one of their kids happened to still be awake, Catrina decided to head back down to Dante. After all, she could still hear him raging away on the phone. Probably to the same guy he had been yelling at when she was down there the first damn time.
Catrina stood in the doorway of her husband’s office while he finished his phone call. She didn’t say anything, and he didn’t notice her there as his back was turned.
“No, you make sure that shit is done the way I told you to have it done …” Dante paused, and his shoulders stiffened as he listened to whatever reply came back to his statement. Catrina swore she could see the knot of tension forming between his shoulder blades through his dress shirt. “I don’t have time for this fucking nonsense. Get. It. Done.”
Dante slammed down the phone on his desk, but just as quickly, he picked it back up again. He dialed another number without ever turning around to see Catrina standing there watching him. A couple of seconds after he put the phone to his ear, he started talking.
“Yeah, Gio? I need an update on the Lucian thing.”
Wonderful.
Now her husband was about to go ballistic on his brother because he had taken all the hits he could on the last punching bag of the day. Catrina rubbed at her temples, willing the oncoming headache to back off for a few more minutes.
“Well find out, Gio!”
Dante’s shout echoed.
Catrina winced.
Okay, that’s quite enough.
She strolled into the room, snatched the phone from her husband’s hand, and turned her back to him as he spun to face her. She did catch the sight of his pissed off scowl, but she had other things to handle at the moment.
Catrina put the phone to her ear. “Gio?”
“What crawled up his fucking ass?” her brother-in-law asked.
“If someone figures it out, tell them to let me know,” Catrina replied dryly.
“He needs to relax.”
“I’m aware, Gio.”
“Give me the goddamn phone, Cat.”
Catrina held up a hand over her shoulder, but otherwise, said nothing to her husband. She went back to Gio instead. “He will call you back tomorrow. How does that sound?”
“You make it tomorrow night, and I will make sure your Christmas gift is extra awesome,” Gio replied.
Catrina laughed. “Deal.”
The phone call clicked off.
Catrina set the phone to the receiver, and turned to face her glowering husband. Every single inch of him radiated a pissed off atmosphere. It was damn near impossible for her to stand close to him and not also get defensive simply because of his posture.
“Go do something else, bello,” Catrina told him.
Dante’s green gaze narrowed. “I beg your pardon?”
She pointed at the door. “Get out of this office. Go have a coffee. A shower. Run on the treadmill. Beat the shit out of your punching bag. I really don’t care, but if you keep yelling my walls down while you’re on the phone, we’re going to have a problem.”
Dante didn’t move.
Neither did Catrina.
Finally, her husband said, “I have work to do, Cat.”
“Nothing that cannot wait, bello.”
“Says you.”
“So be it.”
Dante let out a grunt of frustration.
Catrina still held her ground.
Then, she pointed at the door again. “Go do something else.”
Dante went.
Catrina let out a sigh of relief.
One battle down.
A million more to go.