Chapter 2 - "WHO TOUCHED YOU?" THE ONE QUESTION THAT MADE THE ENTIRE PHILADELPHIA UNDERWORLD TREMBLE!
By noon, the atmosphere on the executive floor had changed. The usual bustling energy of Servino Holdings had been replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence. The security guards at the elevators stood straighter, their hands resting closer to their jackets, and even Joanna refused to make eye contact with anyone.
"Cat, eat something," Joanna pleaded, placing a small plate of salad and a fresh ice pack on Katarina's desk. "You've been staring at that screen for three hours without typing a single word."
"I can't," Katarina whispered. The ice pack felt like heaven against her throbbing ankle, but the cold dread in her stomach was too consuming. "Did... did Enzo leave?"
Joanna looked around nervously before leaning in close. "He left with four of the heavy hitters from the South Side docks. Cat, whatever is happening, you need to tell me. Is it Chase? Did he do this to you again?"
"Shh! Don't say his name here," Katarina hissed, her eyes darting toward Vittorio's closed office doors. "You don't understand who Mr. Servino is, Joanna. If Chase finds out I brought this to work—"
"Chase is a coward who only fights women," a voice interrupted.
Katarina jumped. Vittorio was standing in the doorway of his office, his jacket gone, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal his powerful forearms. He held a leather-bound folder in his hand, but his eyes were fixed entirely on Katarina.
"Joanna, leave us," Vittorio ordered.
Joanna didn't hesitate. She grabbed her purse and practically fled toward the elevators, leaving Katarina alone with the Don.
Vittorio walked slowly toward her desk, pulling up a chair and sitting directly opposite her. He didn't look like a boss talking to an assistant; he looked like a king assessing a breach in his fortress walls.
"His name is Chase Carter," Vittorio said, opening the folder. "Thirty-two years old. Works as a mid-level manager at a logistics firm in Cherry Hill. No criminal record, but three noise complaints from his neighbors in the last year. All of them involving a woman screaming."
Katarina’s breath hitched. "How... how do you know all of this?"
"I know the name of every rat that crawls through my city, Katarina," Vittorio said, his voice dropping to a dark, gravelly register. He reached across the desk, his large hand gently covering her trembling fingers. "You have been living with him for eighteen months. The lease is in his name, but you pay eighty percent of the rent. He controls your bank account. He took the plug out of your alarm clock last night because he didn't want you to come to work today."
Katarina pulled her hand back as if burned. "You spied on me?"
"I protected my asset," Vittorio corrected, his gray eyes flashing with an icy fire. "You are the best assistant I have ever had. You keep my schedule, you handle my private files, and you know secrets that could put me in a federal penitentiary. Yet, you allow a pathetic, insecure boy to break your bones because you think you have nowhere else to go."
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"He... he loves me," she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. "He's just stressed. He lost his father last year, and—"
"He is a parasite," Vittorio interrupted, his voice cutting through her excuses like a razor. "And tonight, he is going to learn what happens when a parasite tries to feed on something that belongs to the Servino family."
