Coming Home For Christmas

So many emotions are running through me right now I'm filled with so much rage and my fists are itching to cause some serious damage and pain to someone or something I'm angry with Vanessa for betraying me, my famiglia and my mafia and for putting my loved ones in danger

1 feel sad, annoyed and bitter for the loss of a years long friendship which I believed was a true and honest friendship, so much so that I made Vanessa my daughter's godmother but now I'm not even sure if it was real and sincere I'm also feeling worried and panicked for my wife who is yet to wake up from the chloroform she was given which is very concerning to me because it's been hours since she ingested it, so she should've woken up by now, right?

After we arrived back at my estate, I ordered Benjamin and some of my men to take Vanessa to my dungeons and keep a watchful eye over her while I took my wife up to our bedroom I'then changed Cassie out of her clothes and put her in one of my t-shirts before leaving her to rest on our bed As for me, I've been sitting in a chair which looks like a king's throne in the corner of our room, drinking whiskey and smoking a cigar whilst watching Cassidy and patiently waiting for her to wake up

Like I said, it's been hours since we came home and each minute that Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? passes by is making all of my emotions even worse Even now as I talk on the phone with my brother-in-law, I can feel my emotions getting stronger and more heightened the longer Cassidy is out “How's Katerina, Benji? is she ok?" "She's fine, brother, the doc checked her out and apart from a few cuts and bruises here and there, as well as a major knock to her mental and emotional health, she's perfectly healthy”

"Good" Isay as let out a sigh and rub my eye with my palm I'm so f*#*g exhausted and want nothing more than to fall into a deep slumber but I doubt I'l get any sleep tonight “Is she still asking for Vanessa?" “Not anymore she's not, Klay..the doc had to sedate her because she refused to sleep even though she was exhausted and admitted she hadn't slept in days because she was afraid of Antonio or Trevor coming into her room and touching her while she was sleeping” He says confusing me

"What do you mean she was afraid of them touching her? you don't think...you don't think they've done anything inappropriate with her, do you?" "don't know man but if I had to base my answer on what I've observed here tonight then I'd say yes" “Why? what did you observe?" Task Benjamin who sighs on the other end of the phone "Well, she repeatedly flinched whenever one of our males «came near her, she refused to let our doc do a s****| assault kit on her and when he

d to look in her eyes with his light, she freaked out big time and hada panic attack” "What?" Oh, I can't wait to get my f*****g hands on those two assholes Iswear, s**t is going to hit the fan if I find out either of them have done anything inappropriate with my cousin “So, she's resting now?" “Yeah, the doc said it's for the best that she's sleeping because her heart rate will slow down a lot faster and it’ also help relax her and calm her down as well”

know from personal experience with Cassidy that there's nothing worse than an overactive brain when you're having a panic or anxiety attack “It's probably a good thing all three of Charlies angels are currently knocked out because I don't think I've got the energy to answer any of their questions right now" "Don't you mean Klayton's angels?" Benjamin asks with a chuckle and I smile as I look over at my beautiful wife "How's Cassie?"

"Still the same, she hasn't woken up yet" I'say earning a groan from him “Lreally wanna hurt that b***h for doing this to my baby sister, | mean, how dare she? after everything Cassie has done for her and what she did for Cassie and Cassius..how could she do this?" “I don't know man, I'm shocked as well” Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? Isay as let out a sigh and run a hand through my hair “I've known Vanessa for years and I never would've thought she'd do this to me, to us"

1'say with annoyance in my tone just as the sound of a murmur was heard My head snapped towards my bed where I saw Cassidy starting to move around as she moaned and groaned “I've gotta go, Benji, Ill talk to you later” I quickly hang up the call and put down my cigar before jumping up and going over to the bed “Hey babe, are you ok?" “Klayton?" Cassie asks confused as she looks around our room before

narrowing her eyes back at me “Where am I? what's going on?"

“Don't you remember, baby?" “Lerm..a little, I don't know...everything’s a little fuzzy" Cassie sits up and looks down at what she's wearing and then at my naked torso “s**t Klayton, did you f**k me so hard into forgetting about it again?” She asks me and I chuckle “No babe, we went to save Kat, remember?”

“We did? I don't remember” Cassidy asks confused “Did we find her? is she ok?" “She's fine, babe" Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? I'say with a smile as I gently caress her cheek “Good” Cassie says as she closes her eyes and sighs as she leans into my touch

Her eyes then snapped open like she had suddenly remembered or realised something and she looked at me With an unsure and confused expression “Did something bad happen, Klayton?" “Well.." “The last thing I remember was Marcus taking Katerina out of the room and you calling me on the phone but I've got no recollection of what happened afterwards or how we got home or how I ended up in your shirt” Isigh in frustration as I look down and grab hold of Cassidy's hand "What's going on, Klayton?"

"What do you mean?" lask her and she looks at me like really? don't bullshit a bullshitter “I may not remember, Klayton but I know something bad has happened, it's written all over your face, so tell me what happened?” I once again sighed as I subconsciously moved closer to my wife “Babe..something bad did happen..I found out who our mole is and you're not gonna believe who it is or what they were willing to do with you" “What? who is it? what did they do?"

(Cassidy asked me Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? Ilooked into my wife's eyes and I instantly felt a huge wave of guilt wash over me “I'm 50 sorry, babe” “Sorry? what are you sorry for?" “Because you warned me about her when you first met her..you told me you didn't trust her and I should've listened to you"

Isaid as I rested my forehead against our entwined hands “Who, Klayton? who didn't I trust?” Cassie asks sounding confused as she runs her free hand through my hair “Vanessa, babe..you didn't trust Vanessa” "Vanessa? why..." Cassie drifted off as she thought about what I said and her eyes widened in shock when she realised what I said "Vanessa's the mole? are you sure?”

"Oh yeah, babe" I'say while nodding my head as my jaw clenched in anger “How do you know?" “Because she knocked you out with chloroform while you were on the phone with me, that's why you've got no memory of what happened or how you got back home" “But why? why would she do that?" She asked me and I was hesitant to answer her because knew the answer would open up some old wounds for her, wounds that she's worked so hard to keep closed

“Well, 'm not sure because I haven't spoken to her yet but if Thad to venture a guess based on something she said earlier then I'd say that she Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? wanted to give you something so that he could use you to get me to hand over my mafia and my cousin to him" "WHAT? THAT f*++g b*++h, I'M GONNA KILL HERI!" Cassidy growled as she got up from our bed I tried to stop her but she was too quick for me as she stormed into our walk-in wardrobe to change her clothes

“Cassie baby, wait" “No, I won't wait, Klayton, I'm gonna rip her f*****g head off and shove it up her f***+g flat ass, I mean, who the hell does she think she is, huh?" “know, sweetheart just calm down’ I'say and Cassie looks at me like are you being serious? “Have you banged your head, Klayton?"

What? “You want me to calm down but how do you expect me to do that when that f*****g b***h has backstabbed and betrayed us? s**t, you should be apoplectic right now but you're not, you're calm, why are you so calm right now, Klayton? why aren't you angry?” She says pissing me off “Lam angry Cassidy, in fact, I'm f*****g livid but I have to be calm and so does my Donna because as you know, love, we can't afford to go into this half-c****d, we need to be calm and rationale so that we can get as much information out

of Vanessa as possible” Isai and I honestly thought she was going to be my feisty, stubborn little gattino and insist on going to see Vanessa but instead, she sighed in frustration and her shoulders lumped as she threw her shoes onto the floor Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent?. — "Ok fine but I want in on the interrogating, Klayton, you're not leaving me out of this, do you understand me?”

Cassie demands while pointing her finger at me and I chuckle as I embrace her and kiss the top of her head “As if I'd leave my Donna out of this” The Next Day..

“Are you ok, babe?" “Yeah, I'm fine" Cassie says while sighing Ilooked down at my wife, who looked conflicted about something

“Are you sure, love?" Task her and she looks up at me with a smile "Yeah, I just..I don't know how we're gonna do this... mean, how do you tell someone that their wife who they love wholeheartedly and who they planned a beautiful fairytale future with is the traitor who has betrayed us and put all of our lives at risk?" “The same way we tell everyone unsettling news" "By ripping off the bandaid” “Exactly” Tsay with a smile as I kiss her forehead

We then head towards Kat's room to rip off the metaphorical bandaid but something tells me it's not going to be as easy as I think it's going to be I knocked on the door and opened it after hearing a weak come in from Kat who instantly smiled at us but her smile looked forced to me “Hey guys" Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent?

She says huskily “Hey Kat, how are you feeling?" “I'm sore but I feel a lot better now that I've had a decent night's sleep” “That's good, Kat" Cassie said as she gently gripped Kat's hand “So, how's Lacey? is she ok?" “She's fine, she was unconscious for a little while but she fought through that"

“It must be the Antonelli blood in her, you all are so stubborn you wouldn't accept death or being unconscious without putting up a fight" She says and I chuckle “How did you guys find me?" “You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Kat" “Try me" “ok 1 sit down on her bed and rest my hand on the other side

of her legs “Marcus found you, sweetheart” "Marcus? as in our Marcus, my cousin Marcus?" She asks in disbelief and I chuckle slightly “Yes, that Marcus..he was able to find you by hacking into Trevor's software and by doing that he was able to find you through a tracker Trevor had installed in your wedding ring” I tell her and she looks down in shock only to find her ring

missing Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? "Where are my rings?" “They're with my team, they're working on taking the tracker out of it so that Trevor can't trace you ever again” “So, he won't be able to find me?" Kat asks me and I smile at her

Kat asks me and I smile at her “No, he won't" “Good” She says with a sigh as she looks out of the window

"Kat, we've erm..." I drifted off as I looked at Cassidy who gave me a reassuring nod “We've got something we need to tell you, sweetheart and it's..it's not good” “What is it?" She asks as she looks between Cassie and me "It's about the mole, Kat"

Tsay and she starts to panic “It's not me, I swear it, I'd never betray you, Klayton" “I know...I know, it's not you Kat but we did find out who it is and it's someone who you wouldn't believe or even suspect, trust me, I'm struggling to process her betrayal myself" "Her?" She asks confused and I nod my head “Yeah, the mole is someone who is incredibly close to the both of us"

Ttell my cousin whose face quickly changes from confusior to shock Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? “Wait, you don't mean...” “It's Vanessa, Kat, Vanessa's the mole” Isay and her eyes widen in shock "What?..no, that's impossible, Ness would never..she'd

never betray us, Klay" “I never would've believed it myself, Kat if I didn't see it with my own eyes” “What did you see?" Kat asks angrily through gritted teeth “I saw her trying to kidnap my wife after she'd knocked her unconscious, 1 also heard her on the phone apologising to my wife as she did it, she also confessed to knocking Cassie out with chloroform which was given to her by Trevor"

“I'don't..1 don't under...it explains her behaviour" “Behaviour? what behaviour?” Lask Kat who runs a hand through her hair “She's been acting really weird lately, more so after we attended Lacey's wedding" “Weird? how?" “She was being sneaky and secretive with her phone and whenever someone would call or text her she'd act suspicious, there's also been numerous times when she had to go out of the country for a modelling job and it was always around times when I wouldn't be able to go with

her..for a second I thought she was cheating on me and I even confronted her about it but she said I was just being paranoid" Kat said while scoffing at the end “It's highly possible she was meeting Trevor during those trips and she Chapter 43 - Guilty Or Innocent? was acting that way over her phone because it was that asshole contacting her" “Do you think she's the one who put the tracker in Kat's ring?"

Cassie asks shocking me Wow, I never thought of that It would make sense that she'd do it under the pretence of getting it cleaned or something 5K; /ve really underestimated this girl “No, I don't believe she did" Kat says before looking up at me

“Look Klayton, I understand how this looks but I really don't believe Vanessa is doing this willingly, I mean, think about it, if she was then why would she apologise to Cassie after drugging her if she's team Trevor?” "What are you saying, Kat?" Cassidy asks as she looks down at my cousin confused “I'm saying that I think my brother has got something on Vanessa, Cassie, something big or important to her and that's why she's doing this...trust me guys, the Vanessa I know would never betray you or our famiglia and she'd never do anything to put any of us in danger” “Well, there's only one way to find out for sure what's really

going on and to also get the truth from Vanessa” We have to talk to her Iwas already planning on interrogating Vanessa today and I'thought I'd be going in there as an angry Don eager to get vengeance for my wife and my famiglia but now I'm feeling conflicted after talking with Kat and I'm left with one question in my mind

i>ls Vanessa guilty or is she innocent?