The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 157: Obsessed

I was at the coffee shop every Wednesday morning. That was now my new routine.

I’ve learned Katherine gets her coffee here on Wednesdays at 10 AM.

I arrived at 9:45 to claim a table and wait.

She arrived right on time, ordered her decaf latte, and turned to leave.

She saw me, and her face hardened.

"Coincidence," I said lamely.

"Right."

She left without another word.

Then I saw why she left quickly.

It was Pete Anderson, with his daughter Mandy, meeting Katherine outside.

They were laughing, and Pete had his hand on Katherine’s arm in a friendly and intimate way.

Mandy hugged Katherine. "Miss Katherine. I missed you!"

"I missed you, too, sweetheart."

They walk toward the park together as if they were a family.

My jaw clenched, jealousy burning through me.

Katherine was pregnant with my child and spending time with another man.

They were building a life that didn’t include me.

That night, Bella called in.

"How’s it going?"

"Terrible. She won’t let me help and won’t let me in. I’m two blocks away but might as well be in another country."

"You chose this. Co-parenting from a distance."

"I didn’t choose it, she did. I’m just respecting her decision."

"Are you? Or are you waiting for her to change her mind?"

"Both."

Bella sighed. "Tony, you can’t force this. She needs time and space. She needs to learn to trust you again."

"How much time? Our baby’s coming in seven months."

"However long it takes. But Tony, you need to actually give her space. Real space, not proximity disguised as respect."

"What does that mean?"

"It means stop showing up at her coffee shop and stop ’coincidentally’ being everywhere she is. Give her room to breathe."

After we hung up, I stared at my laptop.

I had a remote board meeting in ten minutes. It was about a merger discussion and would involve critical decisions.

But I couldn’t focus as my mind was two blocks away.

With Katherine and my baby.

The meeting was a disaster.

"Tony, what do you think about the valuation?" Robert Gale asked.

"I’m sorry. What?"

"The valuation for the acquisition. We discussed this last week."

"Right. The... valuation."

I had no idea what he was talking about because I wasn’t paying attention.

Bella jumped in and smoothly covered. Providing the analysis I should have prepared.

After the meeting, she called on a private line.

"Tony, you need to engage. This merger requires your attention."

"I know. Sorry. I’m just-"

"Thinking about her, I know. But Tony, you still have responsibilities here. The company and the employees, you can’t just check out."

"I know."

"Do you? Because you’re not acting like it."

She’s right. I was failing at business and failing at relationships. Apparently, failing at everything.

Elliot visited me unexpectedly, knocking on my apartment door at 8 PM.

"Mr. Marvin. We need to talk."

"If this is about Katherine-"

"It’s about your hovering. You’re smothering her."

I let him in, and I was defensive already.

"I’m being present and supportive-"

"You’re being obsessive. She asked for space, and you’re two blocks away watching her building from your window."

"How did you-"

"She mentioned you’re always coincidentally at the same coffee shop. The same grocery store and the same park. It’s not a coincidence, this is surveillance."

"That’s my child she’s carrying-"

"And your behavior is pushing her away." Elliot’s voice was clinical but firm. "If you want any chance of reconciliation, stop hovering. Let her breathe."

"What if something happens? What if she needs me?"

"Then she’ll call, she has your number. But smothering her guarantees she won’t want you around."

After he left, I was left alone with that truth.

I’m pushing her away by trying to stay close.

But I didn’t know how to stop.

That night, I was at my window again.

Yes, Elliot’s right. I’m being obsessive, and I know it.

But I couldn’t help watching.

Pete’s car pulled up by 7 PM. He and Mandy got out and headed into Katherine’s building.

They stayed in for hours. I could see movement in her apartment and sounds of laughter and life.

She was building something with them, which was a safe and normal life.

Without me.

At 11 PM, they finally left.

Pete walked them out. He and Katherine stood at the building entrance, still talking and smiling.

Then Pete leaned in and kissed her cheek, which lingered a bit too much for my liking.

She didn’t pull away immediately, and my fists clenched from the blood boiling.

She’s pregnant with my child, and another man was kissing her.

Moving in, becoming part of her life and part of my child’s life.

I grabbed my keys to head out. I just couldn’t take this anymore.

Enough was enough. We needed to really talk.

About boundaries, Pete, and what the hell we were doing.

I was already at her door, knocking hard.

Katherine opened, looking surprised and annoyed.

"Tony? It’s late-"

"We need to talk. About Pete."

Her face hardened immediately. "That’s none of your business."

"The hell it’s not. You’re carrying my child, and another man is kissing you-"

"On the cheek. As friends!"

"He doesn’t want to be friends, Katherine. And you know it."

"What I know is you’re standing at my door at 11 PM demanding to discuss my friendships. That’s control, Tony. And this was exactly what I said I didn’t want."

"I’m not trying to control-"

"You’re following me, watching me, showing up everywhere I go, and now, you’re here interrogating me about Pete. That’s not support, that’s control."

"He wants to replace me-"

"Maybe I want him to! Maybe I want someone who doesn’t come with assassins and death threats! Someone safe and stable, and normal!" She screamed right back at me.

The words hit me like a punch.

"You don’t mean that."

"Don’t I?" She was crying now, tears of anger. "Go home, Tony. We’ll talk when you’re rational."

"Katherine-"

The door closes and locks.

I stood in the hallway alone.

She was right. I’m being irrational, obsessive, and controlling.

Everything I promised I wouldn’t be.

But watching her build a life with someone else, watching another man kiss her while she’s pregnant with my child, was destroying me.

I’m losing her.

And I don’t know how to stop it.