19. Rocco
19
ROCCO
D anny slides herself onto my lap far too easily.
“Have you forgiven me yet?” she purrs in my ear.
I glance over at the backstage door, but Cas hasn’t emerged yet. “I’ll give you about three seconds to get off me before I make a scene.”
The last time I saw her was that night at the Electrix. I thought she might have finally understood that our little arrangement was over, but considering the stench of alcohol on her breath, it seems she’s not making particularly rational decisions right now.
She scowls at me. “Please. You can’t seriously think we believe you’d settle down with someone like Bellini.”
The name catches me off guard. “What? Who are you talking about?”
Danny laughs. Her golden hair cascades down her back as she throws back her head. “You haven’t changed a bit! You’ve been fucking her all this time, but you still don’t know her name?”
She keeps talking, but it becomes background noise to the thoughts racing through my mind.
Danny is talking about Cassandra. Cassandra Bellini . It was a common enough name. Except…
It wasn’t a coincidence. It couldn’t be.
Carmine Bellini. The man who sold Guild intel to the Cartel had a family. At least, he used to before his wife divorced him.
Seventeen years ago.
At the same time, Cassandra moved from Brooklyn to Ohio at the age of eight with only her mother.
Carmine Bellini. Whose only friend in my father’s inner circle was Marco Chiavari. Whose daughter had been childhood friends with Cassandra.
But perhaps the most damning piece of evidence was that Cassandra’s father died a month ago.
When Carmine Bellini had shot himself in the head before my very eyes.
“You know it’s true,” Danny is saying, but I can barely hear her over the ringing in my ear. “Let’s just get back to the way things were.”
Cassandra can’t know. Couldn’t know. Could she?
Could she have been playing me this whole time to enact some kind of sick revenge?
I can’t believe that. Refuse to. She’s been through too much for that to have been an act. I had seen the truth in her eyes when she’d bargained for her protection.
Besides, she’s been alone with me in my own home countless times. Countless, very vulnerable times, and yet she’s done nothing to take advantage of that.
But why is she here? Now? After seventeen years, magically appearing only a week before Carmine’s death?
If her mother had taken her to Ohio to get away from Carmine and the Guild and all the pressures of the Italian Mafia, why would she suddenly know to come back now? Why not come as soon as she turned eighteen?
Is it all just a tragic coincidence? Carmine finally found the courage to reach out, only to die before he got the chance to meet.
Unless…somehow, he knew he was going to die.
But what kind of father would drag their estranged daughter into something like that? He must have known his life was on the line when he betrayed the Guild. Would he really endanger her like that? For the sake of his own closure?
“You are going to do great things, Rocco.”
None of this makes any sense. Every question only branches out into five more.
Somehow, this has to be connected to the missing rat. The timing is just too perfect. I just need to figure out how.
A pair of lips press against mine, and I’m abruptly torn from my spiral.
For a moment, I remain entirely frozen, stunned that I had let my guard down so thoroughly that I hadn’t noticed Danny’s very obvious intentions.
The feeling of her tongue attempting to gain access to my mouth jolts me into action.
My hand snatches at her golden hair, and I pull down sharply.
Her gasp elicits nothing but contempt.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
My entire body begins to shake with rage. I am entirely disgusted by every inch of her skin that touches mine.
“Rocco!” She turns those watery blue eyes on me to no effect.
“Get. Off. Me.”
I don’t know if it’s the threat of my tone or the sharpness of my expression, but something akin to fear crosses her face. Good.
She scrambles away, landing straight on the floor, and I release her hair with a flick of my wrist.
“If you dare touch me again,” I hiss down at her. “If you touch anyone again without their consent, you will never get up on that stage again.”
Danny puts her hand to her mouth to conceal a sob. “I…I thought…”
“You did not think,” I correct as I snap my fingers.
Terry is there in an instant. “Sir?”
“Escort Miss Lombardi from the premises.”
I sit back in my chair as the bartender tries to pry a sobbing Danny from the floor. So much for not making a scene.
I look around for one of my more able-bodied men to assist, only for my attention to snag on a retreating figure about to push through the main exit—her black dress snags on Mia’s persistent feet at her heels.
When Cas’ turns so she she can free herself, her face is streaked with tears.
My insides hollow out.
Did she just see that?
I’m on my feet a heartbeat later, pushing through the crowds to chase after her, not caring that everyone around me seems to be staring.
“Boss?” Teo’s voice crackles through my earpiece. “You might want to listen to what Lazzaro just said.”
“Not now,” I bite back.
“Did you know that Cassandra’s surname is Bellini?”
“I said, not now!”
I yank the damn thing from my ear and throw it to the ground.
Because it doesn’t matter. Even though it absolutely should.
I should be running after her to demand the answers I need, to confront her about being Carmine Bellini’s daughter.
Yet the only thing I can think about is how I’ve hurt her again. That she might think someone like Danny could hold my attention for even a second now that she was in my life.
That despite every inch of distance I have tried to put between us, my heart aches at the mere thought of it.
There is nothing rational that spurs my steps toward her.
Only the memory of her tear-stained face and the thunderous voice in my head screaming at me to make this right.
Someone grabs my arm before I can make it to the front doors.
“Haven’t you done enough?” Mia hisses at me.
“Remove your hand, or you will lose it.”
“I told her to stay away from you.”
I turn to look at the redhead. She has the decency to swallow her next words and let go.
Vaguely, I’m aware that she curses as I push through the front doors of the Candelabra.
“Cassandra!” I start shouting into the night.
But she’s nowhere in sight.
I mindlessly begin to stride forward, taking in every face that passes by.
It’s a cool night, and it’s nearing the early hours of the morning. There are enough people around for her to get lost in, but not enough to find anyone sober to ask if they’ve seen her pass by.
“CASS!” I shout again. I have to think this through logically.
Where would she go?
We’d arrived by car. My dark chrome Bugatti Mistral is currently parked in the secure parking lot beneath the building. Without a keycode, she couldn’t go back down there.
If she called a cab, where would she go? Back to the brownstone? Or would she skip town entirely and get on the next flight to Ohio?
Surely, she wouldn’t try walking anywhere. It’s too late for that to be even remotely safe, even if she hadn’t just appeared publicly on my arm.
The lethal part of my brain already thinks about what would happen to the person who tried to harm her.
My eyes snag on a figure huddled under the nearby bus shelter.
“Cass,” I breathe out.
She doesn’t look at me as I approach, but I can see the tears still rolling down her face. I can’t bear it.
I reach out to tilt her head up to look at me, but she snatches it away. My only option is to get on my knees before her.
“Cassandra.” Her name on my lips feels like a prayer.
For a moment, she says nothing.
“Claudio was cheating on me.”
It’s like a stab to the chest. Was I really so conceited to think her tears were for me?
I swallow back my pride. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you know?”
My memory snags on that night at the Electrix. If I hadn’t arrived, he’d likely have had Danny and Teresa that night.
All I can do is nod.
She gasps bitterly. “Figures.”
“I didn’t mean to keep this from you, Cas.”
“But you love keeping me at arm's length,” she looks down at me. “Cute enough to fuck but not good enough to kiss?”
My blood runs cold. So she had seen Danny and I.
“Please, Cas. Let me explain.”
“You don’t need to. I get it. She’s beautiful and talented, and you clearly have history.” she sniffs. “I’m sorry if my staying with you has strained your relationship with her.”
I’m already shaking my head. “Our relationship was over before I met you.”
“I don’t care. You don’t owe me anything, Rocco. We never said anything about exclusivity. It’s my own fault I’m…” her voice breaks and she takes a second to gather herself again. “This is just physical, right? You said that from the start.”
“I said that to keep you safe.” I reach for her hands and hold them firm. “You saw how many people were looking at us today. If any of them thought that I was attached to you. Fuck, if they thought they could exploit you as my weakness…”
“Yeah. I know.”
“You don’t,” my voice breaks. “Cas, if anything were to happen to you because of your attachment to me, I’d…”
I have to work hard to keep the horrified sob from escaping my lips.
Cas looks at me with those wide, hazel doe eyes. “Rocco?”
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. If anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way…I can’t stop it. I would set the world on fire for you and lay the ashes at your feet.”
My heart screams at me to stop. Revealing this much will just scare her out of reach. But for one glorious moment, I swear I see hope in her eyes.
Before she crashes into reality and recoils into herself.
“You think you can just run after me and say all this stuff like you actually care?” she says as she pats away her tears. “I knew you were cruel, but Rocco, this ? It’s too far.”
“I’m telling you the truth,” I offer desperately.
“You’re telling me what I want to hear! You’re just saying this stuff because you know I’m the fucking moron who fell for you, and this is the only way to keep me in line.”
Everything within me goes quiet. “What did you just say?”
“You can take me back to the brownstone. I’ll do whatever you want for these last months. I’ll stay true to our agreement. Just, please,” she takes a long haggard breath. “Stop saying these things. It’s not fair.”
I reach for her neck and pull her down to me. “Cass.”
“Stop it!”
I can’t. “Look at me.”
Tears well up in her eyes. “Rocco, you kissed her.”
“She kissed me. She took advantage of a moment of distraction. It shouldn’t have happened. I should have never let it happen.”
“Because you want to protect her, too?”
I brush her hair from her face. “No. You are the only person I care about.”
“I can’t take this,” she whispers back.
“Then believe me.”
I rise to press my lips with hers.