Chapter 21 Cassian
CASSIAN
“You sure you don’t want me to look after the girl?” Enzo asks just before I enter the dining room where Angelo is seated in a corner table.
“I’d like you with me, Enzo.”
“Got it,” he says, expression as neutral as ever.
He glances at his father, who stands, smiling.
Enzo nods his greeting, but surprises me when he remains standing at the door rather than walking over to say hello.
Their relationship has always been fraught, though, even when we were younger.
Enzo was a quiet boy and he is now a quiet man.
I wonder if it has to do with his parents separation and the fact that my uncle took full custody of him.
I don’t know the particulars, but for my part, I don’t even remember my aunt’s face.
“Cassian,” Uncle Angelo says after clearing his throat.
I cross the room to shake hands with him. “What’s up with you two?” I ask quietly.
We sit. Angelo shrugs his shoulders and gives a little shake of his head. “Just a little disagreement. You know how it is with fathers and sons.”
I nod because I do.
I’ve known my uncle all my life. He is my father’s brother and was his trusted consigliere.
When dad started to get sick and Seth declined so quickly, in many ways, Angelo took up the spaces they left behind.
But even before that, Angelo’s always been more to me than an uncle.
My own relationship with my father was always fraught.
My mother died in childbirth, a complication the doctors didn’t see coming.
I don’t have a single memory of her. Although never outright, my father always blamed me for her death.
I was never excluded from the family, and to the outside world, I was equal to Seth, except that I was not first born.
To anyone looking in, they simply see the favorite.
Parents are human too, after all. But I knew it went deeper than that.
Seth was the best big brother anyone could have.
He understood what was happening at a young age and between him and my uncle, I was loved and cared for.
But it didn’t quite make up for missing my father’s love.
For knowing every time he looked at me he saw our mother, the woman he loved.
The woman whose life ended the day mine began.
“Something to drink?” Angelo asks.
I see the carafe of coffee and pick it up to pour myself some. “Coffee’s good. Tell me what you’ve found.”
He opens a folder, turns it so I can read it. “The weapon was registered to Blackstone’s and, unsurprisingly, Severin Blackstone reported it stolen just this morning.”
“Hm.” I read as I listen.
“We have to think this through, Cassian. What reason would Severin have for sending a loaded weapon to a child? What message was he hoping to get across?”
“Who the hell knows with him? If it was him. I suppose it could have been Jet or even Sybil. But I don’t buy that it was stolen.”
“No, too convenient.”
“Given dad’s decline, I know they would be happy to be rid of me.
Rid of the Trevino name. Our continued partnership might benefit me more than it does them at this point.
” Blackstone’s launders money for me. It goes through the casino and although that money was once their lifeline, it no longer is.
With Severin at the helm and Sybil no longer controlling the company, they’ve done well.
“There’s more,” Angelo continues. “Their lawyer has also reached out with a renewed interest in buying back this property and the land the club sits on in Devil’s Peak.”
“Oh?”
My father and I own the buildings and properties. My father bought them from Sybil and rented the space out to her for pennies when selling was her only option. The pennies for rent was a separate understanding between them followed shortly after by their marriage.
“They must be flush with cash,” I comment, sipping my too-weak coffee.
“Suppose so.”
“Well, I’ll talk to Severin tonight. Understand what he’s been up to. But as of now, I have no intention of selling back to them. If anything, I’ll be increasing their rent.”
Angelo nods, glances in the direction of Enzo who I can see is standing like the soldier he is. He’s too far to hear what we’re saying.
I follow his gaze. “Do you want me to talk to him, Uncle?”
“No, no. He’ll come around. Just sometimes I don’t understand what cause I’ve given him to be so untrusting of me.”
“If I can help…”
“I don’t think you can, but I appreciate you asking, Cassian.” He studies me, smiles. “I always hoped you two would be like brothers.”
“Enzo and I are fine.”
“Good.”
“I want to run something else by you.” He raises his eyebrows. “Moretti territory, we’ve had a truce in place for years, but what if I’m interested in expanding?”
“Expanding?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Why not. Michael is weak. Lombardi will move in as soon as he’s able.
You and I both know that. Given the seizure of the cargo and Michael’s clear inability to pay what he owes, well, it just seems like a good time to grow the business,” I say, considering my words.
“And send a very clear message to anyone else who might consider moving against us.” I clear my throat.
“Allegra Moretti is in my keeping.” My heart beats faster at the mention of her.
Do I sound casual? Like having Allegra is an incidental.
A means to an end. She is more than that.
That’s something I’ll need to unpack another time, but for now, she needs to be seen as nothing other than collateral.
Angelo studies me, tilts his head, one corner of his mouth curving upward. “Allegra Moretti. The contract binding her to Governor Moore is no longer in play then.”
“Correct.” My hand flexes at the thought of Allegra with another man. “I’m not worried about the governor and with the money Michael owes, it’s a solid inroad.”
He studies me. “If he were to pay you back, to buy back his sister, would you return her?”
I blink, my eyelids feeling like sandpaper suddenly. I haven’t allowed myself to think of this. “That’s an impossibility.”
“Which part?”
“He doesn’t have access to that kind of money. He’s not going to get it anytime soon. I’m well within my rights. I gave him his week. Why ask the question?”
“Humor me.”
I look straight back at Angelo. “I have no intention of returning her.”
He smiles. “Well, it’s decided then, isn’t it?” There’s a pause I don’t fill. “Are congratulations in order?”
I snort.
“Is she amenable?”
“Well, I haven’t proposed if that’s what you’re asking.” I sip my now lukewarm coffee just to have something else to do than look at him.
He chuckles. “Cassian, Cassian, Cassian. It’s me you’re talking to. I’ve known you since you were in diapers, remember. I know you. You want her.”
“I have her.”
“But you want her.”
I clench my teeth, nodding once. Angelo does know me. Lucky for me, he is not an enemy because if he were, he’d see the path to attack.
“So you’ll marry Allegra Moretti. And then?”
“Michael will bend the knee and Lombardi is out. Michael I can control. Malek Lombardi is a different animal. He wants power. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t try to take it in this same way, except he’d get rid of the brother altogether.”
Because I have thought about this possibility.
Michael, as inept as he is, is the only son of Alaric Moretti.
His family will follow him. Malek Lombardi does not have their loyalty, at least he didn’t before Alaric’s death.
Now, given Michael’s ineptitude, he has gained some supporters.
I’ve seen that myself. But it’s not enough or he’d have made his move already.
If he managed to get Michael out of the way, binding Allegra to him would seal the deal.
A woman wouldn’t rule the family. That’s just not done.
But this scenario? It could work. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
“It’s a solid idea,” Angelo says, interrupting my thoughts. “If you’re going to make a move, this is the time. They are at their weakest and, like you said, you have the girl. This union would offer them a less bloody way out of their current situation. But you’d better do it soon and quietly.”
I chuckle internally at the thought of Allegra going quietly to the altar or anywhere else for that matter. But it will be done. Sooner rather than later. “Arrange it. Before we leave Atlantic City,” I tell him.
He doesn’t even blink. Just nods. “See you at dinner, Cassian.”