Epilogue
“You finally wised the fuck up.”
It was the following evening. Delilah had gone back to Reno to do some further work. It wasn’t a permanent arrangement, but out of respect for her work, I encouraged her to finish her investigation. For the moment, I was with Cassius, sharing a glass of bourbon with my oldest brother.
“I finally got over myself,” I said. “I thought for the longest fucking time that you overshadowed me. I thought I had to be the King of Diamonds to achieve all that I wanted. And you know what? Maybe you are the CEO of our company. But who gives a fuck? I am not defined by my position any more than you are. To Delilah, I am Adrian Vale. And that, I guess you could say, is me wising the fuck up.”
“Cheers to that,” Cassius said, holding up his glass of bourbon. “I take it you’ll still be around as our CFO.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said, but my laugh was good-natured. “As I told Delilah, I’m still the King of Diamonds. I may not be presenting that persona to her, but there’s a time and place for that in business negotiations.”
I paused. Was it worth saying what I wanted to next?
Yes. He was my brother.
“And in the occasional show of strength, as needed with the Morrils.”
“Who are still out there,” Cassius said grimly, “and who your soon-to-be wife believes are establishing crime ties in Reno.”
I nodded. It was an issue that I suspected not even the Morrils knew the full extent of. If they were smart—and as much as we hated them, they were—then they might welcome connections, but they wouldn’t exactly embrace them.
“That leaves Dante and Lucas to take care of things,” I said. “We still can. But for obvious reasons, I’d like to make sure our women stay out of it.”
“Not just,” Cassius said. When I raised an eyebrow, he didn’t seem to notice. “I would prefer if Dante stayed the hell out of it. Left to his own devices, he’ll be worse than a Reaper.”
“So, Lucas,” I said. “Where is Lucas right now?”
Cassius shrugged.
“Probably at a poker game. Or doing something. You know he keeps to himself.”
“I know, but he was talking as much as anyone about the Morrils. If we don’t keep an eye on him, it’s not inconceivable to think he will go the way of Dante.”
Cassius sighed. He didn’t look frustrated; none of us were. There was no such thing as a stupid Vale, just Vales with different tendencies. But every situation could exploit a tendency, and we had to be on top of things.
“Let me call him,” Cassius said. He pulled out his phone and dialed it. Lucas, thankfully, picked up before the second ring with a “Yes?”
“Where are you right now?”
There was a pause. Not a long one, but just long enough to raise my suspicions.
“I’m taking care of a couple things,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
“Does it have to do with the Morrils?” Cassius said. “I’d prefer if any action we took as a family was decided as a family.”
“I’m not doing anything on behalf of the family right now,” Lucas said, his voice coming through clearly on Cassius’ phone. “Just for me.”
“Just for him?” I said.
“Ah, Adrian is with you, appropriate,” Lucas said.
What the hell? I had a bad fucking feeling about this.
“What you all are going through right now has made me think a lot,” Lucas said. “Makes me think of what I might need to admit to.”
Cassius and I exchanged a look.
“But that,” Lucas said, “is a story for another time. Soon. Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything.”
The story continues in “King of Spades.” Turn the page to read the first two chapters!