Chapter 26 Allegra
ALLEGRA
Once everyone is gone, I drink the tumbler of whiskey Cassian sets in front of me. My hands tremble. I try to avoid the stain in the center of the carpet, the blotchy red on the blotter on the desk.
Cassian is talking to Jet, but I see how his gaze keeps turning to me.
I knew they wouldn’t simply accept me. There was never a moment I thought they might. But hearing how Joseph spoke to me, how he looked at me, this man I’ve known since I was a child, it shook me. I know he was their mouthpiece. At least half of the men in this room stand with Malek.
But that was the point. I knew Cassian would step in when the time came. I knew he’d make an example. There was never any doubt.
“They’re probably reporting what just happened back to Malek now,” I say, looking up at Cassian, seeing the blood that’s dried on his shirt. His jaw. His hands he washed.
“Good. That’s what we want,” Cassian says.
He and Jet walk toward me. I’m still seated behind my father’s desk. “What will happen?”
“He’ll attack and we’ll be ready.”
“My family, they may not have stood up with Joseph, but some aren’t to be trusted.”
“I know that sweetheart.” He checks his watch. One of his soldiers peers into the room after a knock.
“House is cleared. Everyone’s gone.”
“My uncle?”
“He’s waiting in the living room.”
“Thanks.” Cassian turns to me. “Do you want to pack some more things, Allegra? Take them back home?”
Home. His house. My new home.
I nod, wanting to get out of there.
“We’ll walk you up,” Cassian says, meaning himself and Jet.
“I can go on my own. I know where my room is.”
Cassian and Jet exchange a look, but I don’t think too much of it as we make our way out of the study and down the corridor to the living room. I think of the last party we had here. It was Michael’s birthday not too long ago. I was wearing those wings. How much things have changed.
The living room is eerily quiet apart from the clinking of glasses as they’re gathered onto trays by cleaning staff hired by Cassian.
The mirror over the fireplace is covered with a black cloth.
It’s always been tradition for our family to cover a mirror when someone passes.
There’s a man standing before it. He’s got a corner of the cloth raised and he’s looking behind it.
The man has black, curly hair woven through with gray.
I don’t know who he is and I’m sure I’ve never seen him before.
I glance at Cassian and find him watching me intently. I wonder if it’s conscious that his fingers brush his jacket where his gun is holstered just beneath as the man drops the cloth and turns to us, his face breaking into a smile.
This is Cassian’s uncle. I’d know it from the eyes. Like Cassian’s, although dimmer, darker. Not as beautiful.
“Cassian, there you are,” he says and suddenly, it’s like a gust of arctic air just blew in. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end and my blood turns to ice. I wrap my arms around myself with the sudden cold as my heart beats become frantic and breathing is impossible.
“Uncle,” Cassian says. He steps between me and the man, broad shoulders shielding me.
Cassian and his uncle meet a few steps away to shake hands. His uncle’s eyes are on me.
Jet comes to my side. He must see me trembling. Or hell, maybe I look like a deer in headlights because he touches my arm, brushes his fingers over it. Cassian’s eyes don’t miss the movement.
“Uncle. This is Allegra Moretti. Allegra, my uncle, Angelo Trevino.”
When Angelo comes toward me, it takes all I have to remain where I am. To not turn and run.
I’ve never seen this man in my life. I don’t know him. I can’t.
Yet, alarm bells are ringing so loud, I can’t hear anything else.
Because I know his voice.
Run
Fucking run.
“Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Moretti,” he says, extending his hand, looking down at me a smile that shows the sharp points of his incisors.
When I don’t move, don’t shake his hand, he drops his. “I’m sorry, it must be a very hard day for you.” I just blink, unable to speak or breathe or run. He clears his throat. “I didn’t know anyone still did this,” he says, pointing to the covered mirror, trying to fill the awkward silence.
I look away, finally, to that mirror. Then to Cassian’s eyes which are locked on me and I understand something.
He arranged this. Cassian arranged for this meeting to happen exactly as it is happening because he wanted to see my reaction.
“Let’s go get those things, Allegra,” Jet says.
I blink. Turn to him. My throat is so dry I can’t swallow or speak or utter a single sound.
His eyebrows furrow. He glances at Angelo, but barely. Instead, he takes my arm and turns me then walks me up the stairs to my old bedroom where, once we’re inside, he closes the door, and I can drop onto the edge of the bed.
“Did you know?” I ask him.
“Know what?” he asks.
I clasp my hands to stop them from trembling. I look up at Jet. “That was a test.”
Jet’s eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”
He doesn’t know. I shake my head. Maybe I’m wrong. Because if I’m right, does that mean Cassian’s uncle is working with Malek? And does Cassian suspect it and that’s why he set up this meeting to happen the way he did?
“Allegra?” Jet asks. He comes to sit beside me. “You okay?”
“Do you know him?” I ask Jet, looking at him.
“Angelo?” He shrugs a shoulder. “A little.”
“Do you like him?”
“Not much, no. But I also don’t like his son.”
“His son?”
“Enzo.”
That’s right. Enzo is Cassian’s cousin.
“What is it?” Jet asks.
“I think he was there.” Jet’s eyebrows furrow. “I think he was at the Maestro’s house when Malek held me prisoner. I could hear from the broken window. I think… I think it was him…”
Jet’s eyes narrow and he mutters a curse. “Are you sure, Allegra? You need to be sure. You can’t make a mistake with this.”
I shake my head, press the heels of my hands into my eyes. “I don’t know. Shit. I don’t know.”