Chapter 10 - The Man Cassian Trusted Most
Cassian refused.
I went anyway.
"You can't protect my mother by locking me in another room."
"You are pregnant."
"And she has dementia."
"Exactly why Vittorio chose her."
"Then stop letting him choose."
Cassian stared at me.
Our marriage had begun as a contract.
Now we stood in a parking garage arguing like two people who had far more to lose.
Finally, he handed me a bulletproof vest.
"Under your coat."
I put it on.
The overpass where Dad died looked ordinary.
That offended me.
Some places should look haunted.
This one had traffic.
Concrete.
Guardrails.
We arrived after midnight.
Ezra drove separately.
Celeste had vanished again.
At the crash site, we found Mom's wheelchair.
Empty.
A phone rested on the seat.
It rang.
Vittorio.
"Elena."
"Where is she?"
"Below."
We looked over the barrier.
An access road ran beneath the bridge.
A black SUV waited there.
Cassian grabbed my hand.
"No improvising."
"That's rich coming from a mafia boss."
For a second, his mouth almost moved.
Then we descended.
Vittorio stood beside Mom.
Three armed men surrounded him.
One was familiar.
Luca Raldi.
Cassian's cousin.
Cassian's face hardened.
"Luca."
"Sorry."
"You will be."
Vittorio laughed.
"Always so dramatic."
He wanted the archive.
I told him we didn't have it.
He wanted the ownership transfer signed.
I refused.
He raised a gun toward Mom.
Cassian stepped forward.
"I'll sign over my interests."
Vittorio shook his head.
"Not yours."
He looked at me.
"Hers."
That was when Ezra arrived.
His gun pointed at Vittorio.
Then slowly shifted.
Toward Cassian.
My heart stopped.
Cassian looked at the man who had protected him for sixteen years.
"Ezra."
"I'm sorry."
Vittorio smiled.
I understood.
Celeste's whispered words.
Ask Vittorio who your father is.
Ezra was the second heir.
The supposedly dead Raldi twin.
Vittorio had known.
He had raised him close to Cassian without revealing why.
A spare heir.
A controllable one.
Ezra's hand shook.
"Put the gun down," I said.
He looked at me.
"Vittorio has my mother."
"Your mother disappears whenever truth gets close."
"He's got her."
Vittorio held up a phone.
Live video.
Celeste tied to a chair.
Ezra closed his eyes.
Cassian didn't move.
"Do what you need to do."
Ezra's eyes opened.
"Don't say that."
"You've saved my life more times than I can count."
"Stop."
"If mine buys hers—"
"Stop."
Vittorio shouted, "Shoot him!"
The gun fired.
I screamed.
Cassian staggered.
Then one of Vittorio's men fell.
Ezra had shot past Cassian.
Chaos erupted.
Cassian pulled me behind concrete.
Luca ran.
Vittorio dragged Mom toward the SUV.
I chased him.
"Elena!"
I reached Mom first.
Vittorio grabbed my hair.
Then Cassian hit him.
Hard.
Ezra disarmed the final guard.
Police sirens rose in the distance.
Vittorio lay bleeding but conscious.
He looked at Ezra and laughed.
"You think you're his brother?"
Ezra froze.
Vittorio smiled through bloody teeth.
"That's what your mother told you?"
Cassian grabbed him.
"What are you saying?"
Vittorio looked at me instead.
"The second baby wasn't Ezra."
Silence.
Then he said:
"Ask Maryanne."
We all turned toward my mother.
May you like
She was awake.
And for the first time in years, she looked completely lucid.
