ROCCO
Iwould be lying if I said I wasn’t avoiding Cassandra.
True, my duties to my work prevent me from staying longer than a few hours at my brownstone. But I remain locked in my room and have Donatella deliver my meals.
I had been a fool to think that taking Cas that night would somehow satiate my hunger for her. That had been a good enough excuse in my near-possessed state of lust.
But if anything, that desire seems to have expanded tenfold. And the creature I will surely become in her presence is not one I care to inflict on anyone.
Especially her. She did not ask for my affections, willing as she was to accept them. And God, did she accept them…
But that does not condemn her to a life trapped in my bedchamber for me to pursue her body at my pleasure… as delightful as that might be to my baser instincts. I am still very much a coward when it comes to them
“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you?” Teo says at my side.
From the way Martino glances at me in the rearview mirror, I imagine he shares Teo’s sentiment.
If anything were to cleanse my mind of Cas’ tender breast between my teeth, it would surely be today’s meeting.
In the week since the fake contract between Lazzaro and I was concluded, he has remained infuriatingly uninteresting.
Sure, he has been spotted in the private rooms of theElectrixalmost every night, indulging himself in drugs and women, if Alessandro’s reports are to be believed. But there is still nothing from his contact with the rat.
“And subject you to Giuliano’s torment?” I brush Teo off. “Believe it or not, I know you well enough to surmise that one of you will not leave that conversation alive.”
Teo’s fists clench, and I have to look away from the man I would happily call brother.
It had been the worst request on my father’s list. Being asked to protect the family that had killed Teo’s had been torture. Likely, he only included it to torment us both, but it still weighed heavily that I had accepted. Even Teo himself had implored me to do so.
“I’m still not convinced you will gain anything valuable from him.” Teo diverts the conversation to safer, more well trodden territory.
“It is in his best interests to protect the Guild, even if it means answering to me,” I say, despite my own reservations.
But at this point, any insight into the identity of the rat would be valuable. Even just to cross my father off the list of potential suspects.
“We’re here, boss,” Martino says gruffly as we pull up to a stop on the Upper East Side.
The tower of glass that greets us as we exit is familiar, although I haven’t stepped foot inside since Giuliano’s retirement. Teo offers me a curt nod before I go on without him.
The staff can barely raise their eyes to look at me as I approach the elevator, punching in the code to grant me access to the topmost floor.
My father’s penthouse is more modest than the home I grew up in. He had sold the Moretti Manor himself in an attempt to pay off the Guild’s debts before he had been forced to retire.
It was only one of many reasons the lieutenants petitioned me to seek my inheritance early, but perhaps the most significant. The Moretti name had suffered a great deal under my father’s brutal leadership.
But walking into his den now, it was almost hard to imagine him as anything but docile.
“You must think I have become something of a cliche,” the graying man says without turning to greet me. His hands are occupied with the tending of an impressive array of greenery.
“That depends,” I reply as I approach his makeshift greenhouse. The floor-to-ceiling windows that lead out to the balcony beyond seem to be the perfect climate for his cultivations. “How many of those plants are legal to grow in the US?”
Giuliano smirks to himself. “I’m sure there are some around here somewhere.”
Indeed, my father’s garden is no mere retirement playground. I note several notable drugs and poisons residing within his carefully pruned collection.
“What is it you want, boy?”
I cross my arms as he slowly removes his gardening gloves. “Does a man need an excuse to visit his father?”
