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After meeting briefly with Carlo, I am shown out to the back garden. While I long to pace, to stretch and untie the knots within me, I do not dare. Carlo can never know how much I want this.
The momentthe door is closed behind her, Carlo is on me. “A month isn’t enough time for a wedding big enough.”
“I have the money to make it enough.” I walk past him into his office. Barely managing not to take a swing at him when I get within arm’s reach.
“A month is enough time. My wedding was done in half that. It will not be an issue.” Dom shrugs as he sits down across from me.
“You’re the one saying sheets must be presented, which is disgusting. However, I will allow the sheets to be presented if you agree to the month. Make me wait and there will be no sheets.” Italians and their ridiculous clinging to old-world customs. Then I sigh as I admit Russians are no better, simply in different ways.
“It’s too soon.” Carlo shakes his head, narrowing his eyes on me. “Why do you need a wife so fast?”
I meet Dom’s eyes across the room. His tell me to tell Carlo. The old man would need to know eventually. “I’m dealing with issues in my family. My uncle has Feds and other authorities circling him. With our names the same, and as our businesses were also tied together until I took over, I need to appear nothing more than a bland businessman. I’m already arranging marriages among my brothers as well.”
He shakes his head. “Keep talking.”
Giving in, I admit, “With him sinking, he wants me dead with the ridiculous idea he can take over my business here in Chicago and leave his problems behind in New York.”
His hand goes up. “Absolutely not. This is over. I didn’t spend twenty fucking years ensuring they hated me to keep them safe for you to come along—”
“Carlo.” It’s Celia’s mother, Cassandra. “We discussed this.” Standing at Carlo’s side, her hand goes down on his. “He will protect her. You cannot say no to him.”
“His brother’s wife died nineteen months into their marriage pregnant with their child. I’ll be damned if the same thing will happen to Celia or Carina.” Carlo shakes his head.
“How do you know of Vasily’s wife? What do you mean? Are you only pretending to be a fucker to them to keep them safe?”
Chapter16
Milos
His eyes fall from mine,he clings to Cassandra’s hand. “I honestly don’t know anymore. Cassandra cares for them and I’ll do whatever it takes to make her happy.”
She runs a hand over his cheek. “It is okay.You need to make him understand. The girls are not truly safe.”
“What the hell do you mean they are not truly safe?” I demand. I’ve been watching Celia like a hawk for four years. I never saw a threat within a mile of her.
Carlo sighs. “I wanted to marry Cassandra—wearemarried, but her name has never been changed. We were going to do it right. I’d gotten permission from Moretti. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed. But only a week after he gave permission, before I could announce it, there was an attempt on Cassandra’s life. Someone tried to run her down. I got a note the next day saying it wasn’t an accident.”
Shaking his head. “When she was getting checked out we discovered she was pregnant. I was going to let her go but when I find out about the baby—I couldn’t. A part of me was worried it was due to me possibly having an heir. It was just a year after my boy died of that overdose. I hadn’t set up who would take over for me. I realized I couldn’t marry Cassandra, but I couldn’t let her go either, especially if it was a boy.”
He pulls Cassandra into his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her. “I married her, but we did it in Wisconsin, then I made it clear I was breaking things off with her to keep her and the baby safe. She went to St. Louis, close but not too close. Once it was a girl we figured it was safe. She came back to Chicago. I pretended that I didn’t care about Celia, refused to give her my name, and played the racist bullshit card, saying she was too Filipino. I didn’t want anything to do with her.”
An honest to god chuckle comes out of him. “You should have seen Celia as a baby—cutest fucking thing. Had the squinty, slanted eyes and chubby cheeks. Looked as Filpino as could be. You would never know she was going to grow into the beauty she is now.”
I look to Dom in astonishment. He’s as surprised as I am.
“Then I had an issue with my birth control right after having Celia and got pregnant again. I messed up.” Cassandra sighs.
“You didn’t know.” Carlo shakes his head. “But when it came out she was pregnant again, I got another damn letter threatening her. As deep as I dug I couldn’t find anyone it could be from. We were both relieved as hell when Carina was born. But it was scary because Cassandra got a note in the damn hospital. So I freaked and brought the girls behind my gates. Said it was because Cassandra wasn’t speaking Italian with them the way I wanted them to. Really we were trying to figure out where the threat was coming from.”
He sighs as he looks at Cassandra. “But we never did. I pushed it for years. I claimed I didn’t want anything to do with the girls. Sometimes I meant it. After Leo’s death I couldn’t stand the thought of losing another child. There was also the fear that someone in the family could get to them if they married into the family. There was never a plan for them to marry intola familia—they were going to marry citizens. I made it clear they weren’t good enough forlafamilia,but it was to keep anyone from getting ideas about them.
“We thought everything was fine. There were no notes for so long we almost forgot about it. Then Celia’s high school graduation came and two days later another note arrived at the house. It was a congratulations to Celia. I recognized who it was from immediately. The same person who had been sending them all these years.” Cassandra runs a hand over her face. “If she had found and married a civilian in college, we would have been relieved. But she didn’t.”
“I didn’t pay for her school because I didn’t want her going away. If she’d stayed in Chicago I could keep an eye on her. That far away…I didn’t want her so far from me. Then she got that damn scholarship. Every damn week was hell. Wondering if someone would go after her. All I got were weekly reports from a professor.” Carlo shakes his head.
“Then she did come up missing for a week. I about shit a brick.” Anguish I’ve never seen in him before is clear on his face. “When she was back she was different. We were afraid they’d gotten to her and she didn’t even realize it.”
Cassandra runs a soothing hand over Carlo. “It was then we decided if she didn’t come back with a husband, we would marry them into the Outfit.”
