Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
I’m confused, but then, a moment later, I realize what he’s doing when I feel a tugging, a snapping.
The wings. He’s broken them off.
He looks down at the delicate vellum wings in his hands then back at me. The grin he gives me sends ice down my spine and when I wrap my arms around myself at the sudden cold, he seems satisfied.
“Take her,” he commands.
2
CASSIAN
Idon’t linger after she’s gone. I’ve said all I came to say. Every set of eyes is on me as I walk out of what was once Alaric Moretti’s house, the crowd parting like the sea parted for Moses. The silence is heavy, our footfalls loud on hardwood and echoing off the vaulted ceilings. It’s as if they’re all holding their breath.
Angelo and Enzo fall in line beside me. “Unexpected twist,” Angelo says. Angelo is my uncle, my father’s brother. Enzo, his son, glances at his father but remains quiet. My cousin has always been the strong, silent type.
“I’m full of surprises, Uncle.”
Once outside, I watch the taillights of the SUV carrying Allegra Moretti disappear. Something shifts the moment the vehicle is out of sight. It’s subtle but it’s there, a nameless thing.
I came here tonight to deliver my message to Michael Moretti. I didn’t intend on taking his sister. I’d never given Allegra Moretti a thought before she walked into her father’s study. Before the moment she laid her full weight against that door and exhaled like she’d been holding her breath for hours.
“You going to see your father?” my uncle asks.
I nod once, turn to face him.
“Let me know how he’s doing.”
“I will. Find out what you can about Malek Lombardi, will you?”
“Of course.”
“Boss,” Enzo says, opening the back door to my SUV.
“Thanks, Enzo.” I climb in, then turn to face him. “Go to the house, will you? I can handle this. I don’t want anyone mishandling her.”
He raises his eyebrows, chuckles. “Sure thing.” He closes the door.
“Blackstone’s,” I tell the driver. Blackstone’s is the club where I’ll be meeting my stepbrothers, Jethro and Severin Blackstone, and Sybil, my stepmother. My father was supposed to attend, which was the only reason I agreed to dinner, but when I was informed at the last minute that he didn’t feel well enough, I didn’t see the point.
I take my phone out of my pocket and settle into the seat to check my messages. Three snarky texts from Sybil, a gif of someone smashing his head repeatedly against a wall from Jet, and radio silence from Severin. I can just imagine his sour face as he sits there nursing the single whiskey he’ll drink all night long.
A message from Vivi comes in before I put the phone away. I click on it. It’s a picture of Gage, my nephew, in his Halloween costume. Spiderman, muscles built in. I smile.
Vivi is my almost sister-in-law. She’d have married my brother, Seth, if things hadn’t gone south like they did. I’m the only member of our family that she will have anything to do with now.
Me: He’s spending too much time at the gym to get those muscles
Vivi: He went to sleep in it.
She sends a follow up text with Gage in his bed, hand clutching the handle of a plastic pumpkin which is loaded with candy.
Me: Pick out the Snickers for me.
Vivi: You get the coconut ones. They’re gross. Happy Halloween.
She goes offline and I tuck the phone into my pocket as we approach Blackstone’s.
“I don’t plan on staying long, so stick around,” I tell the driver. I’m just going to run up and check in on my father. I want to get home. I’m anxious to see the Little Moth.
I walk toward the entrance of the Blackstone’s, the private club my stepfamily owns. Well, the club my father and I now own forty-nine percent of. The clientele are the elite of Devil’s Peak and it’s what brought my father to this town. It’s where he met my stepmother, Sybil, the Blackstone heiress. Or at least she was one before they lost all their money. Now she’s Sybil Blackstone-Trevino and Severin and Jet manage Blackstone Holdings.
The club, which had been in her family for generations, was nearly bankrupt when she met Dad. In addition, during her brief time at the helm of Blackstone Holdings, Sybil had purchased several casinos in Atlantic City of which only one remains. By the time she met my father, the club and the casino the family was clinging on to were in desperate need of a lifeline. They were hemorrhaging money and given that Devil’s Peak is just a few hours north of New York City and a lot of wealthy, influential people, some even legitimate, have second homes here, saving the club made for a good investment for us. Although we do not have any holdings in the casino itself, we own the building that houses it and the hotel.