Page 28 of The Villain
“I don’t have a room!” I tell him again.
Cassian takes a step toward me. Jet rushes to block him, his back to me.
“Be smart. Get the fuck out of here. Now,” he tells me without looking at me.
Cassian’s jaw is set, eyes locked on me over his brother’s shoulder. I decide not to stick around. I hurry back to his bedroom, slam the door, then go into the bathroom where I can lock myself in. I lean my back against it and listen to my panicked breaths, trying to calm myself, not sure how that all just went so completely sideways.
8
CASSIAN
“Is she the reason you left so quickly last night?” Jet asks.
I watch Jet watch Allegra disappear. When the door slams shut, he looks at me, raising his eyebrows, waiting for my answer.
“My reasons are none of your business,” I say, not liking him surprising me here like this. Not liking him looking at her. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Talked to my contact this morning and thought you might be interested in what she had to say.”
His contact is the woman who tipped him off that the call that led to the raid and seizure of my shipment came from Moretti.
I take a deep breath in and exhale. “I am,” I say, and turn back to the kitchen where I pour Jet a cup of coffee, top mine off then lead the way to my study. Once we’re inside, I close the door. “Sit,” I tell Jet, but remain standing, leaning against my desk and sipping my coffee. TheLittle Moth is still taking up too much space in my mind and I need to focus.
“I can come back. You seem… distracted.”
“I’m not. Sit.”
He shrugs and takes a seat on the couch. “They found something in that shipment that’s apparently got them looking in a different direction. A group out of Russia.”
“What?” I ask, surprised. I safeguard shipments so they can’t be linked to me should they be seized. It’s happened before. Ultimately, it’s an odd game, even if there’s no snitch, it can happen. In this case, the Feds managed to link it to me. That’d be Moretti’s doing because I know for a fact they wouldn’t have found evidence in the shipment. Them showing up at the casino was a flex. My stepbrothers aren’t involved in mafia business. They wouldn’t know anything to give anything away. That was the Feds sending me a message.
“Russians,” he repeats. “It’s a small group.” He opens his jacket to take out an envelope he has tucked into his breast pocket and sets it on the coffee table. He leans back and crosses his ankle over the opposite knee and sips his coffee. “Malek Lombardi provided this new evidence just this morning.”
“Lombardi?”
He nods.
“What the fuck is he doing?”
Jet shrugs a shoulder. I study my stepbrother. Ever since his mother married my father, he’s been curious about mafia business. Where Severin has made a point of steering very clear of my family, Jet’s not queasy. Notthat Severin’s queasy. Money like we have doesn’t go hand in hand with queasy. Severin’s made it very clear he wants his little brother out of this side of things, but thing is, Jet’s not a kid anymore. He’s a grown man and although I don’t include him in Trevino business, given his name, he has contacts I do not and can be valuable. After my shipment was seized, he’s the one who got me Moretti’s name. But I’ll only allow him so far. Jethro and I are not related by blood and at the end of the day, blood matters. We may be stepbrothers, but our two worlds will remain separated. That’s the one thing Severin and I agree on.
After a too long silence, I take the seat across from Jet. I set my coffee down and pick up the envelope to read what’s inside. The Russian group is one I vaguely remember hearing about years ago. They’re not important, not here.
“Malek Lombardi sent them barking up the wrong tree?”
Jet nods. “Maybe he wants the girl back. I heard she had a marriage contract in place that would be politically advantageous.”
“And where did you hear that?” I ask. I’d heard rumors about a marriage contract, but there’s no reason Jet should know.
“Can’t remember. Why did you take her? That’s not how you operate.”
“You know how I operate?” I raise my eyebrows.
He shrugs a shoulder. “I know you. You don’t involve the women. Isn’t that a rule of yours?”
I toss the sheet of paper onto the coffee table andpick up my mug. “What do you know about my rules, Jet?”
“Take it easy, Cassian. I’m on your side. Things just looked a little heated out there and it’s not like you.”
