Page 18 of Cassio (Belles & Mobsters 3)

“Cassio, I have to admit, I expected you to name and claim your debt by now,” Jack started. I knew he wouldn’t beat around the bush. And I knew he hated being in my debt. Truthfully, until tonight, I couldn’t have cared less if he ever paid it. But now… there was something, rather someone, I wanted. And I knew he was the ticket to getting her. The debt he owed me would be paid and she was the only one that could settle it.

“Why so eager to pay up?” I asked him casually.

He grunted and the head of the Irish actually rolled his eyes. Áine must be rubbing off on him. I’ve seen her roll her eyes quite a few times tonight when we first ran into each other.

“I don’t want that debt hanging over me.”

It made sense. I wouldn’t either.

“You came to me, Callahan,” I reminded him. “You pledged anything, as long as I did that one job for you.”

He should have been careful in offering up anything I wanted for a rescue. But then I suspected he wasn’t in the right frame of mind. If I had to guess, it was shortly before he came to me that he found out about his daughter.

“And I stand by my word,” he grumbled.

“I’m curious though,” I retorted dryly. “What made you so sure I wouldn’t betray you to Benito?”

I watched emotions flicker over his aged face. He was the same age as Benito. While my father’s way of life took a toll on him, it hadn’t on Callahan. Jack’s clear blue eyes were sharp and his silver hair evidence of wisdom years of ruling the Irish brought him. Of course, Jack didn’t torture little girls and women either.

“The fact that you don’t think of Benito as your father,” he replied, surprising me. “And I had a contingency plan if you betrayed me. I gambled, but not reaching out would have been a bigger gamble. I wasn’t willing to let my pride cost Áine her life.”

Callahan was a much better man than Benito would ever be.

My driver pulled in front of me. He had been waiting on the corner, knowing I never stayed around long here. This might have been my longest visit to my nightclub ever.

“How is Áine?” I asked him instead. I could feel him eying me suspiciously. I opened the car door. “Want a ride home?”

The suspicion lingered on his face, and I was almost tempted to roll my own eyes. “If I wanted you dead, Jack, you’d already be dead. You are no good to me dead so don’t fret.”

“Fine,” he grumbled and typed a quick message on his phone. Probably notifying someone he was hitching a ride with me. In case he turned up dead and all that.

He slid into the seat and I followed suit. The driver put the car into drive and took off. I knew Jack didn’t forget my first question, but I wouldn’t ask him again. He might have a bad temper, but he wasn’t stupid.

“Áine is good,” he finally answered. “Moving from London was a bit hard on the girl, but she came through.” I nodded. Her mother married Callahan a year after the prime minister was murdered. By my own father. But only a handful of people knew that, including Luca, Nico, and I. The prime minister was murdered the same year we saved Áine from the human traffickers. Afterwards, Áine and her mother moved to the States and lived with Callahan in New York under his protection. You’d think across the ocean would have been safer. Except that aligning with a worthy opponent, like the head of the Irish mafia, was safer in this instance.

She had been so close, but strangely our paths never crossed until now.

“About the debt I owe you,” he started, swiftly changing subjects. Or maybe not so swiftly since my mind was already made up. I slid open my phone, reading a message from Luciano. “I am open to offering up territory, payment, or a marriage alliance.”

Bingo!

I kept my eyes on the phone and my expression unmoving. “To Áine Evans?” I asked casually, as if surprised.

There was no need for Jack’s next words. I knew the answer before he opened his mouth. His whole body tensed, and I could see it from the peripheral, his face turned blood red from rage.

“Áine isn’t part of any deals,” he gritted out. I flicked my eyes up and cocked my eyebrow. “And she never will be. She has no connection to the mafia, with the exception of being my step-daughter.”

Interesting. He was willing to deny their blood relation to spare her.

Callahan kept her away from all his business associates and events. She finished high school here in the States, under the protection of Callahan and his men. Then she went off to college to study architecture. In our world, he kept her life as normal as possible.

“Maybe that’s exactly what our world needs,” I told him casually. “More humanity that comes from people outside the underworld. They have a better gauge for right and wrong, you know.” I thought Callahan would get a brain seizure; I could practically feel his anger boiling and steaming up the car. The bastard in me couldn’t resist taunting him a bit. “Besides, let’s not forget you approached me and offered me any debt. Your exact words were you’d give meanythingI wanted.”

He knew his mistake. You never offeranythingto sinners like us.

“No sane man would ever let any innocent into our world,” he gritted out. “She has suffered enough. I’d rather have war than let her get mixed into this shit.”

And there it was. A declaration of war.

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