“Yes, I did, Dante,” I said with a sneer. “Call me curious. I like to know what I’m walking into. Don’t forget the time Adrian got ambushed by an undercover reporter. Or need I mention the time you got caught by an undercover cop?”
Dante folded his arms and squeezed his ribs. He wouldn’t strike me in front of Ellie; unfortunately, he knew I wouldn’t smack him in front of her either. You could say she kept family professional when it needed to be.
“Here you are, Mr. Vale,” Ellie said, handing me the list. As soon as she did, she left the room and shut the door.
“You’re never one to care who attends an event,” Dante said, but I ignored him. One, that wasn’t entirely true, and two, it was only true for events where I knew there was zero chance a certain someone would show up.
But I knew that a certain someone was from Las Vegas. I knew a certain someone wouldn’t be able to stay away from this town forever, especially with the Black Reaper-King’s Men chaos having wound down.
And I strongly suspected a certain someone wouldn’t be able to stay away from my presence.
I scanned the list. Actually, that was false; I skipped down the list, all the way down to the last names beginning with “C.” The rest, Dante was right about. I didn’t give a shit if an A-list actress or a famous porn star showed up anymore than I cared if my next door neighbor’s cousin showed up.
Sasha Carter.
I laughed.
“The fuck’s so funny?”
Sasha Carter?
No.
Sarah Carpenter.
The woman who always found a way to worm her way into my fucking thoughts. The woman who had been mine and mine alone two decades ago.
The woman who fucked everything up and had to flee before I became the monster she knew I could be.
Just two months later, when you got my brother in a car…
Sirens. Flashing lights.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Vale, but your brother did not make it.”
“Cassius?”
“How the fuck can he not make it? Who the fuck was driving?”
“We have to do an investigation, Cassius. Your brother was the only one here.”
“He did not fucking drive. No, I know. I know. I know who fucking crashed this car.”
“Cassius! Hey!”
I shook out of my thoughts as Dante grabbed my shoulder. He relaxed when I looked into his eyes.
“I know what you’re thinking of, brother,” Dante said, his voice deep but subdued. “I keep telling you, best thing you can do?—”
“Is forget it, I know,” I said. Of all of us, I had the hardest time. My little brother, Virgil, was the one I was closest to. Why? Who fucking knows.
But now that the driver of that car was back in town…
It was time for payback. Time to make her suffer for what she did. Time to get her under my grip, to show her pain, to show her who was in charge of her life. And it would not be her.
“I will be going to the gala tonight, Dante,” I said. “I have business to attend to.”
“You?” Dante said. “What’s really going on, Cassius? We have managers to take care of this kind of shit. Art galleries aren’t your thing.”
