I head downstairs after finishing my coffee, completely charged and ready to get a workout in the gym, proud of the accomplishments I’ve made in getting my physical strength back in the last six months. I’m stronger and I bet I can outrun most people for an hour straight. Running is a sanctuary, a way to disappear, putting on my headphones and just leaving everything in the past behind. It’s just me and the breeze of the fan coming from the treadmill and the beat of the music in my head.
By the time I’m done pounding the treadmill, I’m a hot sweaty mess, but still, I force myself to the weight station, because no matter what, three days a week, it’s what I do. A routine to help with my journey of healing, getting strong, and breaking free from this caged life I lead. It’s not like they’re holding me prisoner, but they may as well be as guarded as I amby Massimo Roselli’s soldiers and Delz, the soldier whose been with Sophia and me for years.
The minute I’m showered, I settle in at the desk in the corner of my suite. Situated in the opposite wing of Massimo and Sophia in this vast estate, and even with that much square feet between living spaces, I swear I can still hear them going at it multiple times a night.
The thought makes me genuinely happy for Sophia but sometimes it just brings back too many memories of the love I thought I’d found with Barcelo. How anyone can be so sweet at the beginning and brutally cruel in the end is beyond me. I blame the crime families. Always instilling the importance of power, position, and money into their sons from an early age.
I reread the applications on my desk for the umpteenth time. I was never going to do anything other than help run the Cassone empire for Daddy, until Barcelo Gallini tried to take it over and Papa let him. Who knows what’s going to happen to all the property, what was promised to who, who owns what. Maybe it’s all gone along with Papa, and Barcelo, and it’s all just a distant dream.
I push the applications aside. Business degree, accounting. Do I really want to go to four years of college to do what I already know how to do, have been doing for years for the Cassones? Maybe I should just take Massimo and Sophia up on their offer to work for the Roselli Crime family. Plenty of jobs in the organization. I could look around, see what fits.
My cell buzzes and I pick it up. Addie sounds rushed and breathless as always. “Hey, did you get a special delivery today?”
I smile through the phone at one of my closest friends. “Yes but haven’t gone through all the mail. Why?”
Addie pauses. “I had an invitation sent. Do you see it, red envelope, gold lettering?”
I flip through the pile, and the small square envelope falls onto my desk. “I do, and what pray tell is it an invitation to?” I ask, already grasping the letter opener to see for myself.
She sucks in an audible breath. “Before you say no … I’m going and thought you would like to attend too. I know the person who runs the club. She’s an old friend; we go back a long way, so she agreed to send you an invite. Otherwise, it’s members only.”
I slit the polished red envelope with the silver letter opener and pull out a very luxurious and linen like piece of paper.
Anna,
A special Masqueradeinvitation has been extended to you by a friend. Hope to see you here on Friday.
Xoxo,Mistress Valentino
I readthe details of the time and location typed on the bottom of the letter. This Friday. “A masquerade ball, at DeLuca X Club? Isn’t that in Atlantic City?”
Addie squeals as though she’s been holding her breath. “It is, and I have rooms at the DeLuca Hotel and Casino. We need a ladies’ getaway. What do you say?”
My breath hitches with apprehension. DeLuca. One that owed Massimo a debt and got forced to help get me out of the enemy’s lair when I was left to die. Too battered and weak to even open my eyes, all I can remember is the sound of his voice trying to soothe me, the feel of his strong arms and breath on my face as he held me close for so long.
I inhale a deep breath. If it’s a DeLuca club, there’s every chance he could be there. My brother-in-law will have a meltdown and when Massimo Roselli is in protective mode, people can lose their lives.
But it is a masquerade ball. I’ll be in a mask. I’m not the same girl I was six months ago. He saw me at my worst, undernourished, bruised and battered. Even on the slight chance that Vincenzo DeLuca is there, he won’t recognize me. Besides, everyone in the crime family circles thinks I’m dead. I have to stop letting Massimo and Sophia’s paranoia get to me. This is what I need.
Addie clears her throat. “Earth to Anna.”
“I’m thinking. You know how paranoid my sister and her husband are. Massimo swears it’s not safe for me to be out and about. Since he took over as don, he’s gotten even more protective of anyone in the family. He only lets me come to your house because our soldiers guard your family.”
She laughs. “Yeah, the Rosellis safeguard those who protect them that’s for damn sure. Wouldn’t want their attorneys getting ripped off or shot or killed. But seriously, my entire family appreciates the security the Rosellis give us while taking care of their legal needs.”
Addie’s not wrong, they’ve got men guarding our accountants and everyone who could inadvertently be a target on the Gallini’s list. I should be scared about venturing this far away from the Roselli soldiers and into DeLuca territory but instead butterflies dance in my belly.
“What safer place to go for a girls’ weekend than to another crime family’s casino and hotel? It’s not like we would run into any of the Gallinis there. Besides, I seriously do not think they’re looking for me anyway. They believe that I’m dead, right? Everyone does. Even if they are looking for me, which I don’tthink they are, they would never look there. Massimo and my sister just need to stop worrying so much.”
My best friend is a brilliant attorney and can be very persuasive. “Right, and besides, we’ll all be in masks. No one will even know who you are. You said you always wanted to try one of these clubs. Now’s your chance to get out and breathe a little bit.”
I did say that, and it was true a long time ago before Barcelo. He was just never that much into anything except wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, well, without the thank you. And then the ever-constant barrage of questions. “Did you take a pregnancy test? Are you pregnant?”
Why I never saw him for what he really was, I don’t know. A man who just wanted to use me to seal the unbreakable tie between the Cassone and Gallini families and give him a son. I was nothing more than a business deal. Until we figured out that no matter how much we tried, I just wasn’t going to get pregnant. Then I was of no use to him at all. Not if he could get the family business a different way. Because, after all, that was always the play.
I try to dispel thoughts of that evil prick from my mind. I’m a new person, I am not the same sad woman Barcelo left behind half dead when he fled. I am Anna Cassone and it’s about damn time I started acting like the woman I was born to be. The woman I was trained to be and who craves to learn exactly what those sex clubs are all about. Something special, just for me.
“Yes.” One word and it surprises even me. The minute it leaves my lips, my heart beats faster, my mind racing with all the what ifs and scenarios, or excuses in the world but I push every single one of them away. This could be the most exciting time of my life. I am going.