“I didn’t mean to,” I said, slow to meet his stare. Green eyes, they reflected the light from the fire, and yet even with that added light, I still couldn’t get a read on him. He was older than us, older than me by about ten years I’d say, but he was still an heir. His father, Isaac Cunningham, was more of a CEO type than a criminal overlord, but I supposed when you were in charge of a company, you had to be ruthless and willing to do whatever it took to keep that company afloat. I couldn’t remember what exactly his father’s company did, though I was sure my own father had told me.
He wore a dark blazer, its collar turned up a bit. Cade was the kind of guy you never really knew what his next move would be, or what he’d say. He was intense to say the least, and yet that wasn’t so out of the ordinary when you took a look at each of us. We were all intense, in our own ways.
“I’m surprised you came,” I said. “You don’t really strike me as the kind of guy who likes coming to things like this.”
“Had to come, keep an eye on the competition.”
That got me to chuckle. “It’s our parents who are in a competition, not us—” As I said that, however, Cade looked at me like he thought I was the stupidest person around or he pitied me. Maybe both.
“If you really believe that, you don’t deserve to be here,” Cade spoke quietly, averting his gaze to the fire once more. “Why would they have our parents name their heirs officially if we are not being judged, too?”
Well, fuck. I didn’t think of that. That hadn’t even crossed my mind—but it should’ve. Cade was smart. I had to watch out for him.
“So that’s why you came here, huh? To keep an eye on us?” I grinned, downplaying my surprise. I didn’t want Cade to think I was stupid, even if I should’ve realized that before. We were all being watched by the Black Hand, not just our parents.
“Isn’t that why you did this?” Cade gestured around us, at the other people here. “To sniff out who’s who?” He must’ve sensed the truth, for he frowned at me. “Don’t tell me this was really just a party, that you didn’t even think—”
“You know, if you weren’t right, I might take offense at how stupid you think I am,” I deadpanned. I was about to say more, but right then, someone else pulled up, blaring his music so loudly in his car we could all hear it. He must have that base turned up as high as it could go.
Both Cade and I watched as someone got out of that car… someone I definitely didn’t remember inviting, mostly because I didn’t know who his heir was.
Damian. Didn’t know his last name, and neither did my father. For all the Moretti name did, we couldn’t figure out just who the fuck this Damian guy was, where he’d come from, or who he’d named as his heir, should he get the position on the Hand. He was, for better or worse, a mystery.
A mystery who looked like he ran the streets with his gang of thugs. But maybe that was just me watching too much TV.
Damian clapped his hands once, approaching the fire. I stared at him through the flames. He wore a ripped-up T-shirt, revealing many of the tattoos on his body. A thick gold chain hung around his neck. His brown hair was a little greasy, but maybe that was some kind of stylistic choice, because that hair was combed back, like he’d ran his hand through it.
“I’m here,” he said. “Didn’t get an invite though. I’m hurt. Who organized this little party?” He made a big show of glancing around, but no one spoke up. No one looked at me; they were all too busy looking at him.
Even the twins and Piper stared at him like they didn’t know what to make of him. This Damian fellow… he wasn’t like any of us, that’s for sure.
“I did,” I said, which caused the man to waltz around the fire, walking like he was packing—either a really big gun, or a really big… well, you know. The kind of walk that said: don’t mess with me, or you’ll regret it. That walk was typically done by someone who was used to needing fear to rule.
Not totally different from how we did things, I supposed. Fear could be a useful tool.
Damian sized me up. He was just under six feet tall, near my height. Older than me, though. Probably around Cade’s age, if I had to guess; very different from said man, however. “You’re… Luke, right?”
“Luca,” I corrected him, though I could tell he wasn’t fully invested in the conversation. Damian was busy looking all around, as if there was one particular person he’d come here for. I needed only one guess as to who that was: the same person I wanted to see above all the others, too. The one I was most curious about. The girl who’d worn white in a sea of black.
Although tonight she blended in with us well.
She was also alone in the forest somewhere, so that was a small comfort.
“Luca,” Damian echoed. “Right, right. Hope you don’t mind me crashing this little party.” Just by his tone, I knew that if I told him he wasn’t invited, he wouldn’t take the hint and leave. No, he’d stay, just to show me he could.
“This was meant for the heirs,” Cade told him. He must’ve felt the same about Damian as I did, for he went on, “Who is your heir, by the way? I don’t remember seeing him.” And he had to have an heir; he wouldn’t have made it past the first cut if he didn’t name an official heir.
“Oh, you see, I don’t have any children, so my,” Damian paused, his lips curling into a smile, “circumstance is different. My named heir is one of my close friends, actually.”
My eyebrows went together. “A friend? And you’re not worried that this friend is using you?”
He barked out a laugh, as if what I’d said was genuinely amusing. “Naw, I ain’t concerned. Where I come from, when you’re part of a crew, that crew is your life. You are the crew. Whether it’s me on the Hand or my friend, or his friend, or that friend’s friend—it don’t matter. The end result’s always the same.”
I said nothing, and all Cade could say was: “Interesting.” Eh, interesting was one way to put it.
“And besides, I see the girl who’s leaving the Black Hand right there.” He pointed to where Piper stood near the twins. “So don’t try to say this is just for heirs. Now, where’s that pretty girl in white, hmm? I was hoping to see her here tonight.”
“She’s not here,” I said, glancing at Cade, who didn’t speak up to say differently. I think we both knew we should try to keep this guy away from her. I didn’t get good vibes from him. Maybe because he was a different breed of criminal.
Damian smiled, though that smile came off more like a threat than anything else. “Guess I’ll just stick around for a while and see if she shows her pretty face.” He didn’t wait for me to say anything else. He wandered to the table with the food and picked at the snacks, getting his greasy fingers all over everything.
It was a while before I mumbled, “I don’t like that guy.”
To my shock, Cade agreed with me. “Me either. We have to be careful about that one. Someone who flaunts the rules is erratic and unpredictable.”
Unpredictable. That’s one way to put it. Add that onto the fact that he was obviously here to see Giselle, and I didn’t like him one bit.