Page 29 of Legacy of Deception

The door swung open, and in strolled Carmine who looked like he’d have rather been anywhere else in the world. I knew the feeling well. “Lisa Marie said you were in here,” he explained, which explained nothing at all. Certainly not why he was here too.

Vito nodded and gestured to the couch and chairs arrangement, standing as if he was going to sit with us. “Thanks for coming. I’ll get to it, but first, I’d like to give Marco a chance to finish whatever he was going to say before you came in.”

I thought about how I was going to complete my sentence, basically telling him I didn’t have time for his shit, and decided against it. “It’s nothing.”

“Good because I don’t have all day.” Carmine plucked at his shirt, a wolfish glint moving across his features. In a way, the response aligned strongly with the harsh chisel of his nose, the result of an old break. I wondered if he still thought about the woman who had caused his now rugged facial topography. “I’ve got a date I need to pick up. I’m taking her to Toni’s by the water.”

“Who is this girl? She must be something special.” Carmine didn’t take just anyone to Toni’s. “What’s she got, a platinum pussy?” I asked.

“I haven’t slept with her yet,” he said, lifting his bushy brows.

“If you two are done,” Vito said, putting on his reading glasses. He threw down a file folder and cracked it open. “Do either of you know about Aries?”

“The zodiac sign or Aries Las Vegas?” I asked, sitting down and anticipating he was talking about the second one.

Carmine took a seat next to me, his posture simultaneously relaxed and on edge. “The resort and casino?”

Vito smiled, and a jolt of liquid ice trickled down my spine. He was definitely up to something. “The very one.”

“Why? You planning on throwing me a bachelor party out there?” I doubted it very much but wanted to see how he’d respond. I also didn’t want to give him anything, not that I had much I could offer, but my lack of trust for him kept my guard up.

“I almost forgot you’re getting hitched.” Carmine slapped me on the back and nodded before finally sitting back on the couch. Was he no longer in a rush to leave? “So, you’re flying us all out on your private jet, Vito? I do love Air Vito. You have better food than Dad has on Air Deluca.”

“That’s because I have a better chef.”

Maybe Carmine didn’t care about getting out of here, but if I had to listen to any more of Vito’s pissing contest with our father, then I was putting an end to this meeting. Besides, the less interaction I had with him, the better. “So, thanks, brother. I accept your offer.” I stood.

Vito shook his head and took his glasses off, dropping them on the top of the stack of papers in his folder. “I’m not throwing you anything. I wanted to know what you know about Father’s motives with Briggs. And I was curious if maybe you knew about this place.”

“Then you came to the wrong brothers,” Carmine said, shrugging, the corner of his lips turning up like he thought Vito was an idiot, but he wouldn’t say so.

“If it’s not in Europe, Lorenzo wouldn’t know of it, so he was out. I can’t ask Dominic because he is so far removed from the corporate world. Dario wouldn’t enlighten me even if he did know something. Rocco—”

I shook my head. I couldn’t listen to him go on for another second. “Massimo. If you should be asking anyone, it’s Mass. He lives for Vegas. He can probably tell you about every place on the Strip.”

“I called him. He didn’t pick up.”

“Smart,” Carmine muttered.

“Lucky.” I turned to face the door of his office. “Why do you care about Aries?” I asked, knowing I needed to finish this if I was ever going to leave.

“Dad’s being courted,” Vito explained. News like that had me spinning back around, but he didn’t seem to be divulging anything more. Was he holding back on us or was he as in the dark about it as we were?

“Why didn’t I know about this?” Carmine asked, sounding more than a little annoyed. Probably because it would’ve made sense for him to know, seeing as he was in acquisitions for Deluca Industries.

Vito shook his head. “I was hoping you did. That was why I called you.”

Carmine grimaced. “Yeah, well, I don’t.”

“Maybe for good reason then,” I countered, as I tried to put the pieces together. “Not all investments are acquisitions. So, that means Father’s wanted strictly as a minority investor.”

“You didn’t know that?” Carmine asked Vito, his tone as suspicious of our brother as I felt.

Vito shook his head, his expression placid. “I don’t have the specifics.” He rubbed his hands together, his initial ring catching the light, which only made him appear more like our father than ever before.

“Okay, but Aries is owned by The Denning Group. Why are they looking for investors? And from Santo Deluca, CEO of his own publicly traded corporation, no less?” Carmine questioned, his brows crumpling as he fell silent.

“They’re not. Remember my friend, EJ Gray?” Again with that guy. Son of a bitch. This has to be what the email to Dad was about that Lorenzo saw. I listened closely as he continued now that EJ was somehow involved. “He wants to buy it, but he doesn’t have enough capital on his own. Apparently, there’s an opportunity there.”