Page 200 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Or was she really good at pretending to be?

Cross didn’t get the chance to ask. Catherine stormed out of the walk-in closet. His phone started ringing as the penthouse door slammed loudly a few seconds later.

He didn’t know how much longer they could do this.

“You got a minute to chat, or what?” Cross asked.

Andino looked up from the tablet in his hand, and waved at the empty seat next to him. “Sit, man.”

Cross took a seat, although he didn’t intend to stay for long. “How’s your side of New York?”

“Busy as fuck. Busier now that I’m working on getting my button.”

“Shit, I know that.”

Andino glanced across the table. “Fun being anybody’s bitch boy, isn’t it?”

Cross smirked. “I mean, you might be that for somebody.”

“Don’t act like every Capo in your family doesn’t have your number on speed dial, and use it day and night, just to get your ass out of bed and running from one side of the city to the other.”

“No, they do.”

That’s just how Cosa Nostra worked when a man was trying to get his in to the family.

“Doesn’t mean I’m anybody’s bitch, though,” Cross added. “I would get called that once, and someone would eat from a straw for the rest of their lives.”

“Point taken. What did you need?”

“For you to get Catherine to lay off for a while.”

Andino lifted a single eyebrow. “On dealing?”

“Exactly that. She started classes two weeks ago.”

“So?”

“So, the girl has only attended maybe six days out of the ten she was supposed to go. She’s already dropped one morning class because she either doesn’t want to roll her ass out of bed, or she’s been out too late the night before and can’t get up. She needs to slow down, and relax.”

Andino tipped his head to the side, as though he was considering Cross’s words. “Listen, I know you don’t like getting involved with Catherine when she’s dealing and all, but the girl is magic at it. She’s got skill, and she keeps bringing them back. She’s … shit, good to look at when she’s working her pedigree. Her last name alone is making her a socialite in New York, which means she’s getting a taste of what being exactly that means right now. I can’t make her do shit, man, not if she doesn’t want to.”

“How about you try?”

“How about you take it up with her?”

“I’ve tried.” Cross wiped at the corner of his mouth with his thumb, mulling over what he wanted to say. “Thing is, I’m not sure this is good for her up here,” he said, pointing at his temple, adding, “I mean, not after what happened a while back at the races. Besides that, this whole game she plays forces her to live a goddamn lie, Andino. All the time. Her entire day is a lie. She wakes up lying. To me, that she’s fine. To her parents, what she’s doing, what she’s done, where she’s going, or been, or anything. You can’t tell me that’s not fucking with her head somehow.”

“That’s on her,” Andino said, “because she doesn’t need to be doing that at all.”

Cross stilled in the chair. “I beg your pardon?”

“Catty doesn’t need to be lying to anybody. You think Dante and Catrina don’t know what she’s doing, Cross? They know. They’ve known since damn near the night John took her out that first time and got her working.”

“They know.”

Andino shrugged. “We don’t hide shit like that in our family. It makes for bad family, man, and Marcellos aren’t about that nonsense.”

“Why the hell doesn’t she know?” Cross demanded.