Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Finally Chose Herself
Six months later, Galaxy Diner no longer smelled like stale coffee.
Cassie had repainted the walls, replaced the broken stools and added a late-night menu that Max claimed was “actually edible now.”
Marge continued working three days a week despite supposedly retiring.
“I retired from management,” she explained. “Not gossip.”
Max returned to school.
His transplant numbers remained strong.
And Cassie slept more than four hours a night.
Usually.
Luca complicated that.
He had transformed Moretti Holdings into a legitimate logistics and property company.
The transition made enemies.
One of them was Dominic Salerno, son of the man who had once employed Dr. Keane.
Dominic wanted Luca's territory.
Luca no longer had territory.
Dominic considered that weakness.
One rainy evening Cassie closed the diner and found a black sedan parked across the street.
Not Luca’s.
She locked the door.
The sedan remained.
Her phone rang.
Luca.
“Don't leave the diner.”
Cassie looked through the glass.
“You know about the car?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I'm becoming an annoyingly responsible businessman, not an idiot.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
Then the sedan door opened.
Dominic Salerno stepped out.
He entered with two men.
Cassie stayed behind the counter.
“We're closed.”
Dominic smiled.
“Coffee.”
“Machine's off.”
“Turn it on.”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“You're brave.”
“Mostly tired.”
He sat at booth 4.
Luca’s booth.
“I need you to give your boyfriend a message.”
“He has a phone.”
Dominic’s men moved toward her.
Cassie reached beneath the counter.
Dominic laughed.
“A gun?”
“Panic button.”
His smile vanished.
Sirens sounded almost immediately.
Cassie shrugged.
“Legitimate businesses are great.”
Dominic stood.
“You think police scare me?”
“No.”
The kitchen door opened.
Luca emerged.
“I do.”
Cassie stared.
“You were in my kitchen?”
“You told me not to follow you.”
“That doesn't mean hide beside the freezer.”
Dominic looked between them with disgust.
“This is what you've become?”
Luca stood beside Cassie.
“Yes.”
“A diner owner's boyfriend?”
Luca considered it.
“I've had worse titles.”
Dominic threatened him.
Luca did not threaten back.
He handed Dominic a folder.
Inside were photographs, transaction records and federal subpoenas.
“You're under investigation,” Luca said. “If anything happens to Cassie, me, or anyone connected to us, this goes directly to the prosecutor already handling my uncle.”
Dominic stared.
“You'd cooperate with the government?”
“I already did.”
“You're finished.”
“In your world?”
Luca shrugged.
“Probably.”
Police arrived.
Dominic left.
No violence.
No bodies.
Cassie waited until the door closed.
Then punched Luca lightly in the chest.
“You hid in my kitchen.”
“I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“You could have told me.”
“You would have objected.”
“Correct.”
“Which supports my decision.”
She tried not to smile.
Failed.
Later, they sat in booth 4 sharing French fries.
Luca reached for one.
Cassie slapped his hand.
“Those are mine.”
“I paid for them.”
“You paid $4.25. You don't own the potatoes.”
His expression softened.
Cassie noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Luca.”
He looked around the diner.
“I used to come here because I thought your father left evidence.”
“I know.”
“Then I came because you were here.”
“I know that too.”
“I don't think you understand.”
Cassie waited.
Luca took her hand.
“I'd spend the entire day around people who wanted something from me. Money. Fear. Permission. Then I'd come here, and you barely noticed I existed.”
“I noticed.”
“I know that now.”
“You were hard to miss.”
“You acted like I was furniture.”
“Expensive furniture.”
He laughed.
Cassie squeezed his hand.
“What are you trying to say?”
“That this place was the first hour of my day when I didn't have to be Luca Moretti.”
Her teasing faded.
“Who were you?”
“A man drinking terrible coffee while falling in love with a woman who hated him.”
Cassie's breath caught.
He had never said it.
Not like that.
“Falling?”
“Past tense.”
She looked down.
Luca’s thumb moved across her knuckles.
“You don't have to say it back.”
Cassie looked at him.
That was precisely why she could.
“I love you too.”
His eyes closed briefly.
Relief.
Then the front window shattered.
Luca pulled Cassie down.
A brick landed inside.
No bullet.
A message was wrapped around it.
Luca unfolded the paper.
One sentence.
YOUR FATHER LEFT ONE MORE SECRET.
Cassie stared.
May you like
Beneath the sentence was an address.
The house where Miguel Moreno had died.
