Chapter 1 - Cassandra

Three years. She thought and shook her head as she stared out over the water, the waves lapping at the shore, the boats, sailboats, bobbing on the water, they always calmed her soul. She’d always believed that if fate had dealt her a different hand, she’d have been a sailor. Her hands clenched behind her back as she listened to David and Vance relay the latest fiasco to her. They were talking fast and over each other, clearly afraid of her reaction. Both were aware of her temper and her need to control everything around her. And her wrath when things don’t go exactly as she wanted them to. And from what she can tell from their mumbled and jumbled words, things were definitely not going as she wanted them to. Three years. She thought again. She’d been the head of this damned, cursed family for three years. And for three years, things have run smoothly. So why, in the last six months, had she had more problems than peace?

Something was brewing, she had some idea what, but her sources had been, suspiciously quiet. Still, she knew that at the core of her problems, was Antonio Henderson. But even he alone, couldn’t cause as much trouble. So, he had help. But who? And how? She turned from her spot at the window and walked to her chair where she sat down and laid one hand on her thigh, and one drummed a rhythm on her desk. Both men went instantly quiet and waited for her to speak. She watched them with no expression on her face. They should know by now that there was only one way to deal with traitors. And even if they didn’t like it, it was her way to make sure her people stayed loyal. How could she expect dirty work from them, if she herself wasn’t prepared to do the same?

“You have the snitch I assume?” Her voice was rich, dark, and low. When they nodded she stood. “Good.”

“You don’t have to do this!” It was Vance. Her assistant, her confidant, and her best friend. And the only one that ever voiced his opinion to her. She gestured to David to leave them. He nodded and left without a word. “Let one of the guys do it, let them get their hands dirty. Keep your name, your fingerprints off this.”

“And how do you think my people, and the ones after me and mine, would see that? A weakness. I can’t afford any weakness now.” She grabbed her suit jacket and slipped it on. “Apparently, my enemies need reminding of just what I am capable of.”

“You can send that message just as well, by just giving the order, Cass.” He pleaded.

“Ah, Vance.” She laughed darkly. “Still trying to save my soul.” She buttoned her jacket and walked to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I don’t have one, remember.” And walked out. She heard him sigh before he followed her out.

Vance watched Cassandra as she took out her phone and made a call. Pedro and Michael were in the front seats of the SUV, her guards, never far from her, and the only ones he completely trusted with her life. The rest, well he knew as well as anyone that money buys loyalty, and sometimes that meant that the ones with no money, could always be bought. He knew people saw her as the bad guy, Maine’s own mafia queen. But if they knew what the other options were, they’d worship at her feet. Without her, Maine would be a gang war zone, with streets filled with drugs and guns. And daughters would never be safe. Hell, neither would sons. He shook his head, but the price she paid for being the queen, was darkening her soul. And yes, maybe he was naïve to think he could save her soul, but he’d damned well try until the day he died.

“I need an hour,” Cassandra said. “Yes, as always.” She assured the police chief of his payment. “The north side of the marina.” She waited then nodded. “Yes.” She hung up and looked at Vance. “Stop looking so worried, I gave up my spot in heaven a very long time ago.” She smiled at him. “Vance, I made peace with who I am.”

“I’m more afraid of what’s happening now. It seems calculated, a systematic breakdown of our system. And yes, we get things back up and running, then another system down. It feels targeted, aimed at you, and bringing you out. Loyalty from our police, won’t save you from the rest of the world. All they need is a photo, an inkling of proof and you’d be crucified.”

“I won’t argue that point. And I agree these last six months have been chaotic. I don’t like chaos.” She fisted her hands. “This is why I’m going to see this traitor myself, and if we don’t get answers, he’ll send a message.”

“The message part is what terrifies me,” Vance grumbled.

“Vance, you’ve known me my whole life, you better than anyone knows what I face. I can’t let this go unanswered.” She leaned forward and for some reason felt a deep need that he, her friend, understood. “I need to make sure that whoever is behind this, knows that I won’t stand down, or stand back while they destroy what I’ve built.”

Vance shook his head and sighed. “I know.” He smiled at her then. “I’m as always, right there with you.” He held out his hand to her and knew that the gesture would only ever be accepted in the darkness of privacy. She took his hand and squeezed.

“Thank you, my friend.”

Cassandra climbed out of the SUV and pulled her jacket off. She threw it into the back seat and started to roll up her crisp, white dress shirt sleeves. The two tattoos on her forearms were dark against the sun-tanned brown skin. One, a dragon, the other a phoenix. She slipped the gun Pedro handed her into the waistband of her suit at the small of her back and nodded to them that she was ready. The small warehouse where she did most of her midnight work when needed, was dimly lit as they stepped inside. She could hear a man begging, smell his fear, and the piss that he couldn’t hold in that soaked his pants. She walked closer, slowly stalking toward him. His eyes, already filled with fear, widened and he tried to tug his already bloody wrists free. She looked at Michael who grabbed a chair and handed it to her. She placed it in front of the now crying man, far enough that his feet and snot wouldn’t get on her, and sat down. Except for his moans and crying, no one said a word. Besides Pedro, Michael, and Vance, three others were in the room. She knew more were outside, she would never go unprotected. And she only trusted the police chief so much. But, even though she wouldn’t admit it, not even to Vance, she was quite aware that every move she made, could be a move that leads to her enemies getting the upper hand. Everything that happened in the past six months could lead to an ambush.

“Please, please, I never said anything, it wasn’t me, Ms. Panagio, I promise you I…” He clamped his mouth shut when she lifted a hand to silence him. And flinched. She almost smiled at that. But the man’s stench was burning her nostrils. And she wanted to get this over with as quickly as she could.

“Do I not pay you enough? Did you need the money so much that you thought it would be okay to betray me?” She spoke softly, slowly. “Did you think that the trail you left, and flimsily tried to cover, would lead me away from your disloyalty?” She ignored his smell and leaned forward. “My family’s money was good enough to pay for your mother’s house, your sister’s education, the car you drive, and the men you pay to fuck.” She saw his skin already pale, losing all remaining colour. “Yes, I know all about your, needs.” She pulled the gun from her waistband and looked down at the thing she hated most in the world. The gun that killed her father. Now hers, taken from the cold hand of his murderer. “Who paid you?”

“I can’t, he’ll kill me!” The man screamed. “My family, he has my sister, he’ll kill her!”

“Ah, so you do have some loyalty left.” Cassandra looked up and met Pedro’s eyes. He nodded.  She sighed, the women in this bastard's life didn’t deserve to be pulled into his bullshit. She met Pedro’s eyes again. He nodded and walked away while dialing his phone. “They’ll be safe. Now tell me who you betrayed me to?”

The man looked at her for a long time and then seemed to come to a decision. “The guy I spoke to, who paid me, wasn’t the boss, he never said who, he just asked me to give him information, useful information, he could pass on to his boss.”

“And you only passed along the information, never more than that?” Cassandra asked. “Come now.”

“Fine, I followed him one night, he walked straight to a black truck and spoke to the woman inside, it was definitely a woman.” He said before she could ask him. “I didn’t get a good look at her face, but the hat, the huge black hat, it’s the same one Margorie Evans wears.”

“Margo?” Cassandra asked, astonished. Surely not.

“Yes, I saw her here, when you, when she was, you know.” He looked away.

“Yes.” Could Margo really be the other player that was trying to derail her? “Are you sure about this?”

Yes.” He watched her get up and pace away. “He said something else. Or asked me something else.” He swallowed hard when she spun and glared at him.  “He said when they got Ms. Emma, that if I wanted, I could have a turn, you know, like with her.” He squealed, actually squealed when she grabbed his shirt front and jammed the gun into his mouth. His eyes popped open wide, and he pissed himself again, she ignored the stench this time and leaned down to look into his eyes.

“My sister is off limits.” She growled. She knew if she ever had a weakness, Emma was it. She pulled back, drew the gun out of his mouth, and searched for composure. “Who was he?”

“He, he works at the hotel, gardener I think.” He stumbled over the words, and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. “Please, let me make this right. Please.” He begged.

She turned and walked away. “You will.” She said. She turned for one last look at him. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank…” His words ended abruptly as the bullet hit him between the eyes.

“Make sure he gets found by the right people. And someone get me the fucking gardener.” She walked out, Vance on her heels. Pedro opened the car door and nodded to her as she climbed in. “Get them both out of the city, safely.”

“Yes.”

She slid into the back seat and waited for Vance to slide in too. The door closed behind him and she laid her head back on the seat. “Emma.” She let her exhaustion show. “I’ll kill them all before I let them near her.”

“I know,” Vance said. His voice clearly let his resolution show. He knew the threat made toward Emma would push Cassandra over the edge. Save her soul? Who the fuck was he kidding?