23. ~Dante Mancini~

"Luke told me I would find you down here."

Caspian spun on his rolling chair at the command center.

I didn't care for what I was seeing from him.

His hair was a wild mess, he was wearing a pair of rumpled dress pants and an open white shirt rolled up to his elbows, the same precise outfit I'd seen him dressed in two days ago. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had a manic look in his eyes.

Those eyes that looked so much like Bianca's.

It was both a knife in my heart and a spark of hope.

A knife because she was no longer here with me and never would be again. But a spark of hope because she lived on in part through our son.

Our son whom she never got to know.

And the man who was looking upon me now reminding me so much of the state I'd been in when I'd lost so much at my father's hands a quarter of a century ago.

On the surface, it was determination that he was putting forth.

But just beyond that was the real truth, and what worried me.

Obsession.

Fear.

Pain.

Grief.

His enemies had struck at his heart.

I knew from keeping a very close watch on him over the years that it was the first time anything like this, so awfully personal like this, had happened to him as head of King.

And it was the second time in his life overall, the first being as a boy when his parents had been ripped from him that wretched night.

The night he'd started out on a path all too similar to mine.

Something I hadn't wanted for him.

Something I'd hoped he would veer away from once he'd secured his empire.

If Jameson and Laura had lived, Caspian taking on the role of their heir at King would have been a very different experience and undertaking. It would have all remained above board. There would have been no delving into the underbelly of things, of trading on the dark. Caspian would have very likely forever remained apart from that way of life. From my way of life.

Alas, that fateful night had altered so much.

It had reset his course.

And I feared, after recent events, he not only wouldn't pull from his illegitimate activities, but he would delve much deeper in a bid to prevent anything like this from occurring again. He'd seek out more power, more dangerous power, believing it to be a form of stronger protection and a formidable deterrent to any future attacks.

While that made sense on the surface, the price would prove to be far too high.

He'd only dipped his toe in so far. Even with his arms dealing and those people he associated with, he had rules, he had lines he didn't cross.

The moment he broke from that there would be no going back for him.

He'd become me.

The last thing I'd ever wanted for my son.

I'd thought staying away would prevent him from becoming infected by what I was.

But with the way things had played out, it had become apparent that he needed my guidance to turn back around before he went too far and incidentally followed in my footsteps after all.

What a tragedy that would be.

I absolutely couldn't allow it.

"And here I am," he responded flippantly.

"Your beloveds believe you are hard at work in your office on matters concerning King."

He gestured at the screens over his shoulder. "This does concern King."

"Not in the way you know I'm referring to. Bane Industries has been dismantled. You have controlling interest in its legitimate operations, and we've decimated the illegitimate ones. As a business rival, Bane is no more."

"I'm well aware, but Elijah himself is still out there. Worse, he's now partnered with a dangerous enemy to us in Jeremy Wheeler who has connected him with a group of mercenaries. What we encountered at that farmhouse could just be the start, they could be building a true army."

"That will take a great deal of time than merely acquiring a couple of dozen. Especially given the fact that I've spread word as leader of the Mancini Syndicate among the underground that is effectively blacklisting both Wheeler and Bane."

He cocked an eyebrow. "You have?"

I slid my hands into the pockets of my wool coat. "It will make it exceedingly difficult for them to gather a larger force now."

"Our war against them wasn't public knowledge before. So to have done that, you would have had to make it public."

"Correct."

"That's a risk to you."

"It's more of a risk to you if I hadn't done so." I strode closer and leaned against the edge of the desk a couple of feet from him. "When you're healed and we target them, the Mancini Syndicate will assist, providing a significant force to bolster you and yours."

"Our deal was purely business, to take the spoils of Bane Industries. This now will be seen as personal by them. After the Syndicate taking a hit and losing many members, I can't see how they'll be on board with this. It could destabilize your rule."

"Not if they're made aware of my true intention for going this route."

Realization shone in his eyes. "You can't be serious?"

"I am. I will reveal you as my son. My one and only heir. It will turn the tide, believe me. That sort of thing isn't taken lightly in my world."

He started shaking his head, as I'd predicted.

And then he followed my further prediction as he tried to use logic to bypass the sentimental aspect of this particular topic, telling me, "I have my own resources. I'll handle it."

"Without my force you won't be able to guarantee protection for your loves. Not without compromising your home territory again. You've made that mistake already, I can't imagine you allowing such a thing to transpire again."

He worked his jaw. "So much for you keeping me far away from the Mancini Syndicate. Was that all well-crafted lies, the excuse of an absentee father?"

"No. What I said stands. You won't take your place as my heir. I don't want that life for you. However, Caspian, you've crossed a lot of lines during this war. Because Elijah was able to evade our quick takedown, this has gone on a lot longer than it was ever meant to. Reaching out to all of our contacts combined to locate Sebastian and Caleb has drawn a great deal of attention to you, specifically. You've been inadvertently established as a worthy adversary among the underground elite now. You've garnered a reputation. That can't be undone. It makes you a target. You were only on the periphery before, an arms deal here and there. In order to counter and adjust to the new climate, you need my organization to bolster you, to act as a formidable deterrent."

"Fear and a show of force are also formidable deterrents."

"With a steep price attached. Making more enemies, being one in particular."

This war had certainly made him bolder, dangerously so.

I needed to pull him back from that line of thinking immediately.

"I haven't shared this news about my paternity with the others yet."

"Then the time would be now."

He glared at me. "I don't take well to having my hand forced."

"I don't take well to being cast aside."

"This is your attempt to make me accept this, to accept you."

"This is me helping you. Up until this revelation, you wouldn't have fought that. We were on the same page. Your anger, resentment, and upset at finding out about me is clouding your judgment now." I gestured at the monitors. "Not to mention, this obsessive state you're in when it comes to Elijah."

He glared back at me for a moment and then he surprised me as he didn't bite back and instead, hung his head in his hands.

"Caspian?"

"I can't… I can't do this."

"What's that?" I asked carefully.

"Hold it all," he answered, his voice a pained rasp that cut into me awfully. "Sit and wait while our enemies are out there. Take this break in the middle of it all. Put on a lighthearted and unaffected front with Bastian, Caleb, and Skylar. Sink into it and relax while all this is going on. Stand by and wait for Caleb to be ready to come to me and admit he was damaged by Elijah. I can't… I can't stand this powerlessness." He lifted his head slightly, agony in his eyes as they met mine. "I don't fail and since the moment Elijah evaded us that night, it's all I've been doing."

I laid my hands on his shoulders. "Before I put you into the care of Jameson and Laura, I named you. It was one of my conditions of our arrangement. When I was a little boy, I had a great love of Narnia books. It was escapism for me from the brutal life I endured under my father's reign. Caspian is a noble, brave and optimistic character. He stands for justice and doing right by those under his rule. He's a dedicated and renowned king to his people." I smiled. "How astounding it is that you grew to live up to all of those astounding traits."

He winced. "No."

"Yes. That's who you are. You've been doing admirably throughout this war. You did veer off track, yes, you delved into the dark, but you pulled back before you went too deep. That's incredibly difficult to do for anyone. As for you believing you've failed, it's very far from the truth. We were blindsided. You'd accounted for Wheeler, but he wasn't taken out by Frank Bennett when he should have been. That's the failure here. It's what led to Wheeler tipping off Elijah. Since then, you've adapted and rolled with everything that's been thrown at you. You have Sebastian and Caleb back, Frank is here and an asset to hunting Wheeler and the world he walks in which you and I are not familiar with. Bane Industries has been decimated." I stroked his hair. "We're in the homestretch now, Caspian. There is no failure here. Absolutely not."

It took him a moment as he absorbed my words, but then I saw a slight nod from him, indicating that he couldn't fault the logic and truth to what I was saying, that he recognized that he was being too hard on himself and the weight of everything was merely skewing his perception and casting a negative haze over things.

"As for this wait, which is necessary both for physical recovery and from a mental health standpoint for you all, clearly the daily operations of King aren't enough to keep you distracted from Bane and Wheeler, so I have something else in mind."

"What's that?"

"The restructuring of King and the Mancini Syndicate."

He eased from my hold and sank back in his chair, curiosity sparking. "I'm listening."

"I'll give you my above board holdings to bolster you, a lot of which will meld well with your real estate developments. Then I'll take your illegitimate operations under the Mancini Syndicate. It will wash your hands of the down and dirty without weakening King in the process. For that edge that you need once in a while, that urge to unleash, you'll have The Jackals."

"That's certainly something."

"A lot to sink your teeth into, yes."

His eyes twinkled. "I'll take some time to consider it."

"I didn't doubt that you would."

"Thank you, Dante."

"For what?"

"Being here. Being here for me. Pushing you away after—"

I held up my hand. "It's okay. I understand what a difficult thing it was to absorb, especially after all these years. And I know it will take more time still. I'm prepared for that."

He sat forward, a glint of eagerness in his eyes.

"Will you tell me about her?"

"Who?"

"My birth mother? And your relationship with her?"

"You'd really like that?"

He smiled. "I would."

I pulled up another rolling chair and sank into it, settling opposite him. "Well, first of all, you should probably know that we were high school sweethearts." I chuckled as I thought about those days long past. "She detested me at first, labeling me as a thug. I couldn't blame her, given that one of our first encounters involved her witnessing me beating a couple of students to within an inch of their lives." Off his look of surprise, I explained, "I was a lot more reckless in my youth." I lifted my shoulder. "They deserved what they got, however. They were planning to accost her in the locker room after her cheerleading practice. I couldn't have that."

"That's intense."

"Well things were ruthless in that neck of the woods, especially at that school. Not a nice place to be. It was why my father had sent me there, to throw me to the wolves basically."

"Of course, you ended up becoming the most dangerous wolf of all, I suspect."

"You know me well," I said, with a wink.

"She was a cheerleader," he mused.

"She was a social butterfly. Bianca had a light in her that could never be extinguished, no matter what she endured. She also loved animals and she became a veterinarian through that love. During our courtship, I bought her a wildlife conservation so she could expand her reach."

"Who knew you were a romantic at heart?" he teased.

Something settled inside of me then, recognizing that we were coming back to the good relationship we'd had before this revelation had served to undercut it.

"I was very much so. With her. Only her. Sometimes you just meet people who bring out another side of you that you didn't even realize you had."

"I know that all too well."

"I know you do. You and your loves are well matched."

He smiled and settled in, "Tell me more."

And I did.

I told him everything, even recalling details about Bianca that I'd thought I'd buried permanently.

It was the first time in decades that I'd spoken of her.

I'd always imagined it being far too painful to do so.

But here, doing so with my son, that was transcended by him.

Hell, the moment I'd reached out to him and actually made contact, it had transcended everything, reframed everything.

After all these years, here we were together with the truth revealed.

I'd thought he'd be lost to me forever, always having to be at a distance to him.

But now the universe had made it possible for us to be a part of each other's lives.

My son.