Page 71 of Keeping Kasey
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
We get in line for the taco truck, which, thankfully, isn’t long. I pass the time watching Kasey take in our surroundings.
Her fair skin glows in the light of the setting sun, and she seems captivated by the busy city. Her lips part as she takes a breath, and her eyes flit from the skyline to the people bustling around us. I realize that, in the time she’s been staying with me, she’s never even seen the heart of Chicago. Suddenly, showing it to her becomes a very high priority.
There’s something so pure, almost innocent, in her fascination.
“How did things go in Nashville and Cincinnati?” I ask.
She lifts her brow in a look that questions my effort toward small talk, but she indulges me anyway.
“Smooth. The smaller bases don’t take long. This one will take most of the day tomorrow. It helps that I got a head starttoday. I’m hoping we’ll be on a flight back by dinner tomorrow.” She nudges my shoulder with hers. “Then you can tell me the real reason you hired me.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already figured it out.”
She smiles. “I probably could, but I’ll leave the official explanation to you.”
“Generous,” I mutter.
I order the same thing I always do when I come here—three supreme chicken tacos—then look to Kasey for her order.
She barely scans the menu. “I’ll have the same as him, but absolutely no sour cream.”
“Why am I not surprised you’d find something wrong with tacos, too?”
She flips me off, doing a bad job of concealing her growing smile.
They give us our food almost immediately, and I lead her to a picnic table at a small park a block away.
Kasey nods in the direction of the truck. “How did you even know about this place?”
“It’s been around since I was a kid. My brothers and I spent a lot of time exploring the cities in our territory.” I lift my taco, still encased in tin foil. “This is one of my favorite places in the city.”
She takes a bite and proceeds to talk through it in the most unladylike way, and I cannot possibly explain why I’m still so charmed by this woman. “Just your brothers?”
I nod. “Elise had a more sheltered upbringing than the rest of us.”
“Why? I mean, shouldn’t she have been raised as amafia princess? That’s a thing, right?”
I eat while I think about how I want to answer. I’ve only just learned some of this myself, and the idea of sharing it with Kasey feels a lot like making myself vulnerable.
I’m sure if she wanted to, she could find the answers for herself, but when she looks at me with those blue eyes shining with curiosity, Iwantto tell her.
“My dad was a stickler for tradition—except when it came to Elise. Growing up, I thought it was because she was a girl, and without our mom around, he didn’t know what to do with her. It wasn’t until after he died that I figured out the truth.”
I look up, expecting Kasey’s usual taunting expression, but there’s only a gentle interest.
It’s oddly reassuring, so I go on.
“What all do you know about my mother?” I ask.
Her expression remains neutral. “She was abducted… and murdered.”
“Turns out my father told them to do it. He let them kill his wife to avoid giving in to what he considered aweakness. He told everyone they did it unprovoked when, really, he just refused to trade his pride for her.”
It kills me that I spent most of my life believing the lies my father fed me. I should’ve questioned why the Venturis would murder my mother without cause or reason. I don’t regret many things in my life—I’m proud of who I am and what I do—but I regret, more than anything, that I took my father’s word as law.
