Page 15 of His Aries Heiress
“Can I?” Cassydie asked.
Marcellus felt a lump form in his throat, and he was unable to speak anymore. He felt like a failure at that moment. He was supposed to be a man and tell Tato what happened, but he bitched up right when it mattered. Swallowing his pride, he nodded as he gritted his teeth.
Cassydie offered him a sad smile, and he noticed her own tears swimming in her eyes. She gently grabbed Tato’s hands and smiled at him kindly. “Tato, my name is Cassydie.”
He looked up at the ceiling of the car in deep thought before he asked, “Can I call you Cassy?”
Despite the sadness dancing across her features, she giggled. Marcellus’s heart warmed at the sound. He sat there, completely frozen as he listened to her talk.
“My best friend used to call me that.” Marcellus watched as a tear slipped out of her eye. He wanted to reach out and catch it, but he refrained. She nodded. “I would love for you to call me that.”
“Why are you sad?” Tato asked.
Cassydie sighed. She seemed to think about something for a moment before she replied. “A few weeks ago, my parents and best friend died. They were on their way to surprise me for my birthday, but they got into a bad car accident and died.”
Cassydie was barely able to finish her sentence before Tato wrapped his arms around her waist as best he could and hugged her tightly. Marcellus could tell she was surprised by the gesture, but he wasn’t. Tato had always been a sensitive kid. Marcellus both loved and hated that for him. He loved it because the kid was in tune with his feelings better than Marcellus had ever been, and he needed Tato to be better than him in every single way. He hated it, though, because he felt it left Tato open to more pain, some that may not even be his to bear. Marcellus wantedTato to be strong and navigate life easily. Too many feelings might impede that.
He was, however, thankful that Tato was man enough to do what he couldn’t at that moment—comfort Cassydie. He knew her parents died, but he didn’t realize how recent it had been or that it was on her birthday or that her best friend died as well. His mind flashed back to her car, and it made sense to him now why it seemed like everything she owned was in it. Shorty had packed up and left her life to find a new one . . . with her biological family.
The weight of how yesterday must have felt for her crushed Marcellus. He had been so wrapped up in his own feelings he couldn’t think about anyone else’s. It gave him a small amount of relief to know he at least provided her with a comfortable place to lay her head. He hoped that helped some. From that point on, he knew he would do what he could to make things easier for her. She just didn’t know it yet.
“Thank you,” she muttered as she patted his back. They hugged for several seconds before she pulled away. He could tell she wanted to move the conversation on before she lost her nerve. “I had some time with my dad before he died, and do you know what he told me?” Tato shook his head slowly, completely locked in on the conversation. Hell, so was Marcellus. “He told me I was adopted. Do you know what that means?”
Tato’s face scrunched up as he looked over at Marcellus briefly before focusing on Cassydie. “Your dad wasn’t your real dad?”
Cassydie smiled sadly. “Technically, no, he wasn’t. He will always be my dad though. He was the best, but there was another man out there that helped to create me, and when I was really little, that man gave me to my parents so they could love me and take care of me. Do you know who that man was?”
Marcellus watched with bated breath. The way she broke this down for Tato was better than he ever could have done. At that moment, he realized what an asset she could be to his life. He also realized she could fuck everything up for him. She was kind and reasonable, but he also caught a glimpse of that fighter in her. He smirked at that. Nicole deserved that shit. Cassydie was exactly the kind of leader the council looked for.
“Who?”
“Your daddy,” she whispered before holding her breath and waiting for Tato’s reaction.
It took him a moment, but when he spoke, he sounded excited. “You have the same dad as me?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“Does that mean you’re my sister?”
“I am,” she replied, fresh tears falling down her face.
Tato hugged her again, this time in excitement. When he pulled back, he looked up at Cassydie and said, “Your mama and daddy in heaven sent me to you so you don’t have to be alone.”
How he knew to say that, Marcellus would never know. It was the same feeling he got last night when Tato assured him that God told him everything would be okay. The kid sometimes seemed wise beyond his years. It made Marcellus wonder if God really did speak to him or through him.
Marcellus watched as Tato and Cassydie interacted. He felt like shit knowing he fed them both a lie. It seemed impossible to tell Tato the truth about who his real father was now. He wondered if it would do more harm than good.
“Wait until Daddy gets better so we can tell him your mama and daddy sent you back to us. You didn’t tell him already, did you?”
Cassydie wiped her tears, and Marcellus could tell this was a lot on her emotionally. He wanted to step in, but he didn’t know how. If he did, he would simply blurt out that Grim wasdead. He waited a few seconds to see if Cassydie could regain her composure. To his amazement, she did. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her in awe. She was strong as shit, and he wished he had her emotional tact.
“I didn’t get to talk to him much, buddy, but he saw me. Do you know what I think?”
“What?” Tato asked in excitement.
“I think God sent me to you so you wouldn’t have to be alone.”
Tato cocked his head to the side. “I’m not alone. I have Daddy and Cell. Cell is like my big brother,” he said proudly.
