Read Concealment (The Cassano Series Book 1) for Free Online

squeeze it. “I’m kidding.”
    Her face is practically buried in the menu as I stare at her. “What flavor of shake would you like?”
    “Chocolate,” she replies without looking up.
    “If I buy you a shake, will you enlighten me on what you meant by the twenty-five cent shakes?”
    Finally, she peers at me and smirks.
    “I thought you were buying me one regardless.”
    “Touché.”
    She giggles for all of two second, cheeks reddening once again. “I’ll share what I meant.”
    The waitress approaches, so we place our orders, both getting bacon cheeseburgers, fries and chocolate shakes.
    Once we’re left alone, Victoria looks around the room and bites her lip. Her palms are flat on the seat of her booth.
    I can tell from the way her arms are stiffened, shoulders scrunched, this woman is wound up tightly.
    “I’m waiting for your story,” I say.
    “Right. When I was staring at the Belair, I was picturing a drive-in. Did you know they were opening in fields all over the country in the 1950s?”
    Her hand waves in front of her animatedly as eyes grow rounder. “I saw an old menu online, and shakes were about twenty-five cents back then. A burger, fries and shake combined were less than a buck. Unreal.”
    “That’s it? I find it hard to believe your fascination over the cost of a meal is all you were thinking about while staring at that car for so long.”
    Her fingers lace together on the table, and her eyes follow them. Knuckles whiten from the hold each hand has on the other.
    Hmm … it seems Victoria and I share something else in common. She only wants to reveal the shell. I get it. It’s best to never open the shell.
    But I have a strong suspicion there is a pearl inside of hers. A rare, exquisite being that no amount of money could buy.

Victoria
     
    I’m blocking the circulation to the tip of my fingers, so I pull my hands apart as I look across at Adrian. He’s intimidating. No one intimidates me.
    “That’s privileged information,” I reply.
    His mysterious eyes challenge mine, but I don’t look away.
    “I can respect that … for now,” he says.
    While we eat, I regard the fifties feel of the room. Our waitress is in a poodle skirt, and paintings of old cars cover the walls.
    I sense his eyes on me, and I’m conflicted. Coming into this, I knew the goal was to get access to Adrian and gain his trust. Now that he’s having an effect on me, I’m not sure I want to go down that road.
    Finding what evidence I’m looking for through other employees would be less complicated, but it appears he’s determined to get to know me.
    I guess if I have a chance to spend time with him, I should ask him questions about his life.
    “So, Mr. Cassano—”
    “Adrian.”
    “OK, Adrian, I met two of your brothers. Do you have other siblings?”
    He places his napkin on his empty plate and rests his back against the seat.
    “I have another brother, Xavier, but our family calls him Zev.” Adrian glances away. “I have a sister, as well. She doesn’t live in Vegas.”
    “What is her name?”
    “Agatha,” he says with a cadence of sadness in his tone. Clearing his throat, he regains his composure and peers at me. “What about you?”
    “I have an older sister, Nicole. She’s thirty-five, and my younger sister, Sadie, is twenty-five. I’m more like my dad and definitely the black sheep of the family.”
    Now, I’m sad. I avert my eyes to a wall. Nothing makes me cry, not even the death of my father, but it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. I’m also acquainted with the pain of how excluded I am from my family.
    “I imagine you’re close to your father then.”
    “Was … he died a couple of years ago.”
    “I’m sorry. I see we have something else in common.”
    “Yes, I guess so.”
    My father died in an automobile accident on his way to Hotel Submission. He was undercover, too, trying to bust Adrian for something, but he would never share the information.
    He said the illegal activity