Omniscient teller:

Hector walked out of the pastry shop with Theo. His younger brother was carrying the large box filled with different kinds of pastries while he picked up the phone. His little sister was calling him, probably to ask about what pastries he got for the family.

"Did you get me the macarons? The ones with double filling?" She asked impatiently.

When it came to Elena and food, she was very impatient. Nicolas and she were the same, but she'll probably deny that. Hector had to suppress a smile since he was out in public. But he really loved how well his little sister ate.

"We did, Elena. We got all the ones you asked for." He sighed.

Theo smirked and shook his head when he heard his older brother.

"Okay, then hurry home! I'm very hungry and so is Nico." She urged him.

"We'll be there in five minutes." He ended the call.

When he was about to put his phone away, someone bumped into him. Hector frowned and reached out his hands to catch the person.

The first thing he noticed about her, was her hazel eyes. Then the freckles on her pale skin and then her long black hair. She was absolutely breathtaking and almost caught him in a lure but then he felt it.

She was pickpocketing him.

He was the boss of a criminal organisation. This was the easiest form of crime for him. What baffled him, was that she did it on him. Everybody knew him here in the state. They knew not to fuck with him.

She was good at this though. If he didn't know the techniques of it, he'd be completely confused as to what had happened to him.

"You picked the wrong person." He informed her with a blank face.

The fewer emotions he showed, the more scared people became.

She tried to run away but he grabbed her tightly. Theo gave his brother a look before he called over their men that had been following them. Aurelio was one of their most trusted soldiers and he'd been with them since his initiation in the Famiglia.

"Take her to the warehouse." Hector handed him the girl.

She was putting up a fight but Aurelio quickly overpowered her and pushed her in the van before taking off. Hector walked with his brother towards his Porsche and they got inside.

"Do you want to go now?" Theo asked him.

Hector started the car and watched how Aurelio drove off with the girl. Her pretty face wouldn't stop bothering his mind. She'd been smaller than him, he guessed that she was about five foot four. He was a whole foot taller than her which she thought probably made him an easier target.

"Elena's hungry. We're going home."

No matter how intrigued he was about this girl, his family always came first.

//////////////////

"Stop eating my macarons!" Elena whined when Nicolas pushed one in his mouth.

It was supposed to be a peaceful and calm Sunday morning, but this was the Cassano household. There was never peace or quietness. Not when Hector had to break up a fight between the twins literally two seconds ago.

Now he had to come between the two foodies of the house.

"Give him one, Elena. You need to share." He told her.

She looked up at him with those big blue eyes. Elena has learned how to get something from Hector. She'd put up a cute pout and gaze into his eyes long enough.

"But you bought those for me."

It was a losing battle, it truly was. Hector had given up trying to correct her. He'd just give in at the end if she pouted extra cutely. That was with things that were ordinary such as sweets but he was extremely strict when it came to her safety or dating life.

"Just eat them." He sighed.

She grinned and grabbed them all for herself. Silas, who sat next to her, grinned. He kept teasing Hector about the fact that Elena had him wrapped around her finger.

Before he could say something, the ringing of a phone cut him off. Theo quickly excused himself and hurried out of the kitchen to have the call in the living room.

"Ricardo Ricci is dead." Aurelio reported to Theo.

Theo couldn't answer for a good minute. This news was terrible. Ricardo Ricci was the capo of Nevada, one of their most important states. The Cassano's knew that his health was deteriorating for a while now, but they didn't expect him to die so suddenly. He'd been a close friend of their father and a loyal subject for many years.

"What's the situation?" Theo questioned.

He already knew that it was going to be bad. The situation in Nevada was very tense. Las Vegas was one of their most important cities and a lot of other gangs were trying to get the upper hand there. With Ricardo's death, it would be easier for them to take control of the city.

"Diego Ricci is slowly taking over but the loss of Ricardo is too obvious. Reno fell in hands of the triad." Aurelio reported.

Theo sighed and closed his eyes. This was bad news. The triad was a criminal organisation that originated from Hong Kong. They've been a real mess to deal with, especially on the West Coast but. Now also Nevada.

"What happened to Moretti?"

Giuseppe Moretti was supposed to be the underboss of Reno. If the city had fallen under control of the triad, something must've happened to him.

"They killed him. Shot him dead in a hotel room along with his mistress."

Theo cursed under his breath.

"Alright, I'll talk to Hector. We'll get in contact with Diego." he sighed.

He ended the call before taking a few breaths. Theo was the consigliere, he was used to dealing with difficult situations but this was a mess. He feared that no diplomatic approach with the triad would work and he knew that Giuseppe's men would demand blood for the loss of their boss.

"We need to talk."

Hector was busy stopping Nicolas from overeating once again but he immediately caught the urgency to Theo's voice. He let go of Nicolas and nodded for Silas to follow. They were an inseparable trio. From the time that they went on missions together to now ruling over an empire together.

You can only count on family.

They walked up to Hector's office and settled down. Theo couldn't sit down because he felt uneasy. After dealing with the Russians months ago, things had been going surprisingly well. He had more time to spend with his younger siblings but he knew that was going to end soon.

"Riccardo Ricci is dead."

While Silas cursed, Hector didn't do anything. He stared at his little brother and Theo took that as a sign to continue. So he told them about Giuseppe Moretti and the triad in Reno.

It was a bad situation but Hector always remained calm.

"Get the jet ready for tonight. I want us to be there as soon as possible." Hector told Theo who took his phone out to prepare the private jet.

Silas shook his head and leaned forward while placing his elbows on his knees.

"There'll be a funeral." He brought up.

Funerals of Capos were always an entire affair and Hector understood what Silas was aiming for.

"We'll only take the twins. The situation is too dangerous to bring the girls and Vic." He insisted.

Silas agreed instantly. The safety of his little siblings was always his priority.

"It'll be their first time to go with us on business." He muttered.

The twins had turned eighteen two months ago and had been officially initiated in the family business as was tradition. They were definitely Cassano's but their older brothers hadn't allowed them to go on much missions yet. It was a dangerous business and they were still new to it.

"You better warn them to behave." Theo told Silas.

Silas smirked and nodded. The twins would only listen to Silas and sometimes Hector, but he didn't bother disciplining them anymore. Silas was more effective at it.

"The jet is ready to leave at seven pm." Theo informed them.

Hector nodded and got up from behind his chair.

"Make sure the twins are ready. I have to go somewhere." He instructed his brothers.

"Where?" Silas asked.

Hector smirked which made his brothers frown. He rarely laughs or smirks.

"To deal with a pickpocketing thief."

////////////////////

Dahlia Brown.

She was sitting in front of Hector tied to her chair. Her long black hair had fallen in front of her pretty face because she was squirming as hard as she could. The room was quiet except for her ragged breaths.

"You're only exhausting yourself." Hector commented.

He sat in front of her on another chair. Her head snapped up and she glared at him. Those hazel eyes were tempting. Hector had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He usually doesn't deal with petty thieves himself, but Dahlia intrigued him.

"Why don't you go fuck yourself?"

Her voice was surprisingly soft, though she was very rough with her words.

"You have a big mouth for someone who tried to steal from me." He told her.

She rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, finally not trying to fight the ropes.

"You could've just reported it to the police and not drag me to your killer dungeon." She commented.

He had to fight back a grin.

"Do you know who I am?"

He didn't ask it to sound vain, but he truly wondered if she knew who he was. If she did know, she had a lot of courage to come after him.

"No, I don't."

She wasn't lying. Hector knew it when people lied to him. Nicolas told him that it was his sixth sense.

"That explains why you tried to pickpocket me." He nodded.

She glared at him before shaking her head so that the hair would get out of the way. Her pouty lips were dried but still had a nice pink colour to them. She had a soft blush on her pale skin. He even spotted a few freckles on her face.

"Tell me, big man, who are you? Maybe it'll explain the dungeon." She muttered sarcastically.

Hector was used to stupid nicknames thanks to Elena who always called him old man when she was annoyed with him. Which was quite often.

"Hector Cassano."

Realisation set on her face and he watched her carefully. She didn't panic like he'd anticipated but frowned deeply before looking at him intensely.

"You look better on the pictures. I guess even rich men like the have photoshop done."

She was messing with him. He didn't mind because she amused him. After hearing the awful news of Riccardo Ricci, this was what he needed.

"Sorry to disappoint you, then." He chuckled.

A grin played on her lips before they both realised that they had slipped. Her face become cold again and so did his. He kept staring at her.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked.

No, he wasn't. He had done a background check on her and concluded that the girl was as good as harmless. She was homeless and he didn't want to make her life even more shitty.

He didn't have a good moral compass but the thought of her living on the streets made him feel uncomfortable. He only cared about his family but this girl made him worry about her.

"No."

Her shoulders fell and a lot of tension disappeared from her face. He'd intended to just let her go after reading her file but now that he talked to her, he couldn't do that.

"Are you going to let me go?"

"No."

The tension came back and he folded his hands on his lap. She started to fight the ropes again. The girl had a lot of fire in her.

"You must understand that I can't let you go unpunished."

"Unpunished? Who are you? My father?" She spat.

He watched how she fought harder and it made him angry. The ropes were digging against her skin and hurting her.

"Sit still."

She didn't. She continued to squirm around. Hector prided himself that he was a patient man, but his patience flew out of the window with this girl.

He got up from his seat and grabbed his chin tightly in his hand. She froze and gazed up at him with those incredible eyes. The green and brown in her eyes seemed to be in an eternal fight. Hector forced himself to continue before he did something that he might regret.

"I told you to sit still. Understood?" He snapped.

She nodded and he recognised a bit of fear in her eyes. She was trying to hide it but he saw fear everyday.

"You tried to steal from me and I won't allow that. You'll have to do something to give back to me."

"I'm not fucking you!"

Rage filled her eyes. He felt offended that she even thought that he was referring to that. He didn't need to manipulate girls to get in bed with him.

"Not what I was talking about." He let go of her chin to make that clear.

She didn't seem to relax so he continued.

"I've read up on you and I figured out what to do with you."

That made her tense even more.

"I need a new employee for my programming department of Cassano's enterprises."

Sadness filled her eyes but he decided to ignore that. Dahlia Brown was a prodigy and a genius. She graduated high school at fourteen and was accepted into MIT. She majored in computer science and math. But once she graduated two years ago, she vanished and become homeless. He didn't know what happened to her because the opportunities must be thrown at her.

"You probably must know already that I don't even have a home. How do you expect me to come work for you? Do they even allow me to wear these clothes in your dumb company?" She snapped harshly.

He'd thought about that as well, but he didn't want to insult her.

"My employees get the opportunity to choose between an apartment, car, or higher pay check."

That was a lie. She searched his face but he kept it neutral. He could easily detect a lie because he was a master liar himself.

"You're a weird guy." She commented.

He rolled his eyes.

"How long do I have to work for you?"

She sounded interested. Good, he thought.

"A year."

"So long?!" She gasped shocked.

"I told you that you picked the wrong person." He reminded her.

She really did. Hector got intrigued by her and the thought of never seeing her again made him feel... angry. He's never cared for anyone aside from family. So why did he care about this annoying girl?

"Your answer?"

Her big hazel eyes gazed up at him. She suddenly looked very vulnerable and he felt like an asshole for putting her in this situation.

"The apartment and a burger." She replied.

"A burger?" He frowned.

"I'm hungry." She shrugged.

If he was going to have to deal with another Elena or Nicolas, he was going to start greying at twenty-six.

"You've kept me in this weird ass cell for longer than four hours. I'm traumatised."

"An apartment and burger. Consider it done."

He walked to the door but halted. Dahlia was leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed. A soft smile played on her lips. She didn't seem too excited to start programming but she did seem happy to have a roof over her head.

While staring at her, Hector couldn't help but think.

'She's pretty.'