Page 9 of His Aries Heiress (BLP Signs of Love #21)

It’s a fact that Aries are known for their quick tempers and even quicker loyalty.

Marcellus watched carefully as Tato and Cassydie spoke. He knew it wouldn’t take long for his son’s inquisitiveness to take over, and it didn’t.

Cassydie’s big brown eyes that looked so much like Grim’s looked at him in alarm, and he knew he needed to step in.

“There are some things I need to chop it up wit’ you about, lil man,” Marcellus said, drawing the little boy’s attention to him.

Cassydie’s brows rose. “Right now? In the car?”

He nodded. He didn’t want to do this here, while they drove back to his house, but he had no choice.

The council was ready to meet, and he couldn’t keep them waiting, especially since he was the one to call this emergency meeting.

“I have something important to handle right after I drop you guys off.”

“Maybe we should wait until later then?” Cassydie suggested.

Marcellus shook his head in frustration.

She made valid suggestions, and her questions were understandable, but he couldn’t sit on this any longer.

He should have been worried about his place with the council and his future, but the one thing that kept him up all night last night was Tato.

He had to get this anxiety up off him, so though it may have been selfish of him to do this here and then dump the aftermath on Cassydie, he wouldn’t be able to walk into this meeting with a clear mind if he didn’t.

He looked at her over Tato’s head. “Nah, it gotta be now.”

Her eyes melted into understanding. He didn’t know how she seemed to understand him so well, but she did. She glanced down at Tato, and he noticed her expression change from understanding to heartbreak.

Marcellus cleared his throat. He knew it was his turn to take over. Though he was happy to have someone there as backup, this life-altering news needed to fall on him.

“Tato, you know pops was in the hospital yesterday, right?”

Tato nodded seriously. “Nicki said he wasn’t feeling good.”

Marcellus thought about Nicole. She had always taken good care of Tato.

Both he and Grim vetted her years ago, and she was the only one they trusted with the boy while they were out doing dirt.

She was out the way and stayed to herself.

Marcellus made sure she was compensated beautifully for taking such good care of Tato, both with money and dick, but she crossed the line today.

It left him wondering if he needed to find someone new to keep eyes on Tato.

His eyes flickered up to Cassydie, but he refocused quickly. One thing at a time.

“Nicki was right. He wasn’t feeling well, and . . . well, he . . .”

“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 wanted Tato 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 was dead.

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.

Cassydie offered him a small smile. “You’re right. You aren’t alone, but Tato, I still think God sent me to you to help you . . .”

“With what?”

Marcellus saw Cassydie beating around the bush and searching for the right words, and this time, he wanted to take the burden from her. She had set it up perfectly for him to swoop in with the hard truth.

“Tato, Pops ain’t make it, man. God sent Cassydie to us to help us grieve.

” Marcellus’s face scrunched up. That wasn’t what he meant to say.

He meant to say that God sent Cassydie to Tato to help Tato grieve.

When he glanced at her watery, red rimmed eyes, he knew his words rang true though.

She was sent there for both of them. In what ways for him, he had yet to figure out, but she was no doubt there for him too.

“What?” Tato asked quietly. He was a smart kid, so Marcellus knew his brain was trying to process the words he just spoke. To help him along, he knew he needed to be more direct.

“Pops died last night, kid. He ain’t comin’ back.”

The car was silent for several long seconds before Tato shook his head. “No . . . God told me everything would be okay, Cell.”