a chilling lack of ethics

Cass had been having nightmares. They were worse than the ones she usually had, ones that had popped up night after night ever since the day Marco King had pulled the rug out from under her. Those she had gotten used to…hell, she had even lived quite a few of them…but the scenes that appeared before her eyes as soon as her head hit the pillow following the day of Milena’s death created a whole new category of horror. The only times she had been able to get any sleep at all lately were when she was with Dermot. Because Dermot would never let anything bad happen to her.

She took the beer but didn’t open it, holding the bottle in her hand and just watching as drops of condensation formed on the glass. Her gaze slid up to meet his when he finally broke the silence between them. “Am I ever?” It was meant to sound like a joke, but it wasn’t a very funny one. Cass set the unopened bottle down on the counter and wrapped her arms around her torso. “This has never happened before, Dermot. Not to the Kings. There’s always a plan, there’s always a precedent…” She wouldn’t say it out loud, not just yet, but Cassidy was scared and it was obvious.

To Dermot, Milena’s death only made his life a little more complicated. Just a bit of an inconvenience, he never considered that perhaps people may had actually cared for the Syndicate Queen. Other than her daughter of course. But Dermot had been noticing that Cass wasn’t taking things all that well, and he certainly wasn’t one who was good with opening up about feelings. But he figured he needed to say something to try and ease her grief. “Cass--” he started putting his own bottle down on the counter beside the one she’d previously just placed there. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, I can barely wrap my head around it myself...” he took a couple steps closer to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “But this was expected. These things happen; we all signed out own death certificates the moment we got into this kind of life.” he sighed, figuring that probably didn’t make things much better, “I’m sorry darling, i don’t know what to say. But I am here for you -- if you need me or wanna talk.”

Cain: It means you should take some time out of ur busy schedule drowning kittens to come see her

Cain: mcgill on decarie

Cain: meet me there

Dermot: cunt

[ three missed calls ]

Cain: answer one of my fucking calls for once in your life you ingrtae

Cain: it's aunt peep

Cain: she's in hospital

Cain: possible pelvc fracture, maybe more

Dermot: maybe more ?? what does that even mean

Dermot: ya better not be codding me just so i'll answer the goddamn phone

Luca saw them from the top of the street and the sight had caused him to pause. His car, his brand new fuckin’ dodge 2019, was currently being used as a leaning post for them. He couldn’t see their face, only the top of their head over the hood and roof.  Scowling, his temper rose and he picked up the pace. Under his jacket, he slipped a hand in a palmed his glock. Striding right up to the person and with all the tact and precision of a striking viper, he unsheathed the gun and through the fabric of his coat, pressed it to their side. He was up close now, able to lean right against their side.  “-There a reason for you leanin’ against my car, hmm?” he asked, his voice low and his stance calm. His eyes though, were black as sin and narrowed in on the side of their skull. To the on looker, he would appear as if he knew the person and was greeting them. Of course, this was far from the truth.

With a cigarette limp in between his lips and gaze focused down at the bright screen of his phone. He though he had found the ideal spot to lay low while he waited for his team to text him to let him know the drop offs were a success. Little did he know the brand spanking new car he was leaning up against belonged to one of the Syndicate’s Capos. Not noticing the man until he felt the barrel of the gun against his side. A feeling he was all too familiar with. His voice caught in his throat momentarily as he slowly moved forward away from the car, “Take it easy, friend,” the Irishman side eyed his attacker and recognized him almost immediately. Of course it was Luca, at that moment he would’ve preferred it to be Zephyr. 

“Didn’t think you’d drive a car like this,” he slowly moved his hand to remove the cigarette that had been braced between his teeth, taking a long inhale as his gaze fell back to the car, “Pegged ya for a Maserati kind of guy.” 

availability: open to all. location: local bar downtown.

    “So,” he explained, drink in hand. “Now that Milena’s dead, everybody expects me to solve the case.” Salvatore scoffed, knowing very well he’d have to pull some strings and find a culprit that pleased both the Ivory’s and the Vittori’s. “Either way, I’m screwed. Like always,” he laughed in a bitter manner, sipping the rest of his whiskey on the rocks like the gentleman he wasn’t. “You’d think money would get you anywhere, look where it got me…” he rose his arms, surrendering. “Anyways… and to think my name means saviour, like my father expected me to be.” He licks his lower lip, the memory of his father now a faint one. “So.. What do you expect from me?”

With Milena’s death, well the Ivory’s were getting pretty erratic getting themselves into shit and really just being a general nuisance. They were all trying to figure out who the hell killed their Queen, including Dermot. Which is how he found himself at one of the bars downtown to try and get anyone with loose lips drunk enough to spill the tea. He had no intentions of finding himself beside a lawman wallowing in some self pity. But he figured he could at least try and use him to his advantage. Nodding along with him, while signalling for the bar tender to bring over another whiskey and sliding it over to his current companion. “You’re certainly in a sorry state, aren’t ya?” the Irishman laughed, fingers tapping against the cool condensation on his glass. “I ain’t expecting you to solve Milena’s death ‘er anything. But you’ve got to have some sort of lead right?” 

If there was one thing Alex knew, it was that demand didn’t give a damn if supply couldn’t be met. Money was spent where the product was and that meant the Ivories couldn’t afford to be without certain commodities. 

In the weeks following the warehouse fire, however, the syndicate set up new operating headquarters, bringing in women and drugs as though the Vittoris hadn’t set their previous domain ablaze. But, business wasn’t the same. News of their considerable losses flooded the streets of Montreal, scaring away at least a fraction of their recurring clients. No one wanted to be caught in the crossfire of a deadly turf war and the capo couldn’t say she blamed them. Things were bound to get a hell of a lot worse before they got better, especially given the fact that her wheels had been turning since the moment a bullet greeted Vincent Vittori’s skull. Unfortunately, her plan involved less than favorable allies, but allies nevertheless. 

“I need your help with something.” There was no greeting as the woman came to stand in front of Dermot, arms crossing her chest in the passive-aggressive manner she often assumed in his presence. “Don’t give me any shit for it either. I’m not in the mood,” she added, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, hating the idea that she was asking for a favor of any sort. // @dermct

Since the warehouse fire, Dermot had noticed the steady decline in products being shipped out. A lot of the Montreal clients backed out almost immediately when they found out the Ivory’s couldn’t hold their own. For once in his drug cartel career, he had more free time than he would have liked to admit. Having to send a lot of his workers home since they weren’t driving out any orders. As he sent one of the last workers home with a slap on the shoulder he’d notice a car pulling up through the open gates and came to idle in the lot. One of the last people he would have expected stepped out of the vehicle and made her stand in front of him. Dermot had to shoo some of his men away to stop from staring at her. They didn’t know who she was exactly, all they saw was a hot babe pull up for a chat with the boss. But Dermot knew better. A lot of people would consider Alex Yuen to be a fox, not Dermot. She was a clever little she-wolf.

“Gracin’ me with your presence now, Alex? Here I’d thought you forgot about lil ol’ me,” unable to help himself from making sly remarks, despite the tension she carried with her down to the docks. It took everything in him not to say something stupid, quote the godfather or some bullshit. “Oi you fucks can stop staring ‘n get back to work. This ain’t non of your business!” he snapped at a couple ogling workers who quickly got their shit into gear before returning his attention back to Alex, nodding his head for her to follow him through a glass side door of the building and into his office. “Alright, love. What could you possibly need my help with?”

He wanted to jump into the middle of it, Cass could tell. He was itching to, everything about him in that moment gave it away. But she wasn’t going to let that happen. Nothing bad was going to happen to Dermot Scanlan if she could be there to stop it. That thought stayed put right in the front of her mind and if this hadn’t been a tense situation, it would have scared the shit out of her. All she knew was that they couldn’t stay there, not when chaos was erupting around them. Her heart dropped into her stomach when he registered the sound of the gunshot - he was thinking about Scotty. “No, Dermot, come on…” She tugged on his arm in an attempt to get him to move - they had to get the fuck out of there.

Instead, he once again pulled out his phone. She was about to tell him that Scotty was fine, it couldn’t have been Scotty, they needed to go…but the look of surprise that dawned on his features stopped her. Milena King is dead. Cassidy stared back at him, almost unable to process the words. “She’s–what?” That single gunshot…that shot had killed Milena?

It wasn’t necessarily a relief that washed over when he found out it was Milena that was shot and not his brother. But it felt pretty damn close. No, he wasn’t particularly close to Milena, however, she had helped him get his job in the cartel and hide him away from his brother for the first few months he’d been out of prison. Dermot’s bigger concern on his mind was Zephyr becoming the head of the association, they weren’t exactly friends. With the initial shock of the message gone and civilians swarming to get away from the chaos of someone being murdered, Dermot’s full attention turned back to the woman at his side. Cass was by no means incapable of handling herself, but for some reason seeing her there. Wide-eyed and confused, she looked so small with a sea of bodies moving around them. He found himself pulling her closer to him, afraid he might lose her.

She was right, they had to get out of there. “We need to go.” Who knows how many gunmen there were or how many people the Vittori’s were planning on taking out. He took her hand in his and without much of a word he started leading her out of the park. The gravity of the situation settling in nicely with the silence between them. Only stopping once they were about a block away from the park. Leaning up against his car with a slow nod. “Milena is dead.” He repeated as though trying to solidify the picture in his mind. “That’s gonna break poor Emilia’s heart.”

“Somebody bumped into him?” Cassidy rolled her eyes and turned back to face him, one forearm settling on the table as she reached for his drink and stole a sip. “He’s probably had a few. Not that I blame him - this isn’t exactly his scene.” Cass placed the cup back down in front of Dermot. “Milena’s leaving?” If they were getting Milena out of there, this had to be more than just a simple fight. As if right on cue, the shouting grew louder and more people began to perk up their ears at the disturbance. The music playing from one of the tents was soon drowned out and people around them began gathering up their belongings and shooing their children towards the exits. “We are not intervening,” she said firmly as if he were a child about to misbehave. Which, in may ways, he still was. Cass was content to sit there and wait out this ordeal - somebody would grab Scotty and pull him out of it - but then she saw various Ivories rushing past them in the direction of the action. That couldn’t be good.  “I think we should g–” Before Cassidy could finish the last word of that sentence, a single shot rang out loud and clear, soaring above the noise of the fighting. And then all hell broke loose. Cass’ eyes snapped back to Dermot and she rose from her seat, sliding out from between the bench and the table and grabbing onto his arm. “Dermot…”

"Yeah, you know how he gets,” the Irishman shook his head before looking off in the direction of the growing crowd. Seeing other Ivory’s rush into the crowd only made him want to get all up in that action. Cass was nearly background noise with the blood pumping in his ears and adrenaline rushing through him. Hell if he hadn’t heard her tell him not to go, he just might have. His gaze falling back to her, his body clearly tense and eyes searching her face for some sort of reason as to why he shouldn’t go off into the crowd like the rest of them. That’s when he heard the shot ring out and he went visibly pale. Feeling Cass’ hand wrap firmly around his arm was the only thing keeping him in one place. If someone had pulled a gun on his brother. “Cass let me go--” he started when he felt more vibrating coming from his phone.

Lifting it to his ear ready to hear bad news about his brother, he instead was thrown for a loop when he got the news that Milena King had been found shot dead. Hell, he didn’t know how to react. Sliding his phone back in his pocket he slowly turned his head to face her, “Milena King is dead.”

A finger rooted around in the candy, finding all of the blue ones and separating them from the rest. “The point is to do something stupid that isn’t life-threatening. A strange concept, I know.” Cass was teasing, of course, but the statement did hold real meaning. In the world they lived in, danger lurked around every corner. Cassidy was trying not to think of all of the terrible things that could happen at a public event like this, instead choosing to be positive. This day was going to be a nice reprieve from everything that had been going on lately. Right? 

That hope was short-lived; when Dermot pulled his phone out and relayed what was going on, Cass groaned and turned her head to try to find the man in question. “I think you might throw up. Please don’t throw up.” She couldn’t get eyes on Scotty, but heard some yelling a little ways away. “What’s going on? What is he doing?”

“eh, I suppose it’s innocent enough,” he dropped the handful of jellybeans back into the box and opted for another bite from his burger instead. Sending back a message to whoever informed him to find out where everything was happening. It wasn’t surprising anymore to find his brother in the middle of a nonsensical fight. In fact, Dermot would argue that in any sort of social situation it was almost expected that he would get himself into some sort of trouble. Hotheaded bastard. “Seems like someone looked at him wrong or just bumped into him?” he offered a lopsided shrug standing up to try and see over the crowd gathering. “I think a couple of our guys are getting into the mix -- guess that means Milena’s being escorted outta here,” he didn’t seem too phased. This sort of thing happened all the time, they had plans for this kind of shit. His blue gaze fell back to Cass, “You wanna go intervene or stay out of trouble?” Hell if he was just by himself he might have jumped right into the fight. But with Cass was different, although he was sure she could take care of herself, he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk having a knife pulled on her or something. 

She watched him set his food aside with an amused smile. Cass knew that this was not his idea of fun, but the fact that he was playing along because she wanted to do it made her feel warm inside. She was consistently surprised by how easy being around Dermot was - she didn’t overthink anything or overanalyze, she just lived in the moment. That was something that she had been trying to do for a long time, at least when the moments were happy ones. Once he had picked a candy from the box, Cassidy followed suit, though she didn’t sniff her jelly bean. Popping it into her mouth, Cass chew for a moment before throwing her arms up in the air triumphantly. “Coconut! HA! It’s about time I had some good luck.” Her eyes scoured the box again and picked a blue one. She chewed for a second, nose scrunching as she tried to figure out what it was. “Okay so I think this is toothpaste, which I’m assuming is supposed to be bad, but it just tastes minty.”

Hanging out just chilling on the park bench not worrying about the drug cartel or whether someone was planning to put a bullet in his head, was surprisingly relaxing which was not what Dermot had been expecting. It could have been from Cass being there to keep him down to Earth, he probably would be enjoying himself less if she wasn’t around. Then again he might have not even bothered coming in the first place. Dermot took another chomp in his burger to wash away the bad taste of the jellybean before reaching in for another one, “Seems like just going for the blue ones is the best bet if you don’t want the taste of ass in your mouth,” he popped a blue one in his mouth, genuinely surprised when it was a good flavour. “What’s the point of this game again?” he flashed a cheeky smile right before his phone started vibrating with text messages that his brother was getting into a fight with one of the Vittori’s, “Fucking Cain is at it again,” he never called his brother Scotty. “What do you think would happen if I just put a handful of these jellybeans in my mouth?” 

“Okay. So.” Cass swung one leg over the side of the bench, quickly followed by the other. Once settled, she placed a bag with the Carnival Confections logo down on the picnic table between her and Dermot and flashed a mischievous grin. “I got a whole bag of those jelly beans that are either regular flavors or the most disgusting thing you’ll ever put in your mouth.” The candy store’s booth had no shortage of palatable choices, but this had a built-in game. Cassidy reached into the bag and pulled out the box of candy, then the list that accompanied it. “You know, I’ve never been in that store before. But from all the shit they have at their booth, I feel like it’s Montreal’s very own Dylan’s Candy Bar.” Nimble fingers freed the cardboard from its sealant and she set the open box down on the wooden planks. “You first. Pick a color.” She rested her elbows on the table and fixed her eyes on Dermot, waiting for him to make his choice. They hadn’t come to the park together but it definitely hadn’t taken long for Cass to rope him into being social for the day.

@dermct

The Montreal Walk in the Park was probably one of the most pointless events he had even been dragged out to go too. All they were doing was celebrating that the snow finally melted like it wouldn’t be back in just a couple of months. Canada was weird, and this event. Even weirder. But he found himself unable to refuse Cass’s offer when she roped him into hanging out with her for practically the entire afternoon. Currently mucking down a burger from one of the many food trucks that were around, he wasn’t exactly intrigued by the idea of eating gross flavoured jellybeans. “Okay,” he said through a mouthful of burger, setting his food down beside him and looking over all the different coloured jellybeans. Picking out a white one and sniffing it, as though that would help decide if it was a good one or not. “So this one is supposed to be coconut? or baby wipes I guess.” he popped it into his mouth and the expression on his face made it clear which one he’d gotten. “Wow this game fuckin’ blows.”

“You know I don’t want a knight in shining armor, right? I’m not a princess in a tower. I can save myself.” That was what she thought she wanted. That was what she told herself that she wanted. But then again, she’d been trying to save herself for years and nothing notable had come from that. Even reaching out to the Vittoris had put part of her fate in yet another man’s hands. And now she was letting Dermot pull her closer, allowing her head to rest against his chest while a sigh left her lips. “Yeah, well. Don’t fucking chip me or anything, that would be weird.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d kissed her and it likely wouldn’t be the last…but this kiss was different. Dermot and Cass had fucked around with no strings attached, they’d played Bonnie and Clyde more times than she could count. Much like everything else in her life, however, things were beginning to change lately. She sought him out more, she was more and more comfortable being (almost) completely honest with him. She wanted to tell him some of the things that he didn’t know about her, not so he could pity her but just so he would know. And she wanted to know more about him. 

This kiss was soft. It was gentle. It wasn’t what she was used to. The tiniest glint of surprise flickered in her eyes and when he pulled away, a hand reached to meet his cheek. “Hey…” Hazel hues met blue ones and Cassidy just looked at him, no more words coming to fruition, the faint taste of cigarette smoke lingering on her lips. Her fingers left his face after a moment and she let her head settle against his chest once more, curling into him. “No…don’t move. This is fine… This is fine.”

“I know, I know. You’re a strong independent woman who doesn’t need a man looking out for you,” his mouth curled into a smile. He expected no less of her. She was the Bonnie to his Clyde, she could very well take care of herself. But the thing was, Dermot was starting to feel like he wanted to look after her. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when he started to care about Cass. Suppose it’s just one of those unexplainable things. That’s what he told himself at least. Sure he’s slept with her enough times but that was nothing more than a quick fling, something to pass the time at the moment. But here he was in his own home with her curled into his chest and for once he wasn’t thinking about himself. He barely knew anything about Cass, but if something bad were to happen to her he knew he wouldn’t take it well. Would he go as far as to say that he loved her? No probably not. But hell it felt pretty damn close.

When she didn’t immediately pull away from his kiss, well he had a feeling that she was feeling the same confusing things about him. There they were, in the darkness of the living room. The only light was seeping in through the window, illuminating her in an ethereal glow. As they lay there in silence, listening only to the muffled sounds of the world outside. He found himself thinking about her. There was kindness in her smile, a gentleness he could only compare to that of the way his mother used to look at him and his brother. It was the smile of one who laughed with ease. His hand slid up her arm, the other wrapped around her waist to keep her close while he closed his eyes. The exhaustion from the storm finally kicking in. “Goodnight Cass,” he whispered against her head. Drifting slowly out of consciousness.