Children of the Don

Poker night

Dean is unaware of what his grandfather is up to and that he is meeting with Carley. If Dean knew, he would not look and feel so carefree. Dean walks into the casino. He sees his friends waiting for him at a table. Federico Agosti is also sitting at the table. The group of Dons are quiet as they feel uncomfortable around Federico. Sienna has joined her grandfather as she hopes to impress Dean. Dean sighs. Dean is not in the mood for the Agosti family. He knows they are going to blame him for not standing with him. So he walks over and pretends nothing has happened. He sits down after greeting everyone.

"You betrayed me, Morrelli! I can not believe you did not even stand up for me," Federico Agosti says.

"Well, uncle Federico, maybe you should have kept your granddaughter in check. Why do you blame me when the fault is with your own family? Look at Sienna. It is all her fault that we are all in this predicament. She should not have talked so much, and you must control her in the future. If she opens her big mouth about the Mafia business again, I will personally shut her mouth forever. You are under my family now, and I will not tolerate her behaviour. As for you, your son and his wife, you stay away from the Casellas. If I find out that any of you threatened the Casella family or their family members, I will kill you. It is not an idle threat. It is a warning," Dean says. Federico is pale. He did not expect Dean to tell him off in public. Federico thought Dean would apologize and offered to talk to Harper Casella to restore his family, but it was not the case. Federico knows he has lost everything, and Dean is not planning to help him.

"Why don't you talk to Harper Casella and ask her to restore my family? Then, you and Sienna can get married, with more votes and a more significant say in the Mafia than Harper Casella. We will back you to challenge her," Federico tries. Dean does not look impressed at all.

"No, you had your chance, and you blew it. I do not want to marry your granddaughter. She is a pathetic snitch, and I will lose all respect if I marry her. So you are on your own. Are you going to play poker with us, or are you returning to Las Vegas? I want you and your family to return to Las Vegas as soon as possible and hand over all the businesses there to Andrea, my second in command. You will not run any of the businesses anymore as I can not trust you or your family," Dean says. Federico is furious. Sienna walks to Dean and tries to sit next to him, but his men prevent her from coming too close to Don Morretti.

"Dean, don't you love me anymore? I left my fiance for you!" Sienna says, crying softly. She indeed left her fiance for Dean, but only after discovering Dean is powerful and wealthier than her ex-fiance.

"I never loved you, Sienna. I wanted to use you, but now you are useless to me," Dean says. Sienna feels humiliated, and she wants to slap Dean, but he grabs her arm. Finally, he stands up, and Sienna calls out in pain.

"You are hurting me! Let go!" Sienna shouts.

"Never try to hit me! You are not worthy of talking to any of the Dons! Take your granddaughter and leave before she ends up being bait for the sharks," Dean says. His dark eyes look at Federico, showing no emotion. Federico takes his family and leaves, knowing they are playing with death. Dean Morrelli is known for having no mercy towards his enemies. Federico knows he and his family are done. Dean looks at the older man and his family leave. Federico Agosti seems defeated, but Dean does not feel sorry for him. Federico brought it over himself. He was too weak to control his family and is now paying the consequences. Dean looks around the room. He can feel someone looking at him. Finally, his eyes rest on the woman with a big smirk on her face. Harper Casello is sitting at another poker table with Cole and Carol. Dean stares at her, and his almost black eyes shoot fire at her. If looks could kill, Harper would have been dead. Harper smiles at Dean, lifts the glass of champagne she has in her hand, and cheers him from across the room. Dean hates that she saw what happened between him and the Agosti family. He smiles back and raises his glass of whiskey as if nothing happened.

Dean turns to his table and takes his cards. He looks at the cards in his hand and places a bet. He is not bluffing as he has a good poker hand. The rest place their bets, and Dean pretends that he has forgotten about Harper, but in reality, he is well aware of Harper sitting and playing poker across the room. Harper's soft laugh sounds out from the other side of the room, like bells ringing in a light breeze.

"The woman has no flaws. Even her laugh is perfect," Dean thinks to himself as he tries to concentrate on his game.

"Wow, I wish I was not married! I would have gone after Harper Casella, but my wife will kill me if she hears me now," One of Dean's friends says.

"Alicia gave you beautiful children, Don Deville. So be thankful and stop looking around," Dean says. He looks at Harper, who changed out of the black suit and is now wearing a red dress. Her soft lips are covered in bright red lipstick, and she looks sensational and sexy. Dean looks away fast as he does not want his friends to think he has feelings for Donna Casella.

"You are still single. You and Harper Casella will make a great couple," Don Deville says.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that? I am capable of looking for my own wife, thank you very much," Dean says, annoyed. His friend stops teasing Dean as he knows Dean very well and knows Dean is pissed off. Dean wins a considerable amount and is tired of playing poker. He gets up, and his friends complain, as he will not give them a chance to win back some of the money they lost to him. Dean laughs at them and shakes his head.

"I have a long trip home tomorrow," Dean says as he walks out of the room. He does not look Harper's way as he does not want her to think he can not resist her like all the other men around her. As Dean walks out, he sees Harper and her two cousins standing at her car. He wonders where Carley is tonight, as she is not with them. He walks past them without looking their way.

Harper sees Dean walking past them without even a nod of his head. She does not know why she cares, as it is not like they are best friends. She looks at the tall, handsome man, and she sighs. If only she could believe in love again, but Harper does not trust anyone, and she knows that Dean is a man and men are never faithful. Bruce promised her he would marry her, but look what he did! He cheated on her with her best friend. As Harper thinks about Bruce and Brooklyn, she sees a woman storming toward Dean.

"Dean! You came home! I missed you so much! When did you come home? Why did you not tell me you were in town?" Harper hears Brooklyn's voice. Brooklyn throws herself into Dean's arms, but Dean sidesteps her, and she runs into one of Dean's bodyguards.

"Home? LA is not my home. So why should I let you know I am here? It has nothing to do with you where I am and what I do," Dean says. Dean walks to his car, and Brooklyn looks at him with desire in her eyes.

"Dean! Mom and Dad will love to see you. Please come home with me," Brooklyn tries again. Dean stops in his tracks.

"I had one father, and it is not your father! So let me explain something to you once and for all, Brooklyn. We are not family, and I do not care for you, my mother or your father. So leave me alone," Dean says softly, but his voice sounds deadly. Dean remembers Harper standing close to them, and he looks at Harper, who is pale in her face. She is staring at Brooklyn, but to Dean's surprise, there are no feelings on Harper's face or in her eyes. Instead, Harper turns her head to Dean. So does he hate his stepsister and his mother? Harper can not tell as Dean's face is as expressionless as hers. Brooklyn turns around to see who Dean is staring at. She takes a step back when she sees it is Harper Hudson. She had not seen Harper in a long time.

"Harper Hudson? Long time no see!" Brooklyn says.

"Yeah, it is me in the flesh. I got to go. If you will excuse me," Harper says.

"You are not still mad at me because of Bruce, are you? Bruce and I broke up, and you can have him back. I am tired of him," Brooklyn says as if Bruce is an old toy she can pass around as she pleases.

"No, thank you. I do not want anyone else's leftovers, but thank you for your kind offer. Besides, I will not touch anything you laid your dirty hands upon," Harper says sarcastically. Dean looks at the two women. He knows how his stepsister is. Brooklyn seems angry as she storms Harper's way.

"What are you saying I am dirty and not worthy of the great Harper Hudson?" Brooklyn asks.

"Wow, you do have two brain cells that work. I can not say it was nice to see you again, but enjoy the rest of your life. Hopefully, I will never have to see you again," Harper says as she is about to get into her car.

"So now I am stupid? You are full of insults! You keep yourself high and mighty, but you could not even keep your boyfriend from high school. You lost him to dirty, stupid me!" Brooklyn laughs at Harper. Harper smiles.

"It is nothing to be proud of. Bruce will sleep with anyone willing, and you were more than accommodating. Thank you for showing me your character and that of Bruce. You saved me from myself and my soft little heart. But, unfortunately, you are nothing but a bimbo, and Bruce only used you, like he used everyone else in his life," Harper says. Brooklyn turns to Dean.

"Are you going to let this woman talk to me, your stepsister, like that?" Brooklyn asks Dean.

"Yeah, I do not care!" Dean says as he gets into his car and drives away. Brooklyn feels like crying. She has tried for years to get Dean's attention. Brooklyn saw the way he looked at Harper, and she was jealous. She tried to make Harper look bad, but it backfired on her. Dean does not care!

"You can forget about getting close to my stepbrother! I will never allow it! You are a b***h, Harper Hudson!" Brooklyn shouts.

"Like I care what you think of me. I do not want your stepbrother for free. He is all yours. Such a shame it looks like he does not care about you," Harper says. She gets in her car, and the driver pulls away. Brooklyn feels frustrated as she does not have the last say. Dean is hers! She will not allow someone like Harper Casella to get him! She took Bruce from Harper, and she will take any other man from Harper. Brooklyn does not want to see Harper happy as she has been jealous of Harper since they were children. Harper always got the best. Harper was always the clever one and had the most followers since they were children. Why can she not win Harper Hudson for once? She thought she had Harper beaten when she took Bruce from her, but Harper did not look sad for one day! Harper never loved Bruce, and she gave Bruce everything to get to Harper. It was a waste of time, and now that she and Bruce are no longer a couple, she knows that Bruce only used her and her family to get to the top faster. Bruce is wealthy now and will always want more. Brooklyn can not give him more, so she is useless to him now. Bruce wants someone like Harper that can take him higher.