CHAPTER FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE – TAKE THE SLOW ROUTE

Marco froze. "Father? What are you doing here?" Don Cesaro stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "Your mother called me. She was worried about Jasmine's dinner with Castillo." He turned to Jasmine. "Tell me everything." As Jasmine recounted the evening's events once more, she watched Don Cesaro's face. Unlike Marco's open anger, the older man's expression was unreadable, his eyes calculating. When she finished, Don Cesaro nodded slowly. "This is a delicate situation. We can't afford to act rashly." Marco bristled. "We can't just do nothing! He threatened our family!" "And rushing in without a plan will only make things worse," Don Cesaro replied sharply. "We need to be smart about this. Jasmine, do you have any ideas?" Jasmine hesitated. She had been turning over possibilities in her mind all evening, but none of them seemed foolproof. Finally, she spoke. "What if... what if we could divert his attention? Give him something else to focus on?" Don Cesaro leaned forward, in