Capo Dei Capi.
(slang) Boss of all the bosses.
Often used by law enforcement, the media and the public in general to describe a Mafia boss
who exerts significant influence on how the Mafia should run.
Author's Note:
A little insight into Castle's life in the spotlight. Honestly, I had these two different fan interactions in my mind and I just had to write them to get them out of my on to the next chapter should be easier (I hope).
As usual, thanks for bearing with me while I work through my creativity flunk.
I figured I just need to push through, keep writing even if it's not very good, and hope that I get back on track soon.
Your patience is very much appreciated!
Somewhere between leaving the loft and entering the town car, something changed. His demeanour, the energy between them: it was as if he had been filled with a sudden dread.
The first twenty minutes of the twenty-five minute drive to Black Pawn HQ was spent in near silence. Apart from the minimal polite conversation with his driver, Gregory, Rick's attention had been undividedly on his phone. If it weren't for the occasional sideward glance or distracted smile, Kate would have thought he had forgotten she was even there.
She watched him as he typed out yet another text; his thumbs furiously tapping away at his screen as if his life had depended on it.
She couldn't help but wonder if she had done something wrong, if maybe he hadn't been ready for her to meet Alexis yet. It was brief, polite, she didn't want to overstep. But she also didn't want to come across as cold or uninterested. She had never done this before, never dated someone who had a child, and she didn't know what the expectations were.
"Your eyes are like laser beams," he quipped as he tucked his phone into the pocket of his jacket. He looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time in what felt like hours. "I can feel them burning a hole right through my brain."
Her stare dropped to her hands, fidgeting in her lap. "Sorry."
Rick reached across the distance between them and placed his hand over hers.
"Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?"
She smiled, her nerves calmed by his touch.
He had told her: three times already. But she didn't think she would ever get tired of hearing it, of the way he studied her, appreciated her as though she were a work of art.
When he wasn't too distracted, that was.
"You're not too bad yourself," she responded.
She couldn't miss it: the flex of muscles as he clenched his jaw, desperately trying to refrain. Again, she found herself wondering: what exactly it was that was occupying his mind. What was he holding back?
"There's going to be press," he blurted.
She looked at him confused.
"At the launch," he clarified. "There'll be a red carpet out front: a few enthusiastic fans, photographers for local papers."
Her image had appeared online and in gossip columns too many times recently; mostly on Richard Castle fan pages but her Page Six appearance had brought her a fair amount of unwanted attention. From light-hearted teasing from colleagues to the quiet, warning 'you know his reputation, right?' from her extended family, she'd never felt so scrutinised for the people she chose to associate with.
"I asked about a back entrance but you can only access it via an alley so we'd have to pull up out front anyway."
"Oh." Her voice failed her while her mind was in a frenzy.
A back entrance.
Away from the press.
To remain unseen.
There was a small flicker of doubt in her mind: a soft but persistent voice that told her he was ashamed, hiding her.
It was what she would prefer, if she was being totally honest: being hidden away. To walk a red carpet - to literally parade this undefined relationship - would be to leave herself so vulnerable, open to public inquiry and judgement. Even a small amount sacrificed privacy was, in her opinion, too much.
But she understood that, for Rick, this was just a part of life.
This was a part of the deal and it was a small price to pay to be able to spend the evening in his company.
"Is that why you've been so quiet?" she enquired. "Because my photo will be taken?"
"I- I'm sorry," Rick continued nervously. "I didn't even think- I should've said something earlier."
The slight stumble of his words and the concern that swirled deep in the steel blue of his eyes dissipated that flicker of doubt in its entirety. He was thinking of her. Always thinking of her and trying to find ways to accommodate her, to make her comfortable.
"It's fine," she reassured him as she squeezed his hand and offered him a small, warm smile of gratitude.
"Are you sure?"
Kate nodded.
"The cameras aren't a constant thing, though... right?" she asked, a nervous chuckle slipping from her throat. "You said it got crazy during the tour, and obviously they organise press for events like this but-"
"It's not all the time," he promised her with a smile.
She let out a relived sigh. "Okay," she whispered as she turned her attention to the buildings that passed by outside her window. "Good."
"Seriously, we can bail. I am more than happy to go back to Lanie's and watch Ryan suffer through a night of wedding planning," he joked.
Kate laughed at the thought, but shook her head. "I don't want to share you with them tonight," she confessed.
She looked down to where their hands remained joined.
"And even if I did," she continued. "As if I would pass up the opportunity to go to Alex Conrad's book party!"
Kate smirked, watching through the corner of her eye as Rick rolled his eyes and turned his focus out his own window.
"And to see the world from your point of view for a night," she added after a few moments of silence.
"This isn't really my point of view," Rick told her, solemnly. "It's Richard Castle: bestselling author's."
"Aren't you Richard Castle: bestselling author?"
Rick turned his head in her direction, his eyes locked to hers and - in a moment so raw, so authentically vulnerable - he confessed: "Not when I'm with you. With you I'm just... Rick."
Until this moment she hadn't realised that this was everything she had wanted: to be a safe space for him, to be someone that he could be his true self around, someone he could trust was genuine in her intentions.
"I am really good at working the crowd, though," he added in jest to lighten the heaviness that had settled in the air.
Kate smiled and huffed out a small laugh. "I bet."
Gina hadn't been kidding when she said there had been a record turn out this evening.
Rick was thankful for the head's up message she had sent that had given him a few minutes to prepare Kate. He could sense her anxiety building as she looked out the window to the crowd of people lining the carpeted walkway into the building.
"A few enthusiastic fans, hey?" she said, her tone of voice highlighting exactly how unimpressed she was by his understating.
But it wasn't intentional. His own launch parties - although wildly successful - had never seen crowds like this before. That was a bitter pill for Rick to swallow.
"I'll get your door," he mumbled as he pushed open his own door.
The low roar of the crowd's cheers bulldozed it's way through the silence of the car, filling every inch of space around her until she felt the pressure sitting heavy on her chest. Rick's door closed behind him and she was given just a few short moments of privacy to calm her racing heart. Kate inhaled deeply and prepared herself for what she hoped would be a swift entrance.
The door opened and Rick's hand reached out for her. "You ready for this?"
She stared at his open palm, considered - just for a moment - that maybe she wasn't ready. But when she looked up at his face, the gentle reassurance in his eyes and the warmth of his smile calmed her nerves.
"Ready," she confirmed with a smile as she placed her hand in his and allowed him to assist her out of the car.
The atmosphere assaulted her: camera flashes, blinding; the cheer of adoring fans, deafening. As her senses adjusted, the Brownian noise of the crowd turned to cheers of his name.
It's Richard Castle!
Rick, over here!
These people adored him, celebrated him even when he wasn't the man of the evening. A hundred strangers with one thing in common: their love for his words, his stories, him. On a superficial level she could understand why he had been drawn to this life; why he would seek out the validation, the fame and idolisation. The chaos was exhilarating.
He played the part so well, too. With his hand on her lower back he slowly guided her toward the chaos, his smile unwavering.
"Just keep smiling, I'll make this quick," he assured her through a forced yet charming smile.
"I'm fine, Rick." She stepped with him, matching his pace. "Just do your thing. Enjoy it."
His hand slipped to her waist and he pulled her closer to his side.
"Is this okay?" he asked as he looked away from the crowd and into her eyes.
She smiled and nodded.
Yes, it was perfectly okay.
"Richard Castle!" A husky female voice from within the crowd beckoned his attention.
Rick and Kate both turned to see a tall, slender woman with vibrant blue hair push her way toward the front of the crowd, tape recorder in hand.
"Abby-Mae Carter," Rick whispered to Kate as he began to cross the carpet in the woman's direction. "She runs Books 2 Die 4 dot com. Not a huge fan of me personally but she always gives me pretty objective reviews."
"That's... nice?" Kate chuckled. "Why doesn't she like you?"
"She gave Hell Hath No Fury a one-star rating," he explained. "I may not have been totally understanding at the time." Rick turned his attention to Abby-Mae and smiled. "Good evening, Abby."
"Richard," she returned with a smile. She held up the tape recorder and waved it slightly. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not."
Rick accepted a copy of his latest novel and a marker from a man near Abby-Mae, signed it and it returned it to the man as Abby-Mae clicked on the device in her hand and turned it on.
"Richard Castle," she began talking into it. "The latest instalment of your Five Families series, Capo Dei Capi, rocketed into the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Congratulations."
"Thank you, Abby."
"Are you concerned about the possibility of Seriously Dead knocking you out of that top spot upon it's release?" she asked, bluntly.
Kate was stunned by the abruptness of the question, the lingering hopefulness in the woman's voice as she asked it. But Rick simply smiled and continued signing autographs for those standing around them.
"You know what? I actually had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy of Seriously Dead and-" Rick sighed and turned his full attention to Abby-Mae. "If my run at number one is over it's because Conrad has earned that spot. He's incredibly talented and I have no doubt in my mind that Seriously Dead is going to be a huge hit."
Abby-Mae smiled. "And to those who say Alex Conrad is riding your coattails?"
"While it was an honour to have been named his mentor and credited in the acknowledgements of Dead Serious, I assure you - as I have assured Alex - his success has nothing to do with me. He's worked hard for this, he's earned it."
The fans within earshot all began to clap in support of Rick's support and, soon enough, the endorsement had spread like a wave throughout the crowd, the rumble of approval surrounding them.
"That's all I need," Abby-Mae informed Rick. "Thank you."
"Always a pleasure," Rick said as he shook the woman's hand.
He began to guide Kate down the carpet, slowly inching closer to what he now deemed the finishing line.
"It sounded like she was trying to discredit Conrad," Kate commented in a hushed voice as they walked.
Rick stopped to sign another autograph, take another photo, and then they continued on their journey.
"No, she was trying to get me to say something bad about him," Rick explained.
They stopped again and he signed another book. Rinse and repeat every few feet.
"Why would you do that if you were his mentor?" she enquired.
"Because right now he's my biggest competition."
Kate caught her bottom lip on her teeth and furrowed her brow. She didn't know much about this world, but she did know that Alex Conrad was just finding his feet within it. The idea of a renowned author such as Richard Castle being in competition with the newcomer seemed unlikely. But she could see it, the small glint in the depths of his eyes: he was threatened, worried.
She sighed and leant into his side. "I think you handled that well. Very diplomatic."
Rick chuckled and wrapped his arm around Kate's waist, squeezing her gently against him. "Maybe I was a politician in a past life?"
He took two steps closer to the building's entrance.
"Just one more," he announced to the fans. "Where would you like it?" he asked as he smiled at a young woman that had been trying to gain his attention for a while now and held his marker ready.
The lady's hands gripped at the neckline of her shirt and she lowered it slightly.
"Can you sign my chest?" she asked him, practically vibrating with excitement.
Rick paused, his eyes drifted toward his date for the evening.
Kate laughed. "Oh, please. Don't let me stop you."
He hesitantly stepped closer to the barricade and the lady leant forward.
"This just kinda feels like a trap," he mused aloud.
"I'm here to observe the Richard Castle in his element, right?" Kate smirked.
Rick nodded. "Well, here he is."
He signed his name to his fan's chest and ceremoniously capped his marker.
"Have a great night, everyone," he called to the crowd.
He rushed toward Kate, eager to get into the event so that they could slink away into the background, but her attention was stolen by something behind him.
"Oh, the little girl," she said as she pointed.
He turned around and noticed - for the first time - a young girl standing by the barricade, holding a copy of Capo Dei Capi.
He walked back to the girl and crouched so that he was at her level.
"I'm sorry," he said to her, softly. "I didn't see you there."
"That's okay," the girl assured him with a smile. "I'm only little."
Rick smiled at the girl's toothy grin. "How can I help you tonight?"
"Can you sign my mom's book?" she asked him. "It's her birthday tomorrow and she's your hugest fan."
"I can certainly do that for you," he said.
The girl passed the book through the metal-barred barricade that stood between them.
"What's is your mom's name?" Rick asked.
"Marina."
"Marina?" he asked to confirm. The little girl nodded. "And what's your name?"
"Lizzy."
"L-I-Z-Z-I-E?"
"L-I-Z-Z-Y."
"Y," he repeated, correcting himself before writing his message on the first page of the book. "To Marina," he spoke as he wrote. "Happy birthday. Lots of love, Lizzy and Richard Castle."
He closed the book and passed it back to Lizzy.
"Thank you Mr. Castle!" the girl said excitedly, hugging the paperback to her chest.
Rick looked at the people surrounding the girl, none of which seemed to be paying much attention to her.
"Are you here with an adult?" he asked her.
"Yeah, over here." He heard over the chatter of the crowd.
When he rose to his full height he saw a man standing a few rows back in the crowd.
"Is this your dad?" he asked Lizzy.
The girl shook her head. "That's Uncle Jimmy," she said, giggling.
Rick motioned to the people between the girl and her uncle. "Can we clear a path, please?"
The crowd split and Rick watched as Lizzy made her way back to Uncle Jimmy. When she turned and waved goodbye, he waved back with a beaming smile.
Out of all his fans, Lizzy was definitely a favourite.
"Let's get you inside." He turned back to Kate, grabbed her hand and made a beeline for the venue doors.