Original Sins by Faith Summers

24

Georgiou

This is another momentous occasion that requires my undivided attention.

It’s early Friday night. The night is still young for me because I have to meet with Donny later. But right now, I’m supposed to be focusing on the first step to the beginning of the empire I’m creating with my family.

We’re all here now. The guys and Mimi and I brought Henry; both are as good as family.

It’s opening night to the restructured strip club, which is now our sex club.

We remodeled the rooms to make the spaces bigger and some areas secluded.

What we’ve done so far is a miniature version of what we have in mind.

There are two bars—one at the entrance and one at the back.

I had the dancefloor redone, so instead of the murky shit they had before, it’s a glossy black granite with specks of silver embedded in it, so the lights reflect off it.

We still have the stage for strippers, but instead of stripping like in that sleazy way they previously did where men throw money at the stage for the girls to take their clothes off, I have exotic pole dancers.

Yes, they're topless, but it’s different from what it was before.

Best of all, we have customers. The place is packed, and everyone is in the theme with what we had in mind. The women are dressed in lingerie and the men in smart casual wear. Most have Venetian masks on.

The music is pumping, and the place looks like it was made for us to do this.

I don’t have the people fucking on the sidelines yet like Club Ecstasy, but there’s a section at the back where all the action is currently happening.

I look at the sign Nick and Gabe made for the door, and my cousins got the welcome message nailed to a tee.

It says:

We hope you enjoy our masquerade parties.

Our aim is to connect you with your wildest fantasies.

To thrill and excite you all at once in a place where you can just be you.

When the masks go on, and the lights go out, you decide what happens next.

Salvatore walks up to me with Henry, both carrying drinks. Salvatore smiles wide when he sees me.

It’s because of how much money we made already tonight. It’s two hundred dollars to get in, and when last I checked, there were well over a hundred people here, and we’ve just had to close the door on the line of people that were waiting outside.

Some of the people here are V.I.P we allowed in free tonight, but by my count, we’ve nearly taken in twenty g’s in this one night. If things keep going this way—and I think it will—within four weeks, we would have made back more than half a million dollars.

That tells me this was a fucking great idea.

“Do you see how many people are here?” Salvatore beams, looking around.

“I see. We did good, didn’t we?”

“More than fucking good. I can’t wait for the rest of the place to get done. Just imagine it.”

I can, and I already have in my twisted as fuck taboo mind.

“The sky’s the limit, cousin.”

He nods and looks over to the little blonde woman who just walked through the door. Tonight Mimi looks like she’s ready for the red carpet, especially in that gold dress. The amount of guys looking at her is understandable, and as one of them approaches her, Salvatore tenses next to me.

“See you guys later. I have to deal with a situation.”

Before I can even answer, he’s gone, and Henry just looks at me, shaking his head.

“Is he still in denial?” Henry asks, sipping on his drink.

“Yes.”

“Are you?” Henry asks after a few beats.

I stare at him, knowing exactly what he means.

Am I in denial by telling myself I’ll just be cool to let Evie go when our time is up?

Yes, I am in fucking denial because I’m not cool.

“Sometimes you have to be.”

“I wish I could be like you, friend.”

“No, you don’t.” I shake my head. “We’re the kind of friends we are because we’re different. The day we become the same is the day we’re in trouble.”

“Fine, I just hate not doing what I want to do.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Keep her.”

Me too. But if Evie wanted to be kept, we’d know by now.

Sometimes I felt as though she’d tell me, but there was a block. I could see how she felt, though, especially this morning as she sat on the balcony watching the sunrise.

She needs that money for a reason and whatever it is, is not something we should pry into. That is the wedge between us, and why, even though I can accept I’ve fallen for her, I have to love her enough to let her go.

It took me one year to fall for Priscilla. One year before I realized I wanted her, and because I’m the asshole that gets what he wants, I did what I wanted to, and that was what drove us apart.

Me.

This time it took me three weeks, but if I’m honest, I know I felt that spark from when I first saw her on stage staring back at us as she waited to be auctioned off.

I’m not going to make the same mistakes again, and while it will cut me deep to say goodbye, I’ll do it.

“Come on, Henry, we should go see Donny,” I say, changing the subject completely.

We were going to leave in ten minutes anyway.

“Sure.”

* * *

Donny looks like he’s going to breathe fire by the time we finish telling him what Peter has been up to.

We’re gathered in the room we meet in in his home.

Although it’s a living room, it looks more like an office because of the desk and the bookshelves.

He balls his fists and stares back at me like a man who’s on the verge of going on a killing spree.

“Fuck,” he seethes and rises to his feet.

Henry and I exchange glances when he walks over to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows and stares outside at the inky black sky.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” I say, and he turns back to face me.

“This man’s supposed to marry my daughter,” he grates out.

I’m not sure how to answer that. Donny is a man who’s always been in my life. He went to school with my father and uncles. He knows the family very well.

I’ve been the closest to him of my cousins, and I figured it’s because he took a liking to me because I was so ambitious and eager to excel.

Knowing him meant knowing Peter too, and Peter has always had that vibe about him that he’d kill you in your sleep.

The point is, he’s not somebody I would want anyone I love marrying.

“I know. Are you still going through with tomorrow?” I ask.

Tomorrow is his daughter’s engagement party. Like most of his associates, we’ll be going. Most of the members of my family who work at Giordanos Inc. are going too. It’s then we’ll get to see his daughter for the first time.

Donny mentioned a few weeks back that she thinks it’s the usual family event, but he wanted to make it special and a surprise for her to meet the people he works with.

Initially, Henry and I weren’t going to attend, but as Evie is away again tomorrow night, we decided to go.

“I think it’s best I do and not alert him. You say there’s more that’s happening?”

“Yeah, I’m looking into it. I can continue to look into it.”

“I want you to. I can’t trust my men with this. There’s no way I’m going to believe that somebody didn’t know Peter was screwing with me. If I tell them, they’ll tell him.”

“You can trust us,” Henry assures him.

“I know.” Donny nods. “The two of you have been like sons to me.”

That’s the highest compliment anybody could get from Donatello Ricci.

“Thanks. That means a lot, Donny,” I say.

“It’s the truth.”

“We appreciate that.” Henry nods.

“If Peter is dealing with Xiou, there’s any number of shit they could be up to.”

“I know. That’s the part that’s shitty. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“When does he get the business, Donny?” That is the obvious question here.

“I was going to do it when he marries my girl so I could focus on the winery business in Italy.”

“That’s going to be the instigator for all of this. I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

“Well, I have things secured in terms of the resort, but I’m still keeping an eye on it,” Henry cuts in. “It’s coming up to the time when a payment is due. It’s next week.”

“Let it go through. I’ll catch his ass when it happens. I want to know what he’s up to with both Ricco and Xiou, though. I will fly back on Sunday as planned, and if you have anything for me, I’ll head back. Don’t approach Peter. I want to do it.”

“Alright. What about your daughter? I assume Peter wanted to marry her.”

“He has always wanted to marry her. That’s not happening, but neither need to be any wiser.”

“Maybe that’s best.”

“Tomorrow night is a very important day for her anyway. It’s when I reveal her to the world. I wanted it to be special for her so she won’t have to hide anymore. I want to do that part. As you know, I’m extremely protective over her.”

“I think everybody knows that,” Henry chimes in.

“That was the one thing I promised my wife before we got married. I promised her I’d never put our children in danger, so I kept them away from my world. I locked my girl away, never even sharing her name with people close to me to keep her safe. When she’s out, people see her face, and they don’t know who she is. That’s how I’ve kept things. More so after Dante’s death.” His brows pinch. “It makes me sick to know the only man I allowed to associate with her the most would stab me in the back.”

I can only imagine how he must feel. All I know when I come here is she’s in this house somewhere. I’ve never seen so much as a picture of her. For as close as I am to him, he sees people like me as a threat too.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this. You know what I’m like.”

“I know, Georgiou Giordano.”

As we’re leaving, I feel eyes on me.

I always get the sensation that I’m being watched when I’m here—because I am.

I know it’s her—Donny’s daughter—and I can only imagine she must just stare through that window in the tower of her room, watching people go in and out of her home.

I never look up to the room, but tonight I do. Like most of the windows in Donny’s home, you can’t see inside.

I could be looking right at her, and I wouldn’t be able to see her.

Even if the window was open, she’s so high up in the fortress of a house I wouldn’t be able to see her face.

At least we might have managed to save her from a fate with Peter she never bargained for.

And I don’t have to worry about my name being dragged through the mud by his ass either.