Original Sins by Faith Summers

29

Georgiou

As the next few days pass, if I’m not thinking about Evie, I’m thinking about Peter.

My mind flits between the two. Evie’s face haunts me in my sleep, though. She still exists in my dreams.

Awake, I remember she no longer belongs to me, and she could be carrying a secret about Peter that could be a danger to her.

She said she believed in her heart Peter set things up to lead Dante into a trap.

If I were an idiot, I’d wonder why a guy Donny had taken under his wing would do such a thing.

Donny treated Peter like a son, and I saw how hard Peter worked when it came to business.

But that was just the thing, he worked like he wanted the business for himself, and at the time, Donny’s heir was Dante, not Evie.

That’s one fucking reason Peter could have arranged to have Dante killed.

I live in a ruthless dog-eat-dog world where it’s all about the survival of the fittest. Peter lives in the same fucking world as me, so there’s no reason why he wouldn’t pull off a stunt like that then wait it out for Evie to come of age and take her too.

But how does anyone prove all of that, and does it matter now that Peter’s tangled in the spider’s web?

I reach home late and find Henry on his laptop again. Today is the day when Peter is supposed to make the payment to Ricco.

From the look on Henry’s face when I walk in, I’m sure it’s happened already.

“He did it, didn’t he?” I ask, and Henry nods.

“That and more. I know what he and Xiou are up to.” He picks up a document from the table and comes over to me.

I take it when he gives it to me and scan over the contents. It’s a two-page document.

The first page is a fucking contract to use the services for the resort for auctions. Not the kind of auction Henry and I take part in where women enlist themselves for money.

What they’re arranging here is a human auction, where girls as young as twelve are sold for life as sex slaves. The second page is a copy of an email conversation between Peter and Xiou. It’s confirming the first batch of girls for sale in late September. That’s when all of Donny’s assets are supposed to be transferred to Peter.

The contract to use the resort as a hub for business is one million per year because the price of each girl is a million a head.

The fucking flesh trade.

That is what Peter is up to.

I might be a bastard who has a taste for the risqué side of life, but even I wouldn’t dabble in something like that. Most of the crime families in our alliance wouldn’t either because of the risk if the feds find out.

“Fuck, this just keeps getting better and better.”

“Do you want to call Donny, or should I?”

“I’ll make the call.”

* * *

Donny was on the next flight home, and by nightfall, we sat in his office in the city with three of his guards and two of mine.

Peter is supposed to be here any minute now.

Donny looks like he’s going to kill him. If Peter had pissed on one of the gods at Giordanos Inc., he wouldn’t be summoned back in the building. He would have been food for the fish already or ashes in one of the crematoriums.

Henry looks tense. He’s only seen a killing once before, and thankfully it wasn’t me who did it. It was Frankie, and it happened back in college at a frat party. There was an asshole there who’d been drugging and raping girls. We found out he’d done the same to one of our cousins, who was only in high school at the time but managed to get into a party on campus.

All Frankie did was get the guy out back and ask me to clarify his name.

I did, and that was it. Frankie put a bullet in his head.

Henry saw, and he was never able to look at Frankie the same way.

Death like that is where my world and Henry’s ends. We don’t talk about it, but every now and again, the paths cross over.

He glances at me when Peter walks into the room.

Peter looks around, and the arrogant as fuck smirk on his face recedes when Donny doesn’t return the smile.

“What’s going on, Donny?” Peter asks.

“Close the door and take a seat,” Donny replies.

Peter does what he’s told, and when he lowers to sit, he cuts me a sharp glance.

This fool must really be an idiot if he thinks he can just look at me like that.

It’s fine though, I’ll play along until the time is right, then teach his ass a lesson.

“I’ve called you here for a number of reasons.” Donny straightens up, and his lips press together. “But let me inform you first of all that the wedding is off, and I won’t be giving my business to you.”

Peter’s brows disappear into his dark hairline, and his nostrils flare.

Yes, fucker. You’ve just been handed your ass.

“What the hell are you saying to me?” he challenges.

“You heard me. I’ve made subsequent arrangements for Evie to marry William Reviello, and he will be taking over the empire when I go to Italy.”

At the mention of Evie marrying William, I see that I was right. William Reviello is a trust fund prick with a stick shoved so far up his ass no one can pull it out. He’s five years older than me, and since he likes them young, he won’t have a problem that Evie is eighteen.

His family is a bunch of assholes with old money who think they’re gods because they own two national football teams and have Sunday dinner with the Italian prime minister. And of course, William Sr. has worked for Donny since before money was invented. The man handles all of Donny’s financial affairs in Italy and Russia.

When you compare it, the Giordanos have nothing on those people even though we’re billionaires. What we have is pocket change to the endless resources the Reviellos have.

I don’t bother to look at Henry when he glances my way, and I’m barely focusing on this meeting as it is.

“Why have you done this, Donny,” Peter contends, bringing my thoughts back to focus. “I’ve worked my whole life for you, and you know how I feel about Evie.”

“I’ve been informed that you’ve been stealing from me and rubbing shoulders with the Triad and the likes of fuckers like Ricco,” Donny replies.

“No way,” Peter lies. That’s his first mistake. Of all the people who know Donny, he should be aware such an accusation wouldn’t come without proof.

Peter makes the mistake of looking at me again, and now he sneers. “You, it’s you, isn’t it, Giordano? You filled his head with this shit, didn’t you?”

That’s it. He needs to be taught who I am.

I switch on him so fast he never saw my fist coming until it connected with his fucking face, and he went flying backward in the chair.

He gets up and makes his third mistake of the evening when he comes at me, rushing me head-on like he thinks he can take me down.

Now he’s built like a tank, and I’m sure he could; he’s taken down many in his lifetime.

He just hasn’t found me before, and he’s not going to get the chance.

I head butt him, and that stuns him; then, when he staggers backward, I rush him and give him a one-two punch that sends him right back on the ground.

His nose is bleeding, and he’s in no shape to fight back. I could mess him up some more, but I don’t. I do, however, pull my guns and hold them out in his face so he can see I could kill his ass if I wanted to.

Peter glares at me with wide, terrified eyes.

Donny gets up, grabs the file of evidence we gathered for him, and marches over to us.

He pulls the information from the files and starts reading out some of the contents.

“Fifty grand a year to Ricco for the last five years and money you’ve been skimming to an offshore account, flesh trade arrangements with Xiou, and the drug ring you funded with my money. It’s all here.”

Peter stares back at Donny. His lips move to answer with something, but he says nothing. He’s shocked we found out his secrets.

“I’m sorry… Donny. I just—”

“Took advantage because I trusted you with everything. I took you in when you were five and treated you like a son. I treated you no different from my own boy, and even when he was taken from me, in my grief, I still treated you no less.”

Donny pulls out his gun, and I keep mine aimed at Peter’s head.

This is the part where I expect Donny to blow his head off. I’ve seen him kill before, and this is a killing he’d be owed.

I wait, and while Donny cocks the hammer on the gun, the bullet never leaves.

“I owe your father a debt,” Donny says instead, and I have to look at him to check I heard right.

What the fuck kind of debt could Donny owe Peter’s father?

Donny owes nobody anything. In fact, many owe him.

He rivets his gaze to Peter’s and continues talking. “You know the debt I mean. I’m giving you your life in exchange for my debt to him. Get the fuck up and take your shit out of my office and my life.”

Peter scrambles to his feet, blood dripping down his nose.

“Don’t let me see you again,” Donny adds, and with that, he puts his gun away.

Instead of being grateful for his life and leaving straightaway like he should, the motherfucker glances my way again, giving me the same suspicious look he did at the engagement party when he saw me looking at Evie.

“You don’t get her either,” he sneers as if the fucker can read my thoughts.

I reserve my answer because I have none.

The only answer I’d have for him is a bullet from my gun.

But how can I kill a man for pointing out an obvious truth?

The asshole spits blood and walks away.

I put my guns back in my pockets and look at Donny, who looks less tense than he was before.

“You boys did good, and now I owe you. I’ll make sure you get paid well for what you’ve done here for me.” Pride fills Donny's eyes as he speaks. “Thanks so much. Business as usual. Let’s meet on better terms next time. I’m flying back tonight, but I’ll be back in a few weeks to see my daughter. Of course, I’d love for you both to attend her wedding in the winter.”

“Winter,” I don’t know why I say that. There’s no point to it. There’s no point knowing the details or getting any more information than that.

“Yeah. I have to wrap my head around the shit here, and there’ll be a lot to sort out with Peter’s departure. I want to see my girl married and settled down before the year is out, though. That’s the way the business works.”

“Of course.” I nod and give him a stiff smile.

I know he heard what Peter said, but he’s not asking me about the meaning behind it. That means he doesn’t want to know.

“Alright, you boys, take care. See you next time.”

“You too.”

* * *

Henry and I always talk non-stop. There’s never been a time when we’ve had that awkward moment when we don’t know what to talk about.

However, that’s what the next few days feel like.

On the day that was supposed to be our last with Evie, he was away. I don’t know if he was with some woman or women, but he didn’t tell me.

He’s gone again tonight, so I’m home alone and decided to give myself the task of cleaning out Evie’s room.

Other than a light clean the maids do, we’d left it the same. Now the time has passed, I think it’s best to sort the place out.

The first thing to enchant me when I walk in is the scent of her—that scent of honey and roses—innocence and light.

Something ethereal and hallowed. That’s her—my girl.

The scent of her floats around here like a ghost who hasn’t crossed over to the other side.

The clothes Henry bought for her on one of their shopping trips are folded neatly in the corner on the chair.

I walk over to it and pick up a little camisole top I absolutely loved her in.

Lifting the soft silky material, I bring it to my nose and inhale deeply, taking in memories of what she felt like when I touched her.

“I love you.”

Those words came from her lips. No woman has ever said that to me and meant it the way I saw she did.

It makes me wonder what the fuck I’m doing.

William fucking Reviello is going to have her. Am I seriously going to stand by and let that happen?

Since when have I allowed people to tell me what I can and can’t have?

Fuck this shit.

I can’t do it, and I know I’m putting everything on the line, but fuck, I just can’t be without her.

That’s the only reason I need to move. I drop the top and head downstairs. Grateful Henry isn’t here to stop me.

I’m not sure if he could. Right now, nothing can stop me.

I jump in my car and drive way past the speed limit to the house I now know belongs to Cordelia.

I did the checks I should have done, and the second I looked up the address and saw the house belonged to her, everything else I didn’t know revealed itself to me.

I’ve only ever spoken to Cordelia because she’s Donny’s niece.

On a basic level, Cordelia is practically the female version of me.

You’ll find her at anything from sex clubs to fuck parties, and she would have been going to places like that from when she was fifteen.

She’s the perpetual party girl and the proverbial social butterfly who can get the hookups you want to anything—like the Decadent Auction.

She would have been the mastermind behind the plan for Evie to escape, and she would have come up with the means for her to do so too.

The lax of security when it comes to her is down to her street smart nature and her mother’s liberal personality. When Helen Ricci married her laird and uprooted to live in her castle in Scotland, she refused to put her daughter under lock and key the way Donny does.

Dare I say it? From what I’ve heard about her connections, they probably would have pulled off whatever scheme they had planned for Evie to disappear.

And, it wouldn’t get back to her.

I pull up outside her gate an hour later, and the moment the guards at her gate see my face, they don’t ask questions, and the fuckers open the path for me to go in and make the situation worse than it already is.

Right now, nobody knows the secret Henry, me, and Evie share.

While I don’t know exactly who was at the auction, I don’t think anybody there went to the engagement party.

If they did, I doubt they’d think it was Donny’s daughter on the auction block selling her virginity. They wouldn’t be mad enough to go and approach him about it to check either. But it’s something they could hang over my head and hang me with the same noose.

I speed down the long driveway, and my car screeches to a stop. I park up in front of the house.

I jump out and open the unlocked door to the house.

Another guard approaches when I walk past the living room, one I recognize.

The fear of God flushes over his chubby face when he recognizes me.

“Where’s Cordelia?” I ask.

“She’s out till morning.”

Fucking perfect.“Where’s Evie?”

He hesitates for a moment, and I can almost read his mind, almost see the cogs turning in his brain as he decides his fate.

I shouldn’t be here—he knows that.

I’ve never been inside this house before. He knows that too, but because he doesn’t want trouble with me, he’s going to tell me where Evie is.

“Upstairs,” he replies in an uncertain tone, and I smile

I pull out my wallet, and his eyes widen when I take out a grand and put it in his palm.

“I’m not here. You never saw me. Understand me?” I hold his gaze.

“Yeah, I got it. You’re not here.”

I nod with approval. “That’s right. Which room is she in?” I’m not about to search every room upstairs in this big fucking house.

“Room to the left when you get upstairs. It’s the last on the landing.”

“Good man.”

I leave him and make my way upstairs. I find the room and notice the door is ajar.

When I walk up to it, I see Evie inside, sitting on the window bay gazing out at the shadowy thicket of trees beyond the garden.

She doesn’t even hear the door open when I push it.

It’s only when I step inside that she looks at me. Her beautiful eyes go wide, and the emotion in them grips me.

There’s something I just realized. Because of this strange friendship Henry and I have, I’m always thinking about what I share with him. I’m mindful not to take more than my fair share.

But what I feel for Evie has nothing to do with anybody else except her. The fact that I don’t feel jealous sharing her with him is something else entirely.

My love, however, doesn’t have to be limited. I don’t have to put a cap on it, and I can love her as much as I want when I’m with her.

With that reasoning, I step forward at the same time she slides off the window bay. I then close the door behind me, wishing there was a lock inside so I could keep the world away from us.

She looks at the closed door and then back at me.

If I say anything, I might break the spell, so I don’t.

What I do instead is walk up to her and touch her face—her pretty, doll-like face.

Then we move to each other’s lips at the same time.

When I kiss her, I promise myself I’m not going to let anybody take her from me.

Like fuck am I going to lie down and allow it to happen.

And I’m having her all to myself, right the fuck now.