Original Sins by Faith Summers

33

Henry

Destruction came before the sun rose.

I got a call from my secretary telling me Donny had pulled all the contracts.

I expected anybody else who’d signed up to use our services to follow suit over the next few days.

Today is Thursday, so it could all happen by tomorrow.

I, however, have decided that I’m not going to be around to see it.

I’m scheduled to be at work for nine, but I went in straight after my secretary called, getting my ass there for eight.

I want to get my shit out of the office before my father arrives.

I know the same way I was told the contracts had been pulled that he would have gotten that call too.

I packed up, and just as I finished, he walked in through the open door.

Instead of the fury I expected on his face; however, I saw confusion.

He opens his mouth to speak, and I hold up my hand, stopping him.

“Don’t, please. I don’t know what you were told, but I’m sure Donny gave you a reason why he pulled everything.”

“He called me,” Dad states stiffly.

“Well, then, there’s nothing more that needs to be said.”

“And you’re leaving again?.”

“I promised you I’d never disappoint you ever again. Three months haven’t even passed by properly yet, and I did. This is worse than the last time.” I bite down so hard on my bottom lip I taste blood. Dad stares back at me, unrelenting because he knows I’m right. “I’ve paid the three million you stand to lose.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, Dad, I did. Now maybe you won’t hate me as much. Maybe I won’t disappoint you as much as I have, and maybe you won’t wish Carson was your son and not me.”

“None of that is true.”

“Yes, Dad… it is.”

There’s a lot in my words. A lot of hurt. A lot of pain.

A lot of wounds that haven’t been healed, and they are so deep I don’t know where we’ll begin to truly fix them. So I walk out, leaving him to the blunt edge of my words.

We were on a roll, and then I fucked up. Again.

A person can’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again. I just never intended to hurt anybody this time.

The first time I was reckless as fuck, and I didn’t care what happened. I can admit now that I was resentful toward life because I lost my true career, and I never had any respect for the company.

I do now, but I just can’t think about how bad things will be if I stay and fight.

I can’t do it when the only person I want to fight for is Evie.

Since last night, I’ve kept asking myself how the fuck Peter knew what was going on. The only thing I could come up with is there had to be one of the guards at Cordelia’s place who was keeping an eye on us, and I’m guessing Peter padded his pockets well.

That’s the only explanation that sounds feasible to me.

When Georgiou and I left Cordelia’s place, we both felt like a pair of idiots.

The shit that happened is what you’d expect from younger guys who don’t know better, but then we wouldn’t have known that anything could happen at the house.

Now it doesn’t matter because we lost her.

We lost Evie, and fuck knows what else Donny will do. He almost killed Georgiou, and when he looked at me, it was with disappointment and like I’d taken advantage of his only pride. I guess he was right.

We should have stayed away from Evie. We had a chance to and never took it.

When I get home, I feel like shit, so I grab a bottle of wine and spend the rest of the day in the pool doing laps and in my room watching tv.

There’s no sign of Georgiou. When he left the house this morning, he hasn’t left any messages, and he didn’t go to work today. Chances are he went sailing to escape the shit while I went into the line of fire, right into the dragon’s lair.

It’s going to be worse for him, though.

His family’s company is going to take a bigger hit than mine. My contracts with Donny were all new, and I more than paid for the loss. Georgiou, though, can’t.

He can’t just fix the problem with a few dollars, and as far as I’m aware most of the clients that use Giordanos Inc know Donny and would never want to piss him off.

Donny said he would destroy us. I believe him.

The doorbell suddenly rings, and it sounds like a gong going off in my head.

Fuck. Who the fuck is that now?

I’m not expecting anybody, and it’s just gone nine. Who the fuck could that be?

Feeling like I had way too much wine, I get off the bed and steady myself.

I make my way downstairs to open the door, and I’m shocked as shit when I see my father standing on the doorstep looking at me.

“You have a minute?” he asks.

I’m still trying to process if he’s really here, and the wine’s not doing a number on me.

The last time he stood on this doorstep, we were arguing, and he told me he never wanted to see me again.

I squint, and when I see he hasn’t disappeared from my vision, I accept he’s really here.

“Yes, of course.”

He comes in and looks around the hallway.

He stops by the door, suggesting he’s not going further. Or, maybe it’s me assuming that because I stopped too.

“I’m not accepting the money,” Dad begins. “That’s your hard-earned cash, and you shouldn’t have to pay me for anything. Most of all, you shouldn’t think you have to pay for mistakes to ensure I don’t have any hard feelings toward you. But the reason you did that is my fault, and our relationship is strained because of me. Last few months, I realized that I only started warming to you because of all the money and prestige you were bringing in. It made me ashamed of myself because you’re my son, and I’m your father. I could have done more to fix things between us. Money shouldn’t do that for us, for me.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and I’m not sure what to say.

“I just wanted to fix things between us.”

“Well, you did, and I’m taking that step I should have taken years ago and meet you halfway. Donny can go and fuck himself. Sure, getting the business was good, but I can’t work with someone who thinks he can piss on us because he believes he’s a god. Clearly, he thinks he can dole out punishment designed to destroy if we displease him in any way. That’s not how business works. We’ll find our own way back, son.”

I blink several times, actually feeling proud of my father.

“You really mean that?”

“Yeah. I do. So I expect to see you back at work tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Don’t thank me. This is the right thing to do, and I’m sorry I allowed you to leave the office feeling the way you did. I thought maybe you needed to cool off, and as for that whole thing with Carson, it’s not true. I’ve never wished he was my son. I guess I’m more guilty of overdoing everything with my stepson so he wouldn’t feel left out. But in the process of doing so, I left you out. I’m sorry for that.”

“It’s alright, Dad. This is good. Talking to you like this is good.”

“Yeah, for me too. So let’s agree to start afresh from here onwards.”

“I’d like that.” I smile and put out my hand to shake his, but he pulls me in for a hug.

“Chin up, son.” He nods. That’s what Mom used to say.

“Chin up.”

“This thing with the girl, Donny’s daughter, was it worth it? Donny didn’t go into details, so I don’t know what exactly happened. I just know it was about her.”

I nod. “She was worth it.” Evie was, and the crazy thing about it is I’d do it all over again just to have her in my life.

“Then he’s wrong. See you tomorrow, kid.”

“Tomorrow.”

He gives my shoulder a reassuring squeeze then dips his head for one final goodbye.

I close the door when he leaves and rests against it, feeling the weight of a fifty-ton truck ease from my shoulders.

It’s not over yet, though. Making amends with my father is just one piece of me that needed repairing.

My phone rings and I pull it from my pocket because I think it’s Georgiou.

It’s not. It’s the resort. Only I don’t know why they’d be calling me.

I only answer because that sense of duty I had toward Donny is still there.

“Henry Dubois speaking,” I say.

“Hey, Henry, It’s Chad. I’m managing tonight. I know you aren’t on this project anymore, but I wasn’t sure who else to contact.”

“What’s going on?”

“I was just looking at the CCTV footage from last night, and it picked up a recording of that guy you told me about.”

He’s talking about Ricco. I was simply covering all bases when I was investigating, and I told him and the other manager that if Ricco ever came on the grounds, they should contact me directly.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He was on the grounds with another man I’ve never seen before. They came in from the woods and were near the Eden Lodge. It looks like they were meeting about something. I have images and footage. I take it they’re not supposed to be on the premises?”

“No.”

“I’m no detective here, but I don’t think they knew about the cameras at Eden Lodge. The under-construction signs are still up, but your father’s team finished renovation a few days ago, and the cameras were fit in. we’re just waiting for the interior decorators to come in before the building opens for booking.”

I think he’s right. They couldn’t have known about the cameras at the lodge, so who the fuck knows how long they could have had scheduled meets there.

The more important question is, what are they doing there?

That leads me to assume that Peter is still planning. He never stopped.

“What should I do?”

This doesn’t involve me anymore.

I should just tell him to contact Donny and let him deal with whatever shit this is.

But Chad has given me what could potentially be an opening to get my foot back through the door.

Clearly, some bad shit is still definitely going on, and it has Peter’s name written all over it—Peter who screwed with us last night. If I take the information, Georgiou and I could look into it and see what’s going on. It might get us back in Donny’s good graces.

Do I think it’s going to make him forgive us?

No. I don’t. He caught us in a scandalously shocking compromising position with his daughter.

He’s not going to forgive us anytime soon, but doing this might be that small thing that helps. If it helps me get Evie back, then it’s worth doing.

“Send it to me. Send me the recording and the images. I’ll look into it.”