Original Sins by Faith Summers

34

Georgiou

As I stare back at the disappointed face of my uncle and the enraged as fuck face of my father, I just have one thing on my mind.

Maybe the last ace up my sleeve.

It’s the recording and images that were sent to Henry last night. The recording and images of Ricco and surprise, surprise, Xiou.

It was the two of them, so we know Peter’s plans are definitely back on track.

The first thing I thought about was the intel we’d gotten on the shipment of girls for sale in September. Even though we rocked the nest for Peter, that didn’t mean such a big plan would change.

I have Christian looking into things now, and Henry is doing the same.

As for me, I’m here facing the damage Donny dealt the company, but inside I’m tearing apart, not knowing what happened to Evie after we left Cordelia’s house the other night.

I needed yesterday to cool off and regroup. I ignored phone calls from both my uncle and father. That’s another reason my father and uncle are pissed at me.

I fully believed Uncle Julian was going to kill my ass when I walked through the door this morning.

As the boss of the family, he’d be well within his right to. I was the loose link. The asshole that brought down an empire that took generations to build.

Donny fucked with us left, right and center.

We have some loyal clients who stayed and others outside his remits, but the other seventy percent of clients we had all either came from him or knew him.

Their contracts have been frozen until further notice. It sounds hopeful like we might fix it and reactivate our agreement, but it’s not that.

They’re all as good as terminated, and Donny didn’t hesitate to tell both my uncle and father exactly what I did to cause this.

At least he was kinder to Henry in some way by not sharing details. I always knew, though, that it would be worse for me because of the ties that bind my family with Donny.

“What the hell do you have to say for yourself?” Julian snaps.

I’m not used to seeing him so angry with me. I’m bad to the bone, but I’m the goody two shoes of the bunch of us. The one time I decide to home in on my true nature of rebellion and recklessness and I blast myself to kingdom come.

That same voice evoking my true nature whispers to me to take the girl and run. Fuck everything and leave. Just jump in my car and leave Chicago. My heart is still telling me to do so, but I’m erring on the side of caution and trying to see if there might be a better way to fix things. Or at least make them better.

That’s the only reason I’m here.

“I’m going to try and fix it?” I simply say, and my uncle stares back at me, his nostrils still flared. He reminds me of a buffalo before they strike and ram their horns into you.

“How, Georgiou? How the fuck are you going to fix this?”

“I’m working on it.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“It has to be,” I speak over him as he’s about to continue, and I shock them both. “This is the first time I’ve fucked up. I’m not going to say I know what I did was wrong. But I’ll admit I went about it the wrong way.”

I’m not going to apologize to anybody for the way I met Evie. It is what it is, and I can’t change that. The two of them can sit there judging me, but I’m only in this hot seat because I got caught. These two do everything from buying high-end prostitutes to buying special assistants who will be here at the office ready to be fucked when they need them to be. And my father and uncle are both married. The two of them are married to wonderful women who deserve fucking better.

So I’m not going to fucking allow them to sit there and judge me.

All I can do is my best to fix the shit and clean up the mess. That’s it.

“I can’t tell either of you anything other than what I’m saying,” I point out. “So you either accept it or not. I’ll try to do my best, and if after I’ve done that and I still fail, then we can reassess the situation.”

Enough said.

Again they glance at each other then back to me.

“You better try to make good on your word, Georgiou,” Julian states. “You can talk big about doing your best, but it doesn’t change the fact that we expected more from you. When you knew whose daughter she was, you should have left her the fuck alone. I know you would have known the consequences. That’s why we’re here. You knew what you were doing, but you did it anyway. Tell me that’s not true.”

I pause for a beat and nod my head.

“Right, at least we can agree with that,” he sneers. “Do what you’re doing and report back to me straight away. You hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“You can leave now.”

A quick glance at my father, and I see the hidden warning in his eyes that I had better fix the shit.

I march out and head home. I can’t work today with my head such a mess.

Before I get to the house, my phone rings. I answer it when I recognize Donny’s house number. I remember it because the last four digits are four two’s.

“Hello,” I say quickly.

“Georgiou, it’s me.”

Evie, God, it’s Evie.

“Baby, are you okay?” It’s a foolish question, but I ask it anyway. None of us is anything close to being okay.

“No, I don’t have long. Georgiou, my father is taking me back to Italy tomorrow morning,” she says, and my heart sinks between my feet.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. I wanted to call before, but I’m not allowed the phone or anything. He’s still mad at me.”

Jesus, what the fuck do I do? If she goes to Italy, it’s going to be difficult to get her back. Of course, that’s where fucking William is.

I need to think of something fast.

“Georgiou, I managed to get an hour. Marcus is going to be in an away meeting. I want to see you and Henry.”

Marcus is Donny’s head of security and practically as ruthless as Donny is. His absence is definitely a window for us to see each other. Or more.

“Evie, if you come near me, I’m taking you and running.”

“No, you can’t, you can’t do that, Georgiou. Dad threatened me this morning. He said if you come near me again, he will kill you and everybody you hold dear. I can’t allow that to happen.”

I ball my hands and slam it into the dashboard. What a fucking threat.

Instantly, I’m reminded of Henry’s words. He’d told me there’d basically come a point in time when we’d just look like the selfish motherfuckers we are.

Donny is serious. Everything that comes out of that man’s mouth is serious as fuck, so I’d be an idiot not to take heed. So, I’m stuck, gridlocked into doing the devil’s will, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to get myself free enough to change things. Even with the stuff from last night, it’s not enough to do anything with.

“Georgiou, please, I just need to say goodbye,” she mutters. “I can’t do anything more, and neither can you.” She whimpers, and I think she might be crying. “I have Tony here with me. He’s one of Cordelia’s guards. He’s agreed to help me.”

“Come to the house. I’m on my way there now.”

* * *

She arrives ten minutes after I do, and we all go into the living room. She hugs us both and breaks down.

I pull her tiny frame into my arms and hold her.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper into her ear.

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine,” she mutters. “I did everything the wrong way.”

“I think that’s something we all did, Duchess.” I cup her face and kiss her deeply, loving the feel of her lips on mine.

This can’t be the last time I see her. It can’t, and she doesn’t even have the full hour with us. It’s more like ten minutes to be on the safe side.

It would have taken her a little over twenty minutes to get here so it will be the same back. We can’t risk her getting caught by Marcus.

She kisses me back and then moves to Henry to kiss him too.

Henry holds her for a few moments then sits her down.

“Try not to worry. I’m glad you were able to come and see us.”

“Me too. I…” Her voice trails off as her gaze lands on the coffee table. She narrows her eyes, and I look over to see what she’s staring at.

It’s the picture of Ricco and Xiou from the surveillance camera.

Evie stands up and picks up the picture. When she does, her hand flies up to her mouth.

“What is it, Evie?” Henry asks, joining her.

“This man…The Italian man. This is the guy who killed my brother. He shot Dante.”

I get up now and take the picture from her.

“Ricco. His name is Ricco.”

“It’s him. It’s him, Georgiou.”

Jesus Christ.