Original Sins by Faith Summers

37

Evie

I’m sitting on a wooden chair in a grand hall with my quivering hands on my lap. I thought they were going to tie me up but they haven’t. They don’t need to. The two hulking guards standing on either side of me with machine guns are warning enough not to try anything.

I’ve been taken to a large manor house by the lake in North Chicago. The drive here took nearly two hours long.

With my head bleeding and aching so badly it felt like it was going to fall off my body, I was shoved into the backseat of a black Sedan right into the arms of the other traitor, Marcus.

Both he and Peter stand across from me now talking while they wait for my father, who I’m told will be here soon. We’ve been here now for about fifteen minutes waiting for Dad to arrive.

I’ve been made aware of the plan—my life in exchange for the business.

But this bastard isn’t going to let me go.

I know he’s also not going to let my father go either. I think he’s going to kill him. As for me, he’ll do what he always planned to do with me.

The same knowing feeling I’ve carried in my heart about Dante death whispers the hidden truth of Peter’s intentions.

I can also see the darkness lurking deep within his eyes as he looks at me.

Bastard.A smile lights up his fucking face and he walks over.

I flinch when he crouches down and runs a hand over my thighs.

“I can’t wait to fuck you,” he taunts, turning his smile up a notch.

“I’ll die before I allow you to touch me,” I cry, swatting his hands away.

“Then you’ll die. I’ll still be rich in the end and when with my wealth I’m sure I’ll have no shortage of pussy. I already have it now. Just wanted to taste yours because I’ve always wanted to.”

“Fuck you, you disgust me. You arranged to have my brother killed.”

“Aw, there, there princess. A man has to do what a man has to do.”

He makes the mistake of coming closer and I lose it. I see red and the next thing I know my hand balls into a hard fist and I land a punch straight in his face.

Because of how he was crouching the impact of my punch knocks him over, but that’s the only triumph I have. My little punch does nothing to him but piss him off.

“You little bitch. I’ll punish you for that.”

While the guards grab me by both arms to restrain me, Peter jumps up and slaps me in my face. My head is already hurting so much that just added to my pain. The next slap he gives me, makes me vomit from the agony.

He’s about to slap me again when we hear a helicopter.

Instead of the rage that filled Peter’s face he smiles and looks toward the door.

“Daddy dearest is here Princess,” Peter declares.

I look to the door too and a minute later Dad come in ushered by Ricco, the man who killed Dante, and another guard who I know works for Cordelia.

His name is Benji. He does alternate shifts with Stephano on a biweekly basis.

That explains everything else that didn’t make sense and how Peter knew certain things.

Benji was there the first week I was with Georgiou and Henry. It would have been he who told Peter about the car that was coming to pick me up every night.

By the time it was his shift again I was staying over at Georgiou and Henry’s so he couldn’t see what was going on as much. The time after that would have been when Dad caught us at Cordelia’s.

He never saw Georgiou on the occasions where he would take me back to Cordelia’s during the day time because Benji worked the night shift.

I look at Dad and note the defeat rippling off him. It’s so vivid I can see it all over his body.

Ricco and Benji march Dad up to the table near Marcus and Dad cuts him a lethal glance.

“Fucking dog,” Dad says to Marcus.

“Sorry boss, I had more to gain from working sides.” Marcus smirks.

“You’ll get yours.”

“Oh Donny dearest, calm down now,” Peter taunts and Dad turns his attention to him.

“Calm down? It was you who arranged to kill my son. You, who I took such care of and gave a good life. Your aunts could have had you but I took you in.”

Peter shakes his head vigorously. “Don’t, don’t do that. Don’t make it look like you’re the hero because your precious daughter is here. I know the truth.”

“What truth?”

“It was your fault my parents died. Yours.” Peter pulls his gun and aims it at Dad.

I was told Peter’s parents died in a car accident.

How could that be Dad’s fault?

“Remember Joe, the butcher? The man who killed my father,” Peter spits.

“I tried my best to protect everybody from him,” Dad seethes.

“Not hard enough. The bullet that killed my father was meant for you. He took that bullet for you and that meant he couldn’t save my mother from being taken and sold to a monster who raped her over and over again, then burned her alive. See I found out the truth. Marcus was kind enough to enlighten me when the Triads approached me years ago with a deal I couldn’t refuse. Marcus gave me a reason to betray you. You made my parents deaths sound like it was an accident.”

Oh my God. I’m so shocked.

“It was an accident, Peter. A fucking accident.”

“The shooting could have been avoided. My father warned you to leave and if you had, you wouldn’t have killed Joe’s son and make him declare war on your head. That’s what happened. But your fucking ego got in the way when he pissed you off for taking your clients. Your ego made everything escalate and that formed the basis of why my parents were killed. It was your fault. You should have died that night, not my parents. It was guilt that made you take me in.”

“I did feel guilty,” Dad admits. “Of course I would. Not a damn day goes by when I don’t.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“I am sorry for your parent’s deaths Peter and I’m not going to apologize anymore. I bent over backwards to make up for what I did and it got me nowhere. You grew up to be a hateful bastard. I never wanted you to marry my girl or give you the business but I was willing to make the final amend by doing so. I was even willing to do it after you attacked my daughter. I wanted to kill you after that, but I didn’t. I even allowed you to live after finding out you screwed me over.”

My God.My brain feels numb. This is the truth and Dad is saying all the things I expected him to say about the attack.

Dad felt guilty about Peter’s parents. That’s why he took such care of Peter. I remember my birthday and that sad look in Dad’s eyes. His eyes didn’t match what he was doing. This was why. Dad didn’t want to give me away to Peter.

“Enough shit, Donny,” Peter sneers. “This is the end of the road for you. If you didn’t have Georgiou Giordano and friends snooping around my shit none of this would have happened and I wouldn’t have to kill you. You’d be in Italy in your vineyard and I’d be balls deep in your daughter with the business in my hands.”

“You bastard.”

“Just sign the fucking paperwork.” Peter points the gun over to me and smirks.

Dad takes out an envelope from his jacket pocket, pulls out an old document and lays it on the table to sign his signature.

I watch my father’s shoulders sag as he signs away our legacy and when he looks at me, it feels like he signed me away too.

He can’t save either of us now.

Peter walks over to the table and looks over the document with a smile.

“Wonderful. Thank you very much,” he says and in the flash of a second he lifts his gun and shoots Dad in his stomach.

Dad falls to the floor with blood pouring from him and I scream from the depths of my soul. The guards hold me back when I try to break free to run to him.

Tears pour out of my eyes and I sob as I stare at my father on the ground bleeding out and groaning in pain.

This is the second time in my life that I’ve seen someone I love get shot like this. And it’s the same man’s fault.

“There, now we’re even. That’s the same place my father was shot,” Peter states.

Another bullet echoes but it’s coming from outside. More sound through the open windows and Peter’s face hardens.

The double doors burst open and one of the guards rush in.

“It’s the Giordanos,” the man blurts. “The whole pack of them. Georgiou is here with his cousins. Frankie and Vincent just took down all the guards at the gate with their men.”

Georgiou is here? Oh my God.

All I can hear is round after round of bullets flying outside.

“You people stay here and deal with it,” Peter orders picking up the company papers. “Kill all of them. I’m taking the girl.”

He marches over and yanks me to him by my arm. At first I try to pull away but he presses the gun to my head.

“No, sweetheart. You fight me and you can join your old man.”

I look at Dad still suffering on the ground and I can’t stop crying.

“I love you,” Dad whispers.

“I love you too,” I tell him. As soon as the words leave my mouth, Peter pulls me away.

We go out the back and I’m thrown into the backseat of the same car we came in.

“Hold on tight princess it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”