Page 45 of Filthiest Of Them All

“Those two creep me out.”

He turns serious eyes to me and I hold my breath. “Never let yourself be alone in the same room as them. Those two are fucking crazy and have no moral compass.” I exhale and nod.

“Yeah, I’ll do my best to never see them again,” I mutter.

“Okay, let me just lay it out for you from youngest to oldest. Vatican is the youngest out of all of us, he’s twenty-three. Then it’s Pope who is twenty-four. Carnage and Halo are both twenty-five. Wrath and Rage are Twenty-six.”

“Where do you and Desire fit into all of this?”

Darkness shrouds him and I tense in anticipation. “Desire is twenty-seven and she is… my twin sister.” My eyes widen and nearly bug out of my head.

“You poor thing,” I blurt out. His eyes widen, then laughter erupts from him. I can’t help but join him.

“It’s not a picnic being related to her, but the fact we shared a womb is worse,” he admits.

“Why do you have a different last name to her?” I hedge.

He takes a deep breath and nods as if gearing himself up for battle. “Toscano was my mother’s maiden name. De Santis was our father’s name. Wrath, Rage, Desire and Carnage are De Santis while me, Pope, Vat and Halo changed our names to my mother’s.”

“Pope told me that…” I try to think of a way to bring it up without upsetting him. “You have different moms?” His jaw tenses and his nostril flare. I reach out and place my hand on his thigh, he flinches but I don’t remove it. “If this is too hard you don’t have?—”

“No. You need to know why he is the way he is.” I know who theheis he is referring to, but I don’t comment. “Pope, Vatican, Wrath and Rage are all full siblings. Halo, Carnage, Desire and me are full siblings. Pope and Vat’s mom was my father’s mistress. My mother knew about… Rosalina. They knew about each other but never cared because to them Roberto De Santis was a prize and he gave them everything they ever wanted.” Pain lances his voice.

“Where is your mom?” I ask quietly.

“She died,” he says in a monotone.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know Pope told you that I killed his mother.” I cringe but don’t deny it. “I did kill Rosalina. I have no regrets. She was a vapid bitch and deserved what she got for what she did.”

I grab his hand and hold it between mine. He frowns and keeps his gaze focused on the contact. “What she did to you is vile and wrong, you didn’t deserve what happened to you, Omen. I may go to hell for saying this, but I’m glad you stopped her.” His eyes slowly lift to mine.

“You mean that, don’t you?”

I nod. “I do. No one should have to face what you did. You are here. You’re stronger than she was. You survived a horrible thing. I was forced to do things… I detested it. I know what it’s like to feel caged by the nightmares of your past.”

“I didn’t. I’m still trapped in that room with her,” he whispers and my heart breaks for him. I see the distraught little boy in his eyes and that shit burns.

I reach out with my free hand and cup his cheek, this time he doesn’t flinch from my touch. “You’re here, with me, sitting under the stars. You’ll never be back in that room with her, Omen. If she wasn’t already dead, I’d stab the cunt for you.” That brings a smirk to his handsome face.

“Your lust for blood may just match his.” I scoff and drop my hand from his face.

“I doubt that.”

“Look, the point of the story was. We are all related by blood, Alex isn’t.”

“How did he become a part of your… family?”

“Carnage.”

My eyes widen. “Halo 2?” I squeak.

“Carnage and Alex were best friends.” That has me sputtering. “Carnage and Alex were tight, Alex had no idea who we were when he met us, he had no idea that my father was the don. When Carnage was cornered one day by the Vatel family, Alex could have run away but he didn’t. At sixteen years old he stood firm by my brother's side and fought. Alex killed six of their men. By the time my father arrived Alex had stolen one of their knives and begun cutting them open. When Roberto asked him why he did it, all he said was, “I just wanted to see how pretty their insides were.”

“Wow,” is all I can say.

“After that, Alex was invited to hang around our house. Carnage was our father’s favorite child, he said that Carn would be the one to take over the family because he showed promise. Technically, the role should have fallen to me but I didn’t want it, I was too busy keeping his mistress… satisfied.” Disgust rolls through me.

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