Page 95 of Original Sins (Dark Odyssey 6)

I stare at him, knowing exactly what he means.

Am I in denial by telling myself I’ll just be cool to let Evie go when our time is up?

Yes, I am in fucking denial because I’m not cool.

“Sometimes you have to be.”

“I wish I could be like you, friend.”

“No, you don’t.” I shake my head. “We’re the kind of friends we are because we’re different. The day we become the same is the day we’re in trouble.”

“Fine, I just hate not doing what I want to do.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Keep her.”

Me too. But if Evie wanted to be kept, we’d know by now.

Sometimes I felt as though she’d tell me, but there was a block. I could see how she felt, though, especially this morning as she sat on the balcony watching the sunrise.

She needs that money for a reason and whatever it is, is not something we should pry into. That is the wedge between us, and why, even though I can accept I’ve fallen for her, I have to love her enough to let her go.

It took me one year to fall for Priscilla. One year before I realized I wanted her, and because I’m the asshole that gets what he wants, I did what I wanted to, and that was what drove us apart.

Me.

This time it took me three weeks, but if I’m honest, I know I felt that spark from when I first saw her on stage staring back at us as she waited to be auctioned off.

I’m not going to make the same mistakes again, and while it will cut me deep to say goodbye, I’ll do it.

“Come on, Henry, we should go see Donny,” I say, changing the subject completely.

We were going to leave in ten minutes anyway.

“Sure.”

* * *

Donny looks like he’s going to breathe fire by the time we finish telling him what Peter has been up to.

We’re gathered in the room we meet in in his home.

Although it’s a living room, it looks more like an office because of the desk and the bookshelves.

He balls his fists and stares back at me like a man who’s on the verge of going on a killing spree.

“Fuck,” he seethes and rises to his feet.

Henry and I exchange glances when he walks over to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows and stares outside at the inky black sky.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” I say, and he turns back to face me.

“This man’s supposed to marry my daughter,” he grates out.

I’m not sure how to answer that. Donny is a man who’s always been in my life. He went to school with my father and uncles. He knows the family very well.

I’ve been the closest to him of my cousins, and I figured it’s because he took a liking to me because I was so ambitious and eager to excel.

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