Page 125 of Original Sins (Dark Odyssey 6)

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

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.

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