Page 4 of Original Sins (Dark Odyssey 6)

That same thing pushed me to take a look at my life.

I realized I wanted more than to live the playboy dream in my family’s legacy. I also realized it was time to do something more.

Henry and I are closer than I am to my own brother, but there’s going to be a day when we both have to go with the flow of life. It nearly happened when I almost got married. The second time it could have happened was when he nearly got drafted to the NFL. Neither happened and while the two of us still live in our bachelor pad in the city, it’s time to change things up.

I, for one, can’t live the rest of my life as a tool my father vicariously uses to gain success he can claim because I’m his son.

The idea of my something more hit me with the closure of this place. I want to set up my own empire of dark fantasies, and I want my cousins on board because they are just as sex-crazed as me.

Ricco Santorini is the motherfucker Brian had the unfortunate misfortune of pissing off. He’s a guy I’ll have my very own problems with because I have my eye on a building he wants too. We’re perhaps the only two fuckers in Chicago who want it, and I’m probably an idiot for poking a beast who would go to war with me and mine over a piece of land.

But I’m doing it anyway.

“You’d better do better than this,” Henry smirks, setting his wine glass down as the couple in the exhibitionist box change positions.

“I plan to. I’m meeting with my cousins in a few weeks to take the next step.”

Henry smiles. “Sounds like you actually have a plan in motion.”

“I do.”

When he looks back at me, I note the caution in his eyes. I know just from that, he’s nervous about going back in business with his father.

“Would it be weird if I said I’m not looking forward to next week?” He sighs and runs a hand through his dark blond mane of hair.

“No. I was waiting for you to say that.”

“I haven’t spoken to my father in five years. He didn’t even speak to me at the funeral.”

“You know he’ll speak to you because of the type of money you’ll be bringing in.”

“And that’s what worries me. I never wanted it to come to this, but it has, and now I have to deal with it.”

I bite the inside of my lip. His worries are understandable.

Henry’s family is not like mine. They’re of the vanilla variety with deep-rooted Christian beliefs. So when his father found out Henry was sleeping with his clients and had been doing so well before his intern days, that was an automatic strike for life. When one of their bigger clients got upset about it and took it to the media, it crippled their company.

The only reason his father isn’t disputing his return and hasn’t hired any lawyers who will help him revoke the terms of the will is because Henry secured a multimillion-dollar contract with Donatello Ricci, one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in Chicago. The man owns a private bank we all benefit from and property galore. He’s one of the few mobsters in Illinois who has made it rich by doing legit work to mask his other activities.

Most of us are rich because he uses our services. He’s a massive investor at Giordanos Inc. and a longtime friend of my father and uncle.

When he heard Henry was partnering with his father at their company, he literally handed over the contract to develop some new luxury apartments in Chicago and Italy. He also contracted them to renovate a resort on the east coast of Chicago that has been in his family for a hundred years.

In the same breath, he made me head accountant of the same business venture. Both of us are signing contracts tomorrow at his house. The fact that we’re going to his home symbolizes how much trust and respect the man has for us.

“Henry, you can’t worry about your father. Remember why you’re going back.” He nods. “My grandfather wanted me there, and he didn’t care what I did.”

“Exactly, so your old man will just have to get over his fucking grief. The same as you. I get that he was embarrassed by what you did, but fuck, Henry, it’s not like you didn’t see the error in your ways and apologize for what you did.”

Again he nods because he knows I’m right. “But I was young and dumb and should have kept my dick in my pants.”

“Many of us can say the same thing. At least now you know better.”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I just hate being anywhere I can’t stand. I’ll get over my grief and do it, though.”

He needs to.

The two of us have always had opposite problems with our fathers. While he always had to work overtime to prove himself, mine praised me in excess and cost me my relationship with my younger brother, Christian.

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