Page 59 of Original Sins (Dark Odyssey 6)

“Aren’t you curious?”

I grin at him. “Of course I am.” In my world, when someone stumbles over their name, that’s a dead giveaway they’re hiding something, and they aren’t who they appear to be.

However, I have to remember where we got her and why she’s here.

No matter how well we bond and what we feel, she’s here for fucking, and at the end of the contract, she’ll get paid.

She’s young, and in the real world, if someone found out about what we’re doing, it could damage a person. They’d make her look like a whore, and that’s something that could follow her for the rest of her life with all the connotations.

If she needed to change her name to protect who she is, it’s understandable.

“We need to drop it, Henry, and just enjoy the fun. We had fun, didn’t we?”

“Fuck, yeah.”

“Then it’s enough.” I’m a hypocrite because I know I won’t drop it.

I’m a Giordano. It’s not in my nature to drop anything when I have any form of suspicion. Definitely not when I meet a doll who’s left an impression on me and looks like she needs to be saved. She still had that look in her eyes. It was there earlier when she first arrived.

All I can do, though, is play things by ear.

There’s a reason we’re not supposed to get involved with the desperate who choose to sell their souls.

That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.

Fun is something I can definitely do.

* * *

I made a chicken and vegetable casserole my mom taught me to make before I left for college.

It’s one of those dishes that requires no effort but tastes like you’ve been slaving away in the kitchen all day to make the perfect meal.

It never fails me when I want to make an impression. Henry and I have a personal chef who makes most of our food, but we cook for ourselves on weekends. Saturday is my day. His is Sundays, but I’m away the first Sunday of every month for dinner with my family. That sometimes changes depending on my father and what he gets up to.

He always uses the excuse of work and business trips, but we all know he cheats.

My mother knows it too, and I wish she would leave his ass but would never do that. My father fucking cheats every second he gets, and that includes with the maids in the house and his staff at work.

The sad thing is cheating is a common thing among most of the men in our family. My cousins don’t seem to do it, though. Like me, they seem like perpetual bachelors.

I’m probably lying to myself again if I think I’m a perpetual bachelor. The truth is I look like one, but at heart, I’m something else. I just don’t know what it is or what I’m looking for.

Henry makes the salad and sets the table while I get ready to serve the dinner.

When Evie wanders into the dining room in a little summer dress similar to what she wore here, we both stop what we’re doing and stare at her. We both gawk like a pair of teenage boys who’ve never seen a woman in their lives.

Her skin is glowing, and her hair is damp from the shower. The reason we look is she looking fucking sexy. If Henry had already had his turn, I would have her again. And again.

She blushes and tucks an invisible strand of hair behind her ear.

“That smells amazing,” she says, bringing her hands together.

Her nervousness is sexy, too, as well as her complete obliviousness to how fucking sexy she is. It’s one of the most attractive things about her. Sometimes it’s a good thing when people don’t know.

That means you get to tell them.

“Georgiou cooked,” Henry says, waving his hand over the feast on the table.

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