Page 51 of The Fall of Sin (The Sins of Saint 2)

My stomach turned inside out. “Yeah. It does.”

“What are we hoping for here?”

I rubbed my temples, the weight of the entire goddamn universe crushing my shoulders. “I don’t know, man. I honestly don’t fucking know. If Raphael acts like the greedy fucker I know him to be, Mila will get hurt. If my father acts like the manipulating asshole I know he is, Mila will get hurt. Fuck!” I slammed my fist on the table. “For the first time, I’m in a motherfucking Catch-22 situation in this war with my father. I’m fucked no matter what my father decides to do.”

James tapped his finger on the armrest of his chair, an annoying habit he had picked up from me over the years. “It’s because you didn’t count on falling for the Torres girl. She wasn’t supposed to be anything more than collateral damage.”

I narrowed my eyes at him as the back of my neck tingled with annoyance. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.”

James smirked. “Listen, man, look at it this way. It’s not this thing between you and Mila—whatever it is—that’s complicating shit. It’s that motherfucking clause no one knew about that’s fucking us all in the ass.”

“I don’t get it, though,” I muttered as I tried to wrap my head around it. “I don’t understand why Torres did what he did, and then change his will at the last minute with the added instruction it be kept secret until—”

“Until either of the stipulations are met.”

“Exactly. I mean, I understand why he had the loophole of leaving ten percent to his firstborn, in case Mila ever did return home to the family. But this? I don’t get it.”

James got up and started pacing, something he did often when he felt frustrated and enclosed in a situation which seemed impossible to breach.

“James, listen.” I sat straight and leaned my elbows on the desk. “Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a little time to plot this out. At the moment, I own the majority shares in the company, which means my father can’t do shit with Raphael’s shares.”

“Hence the reason they haven’t finalized the deal yet.”

“Exactly. We just need to try to figure out how we can get two steps ahead rather than one in this race toward power.” I sighed then glanced at my wristwatch. “We need to get ready. Let’s get tonight behind us, maybe take the weekend to recoup.”

“Yes, sir.” He headed to the door when I called him back. “James.”

“Yeah?”

“I need security doubled around her tonight.”

He nodded. “Already done.”

“Thanks.”

James exited the room, and I closed my eyes as I leaned back in the chair. It was safe to say nothing was going according to plan with too many variables being added to the battlefield. Variables I hadn’t anticipated. Variables I had no weapons against. If someone had asked me months ago if there was anything in this entire world that would make me want to stop my pursuit of my father’s ruin, my answer would be one fat ‘fuck no.’ But now I was no longer so sure. Mila was a hurricane I wasn’t prepared for. A storm that capsized my plans and forced me to relook at everything from a different point of view. She managed to open my eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder what my life would be like without this rage that had been festering inside me for years. I wondered what life would be like if it were just us, when my father and past conflicts didn’t feature in our lives at all. It scared the shit out of me, the fact that I had come to a point where my need for revenge was dissipating while my desire for some resemblance of peace heightened. All because of the woman who started out as nothing more than a signature. A pawn that was a mere thorn in my side because she was a liability, a necessary evil.

I wiped my palms down my face. Last night when she fell asleep in my arms, I couldn’t stop staring at her—just like the night we spent out on the deck. I didn’t want to close my eyes. I didn’t want to fall asleep out of fear that what I was feeling would be gone when I woke up. And it was so damn good to feel something other than the darkness of hate and rage.

Maybe the answer was simple. Maybe the answer to all my problems would be to opt out of this war with my father. No Torres Shipping shares. No Raphael. No hidden clause to deal with. Just us. Mila and me. Maybe the simpler option would be the right choice to make. Deep down, I knew this was what it would ultimately come down to. A decision. A choice between my father…or Mila.

18

Mila

I was nervous.I wasn’t really sure why, but I was. Elena had ordered some snacks and champagne for us while we got ready for the gala, but I had no appetite, and the idea of alcohol made me a little queasy. The fluttering butterflies I felt earlier in my stomach had somehow turned into pebbles that scratched against my insides.

“You. Look. Stunning.” Elena stared at me in awe, her eyes beaming with pride. “Marcello is right. Red does become you.”

I smiled and tucked a stray curl back into the up-do style Elena had spent hours on creating.

“You truly look radiant,” she continued and slanted her head to the side as she stared at me. “You’re glowing.”

“Glowing?” I frowned.

She pressed her lips together, and for a fleeting moment she seemed almost saddened.

“What’s wrong, Elena?”

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