Page 25 of Merciless Sinner

I nod and light up our cigars. “As far as people go, he’s possibly the only person we can trust. Seamus is a good uncle to Olivia. He held on to the belief that he could find her and her parents nearly as much as I did.” So far, he’s the only person outside of us and my guards who know that I found Olivia, that she has amnesia, and that her parents are dead.

“People can make things look however they want. You know I’ve lived through that type of shit well enough to write the manual about it.”

Dante is talking about what happened to him with his uncle, Igor Levitsky, the former leader of the Creed and his Pakhan. Igor double-crossed him in the worst ways imaginable, all to gain power.

“This is not the same thing. It’s physically impossible for Seamus to have had anything to do with this because he was in a medically-induced coma at the time.”

The man was going through cancer treatment for a brain tumor. He’d been in the hospital for months before the attack. His wife, who has since died, cared for him. If she were alive, I’d excuse her, too. Neither of them had anything to gain from killing Olivia’s parents.

“We still need to be careful.” Dante remains uneasy, but his face softens. “This situation is going to require tact. Especially since we have to bear in mind that we may only be able to catch whoever is responsible once they know Olivia is back.”

“I know.” That’s the part that worries me. I feel like I’ve brought her back into the arms of danger, and like I’m using her as bait to smoke out her enemies.

My only solace is knowing she has something she never had before.Me.

“I hope we can get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can.” I press my lips together in complete displeasure. Everything goes back to what I always suspected.

Like most people, I knew what happened to Olivia and her family had to be an inside job. My problem is that I could never find hard dirt on anybody. As I’m the guy who claims to be able to find anything, that can only mean the evidence I need is not on paper.

There was also someone else I suspected even more than those who are close to Olivia’s family—my father.

He was the only person who hated the O’Ridians enough to want them dead.

But I investigated him enough to be satisfied at the time that it wasn’t him. That didn’t mean I ruled him out completely.

“What about this marriage thing?” Dante searches my eyes.

I know I shocked him entirely with that bomb. He’s happily married, so I know he’s not going to talk me out of it. Definitely not when he knows how I feel about Olivia. But the fact that we’re not the people we used to be is cause for concern in anyone.

“You really pulled an ace on me with that,” he adds. “Where did that come from? And what about your father?”

I rest my head against the soft back of the chair. “Last month, my father finally announced he was moving back to Russia.” He’ll be gone by Christmas. The plan has been in the works for a while to take care of the branch of company over there and others in Europe. My family’s business is oil mining. My father plans to own every ounce of oil on the planet if he can get his hands on it. He thinks he’ll have more power from his contacts in Russia. “On his departure, he wants me to take over the company here. But to do so, he demanded I get married first.”

Dante leans forward. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t want to talk about it.” The moment I say that, understanding forms in his eyes.

He’ll know exactly why such a topic would have been difficult for me to discuss when I spent every waking hour looking for Olivia. He’ll also understand that I wouldn’t have wanted to burden him with my problems when he would have been away living the life he’s always wanted with his wife, Serenity. They’ve only been married for a few months, and I can see it’s the start of something different for him.

My shit with my father is practically never-ending.

That man is the only bastard who knows how to wield control over me. I could easily defy him, but then I’d never get what I want—the company. My share of the empire. My birthright.

“He wants me to marry some hotel heiress, but my plans to marry Olivia will change his mind.”

“How? Your father hates the O’Ridians.”

“Olivia’s father left her the diamond company.”

His mouth drops. “You’re kidding me.”

“No. It’s hers once she’s married.”

“What about Cillian?”

Cillian is Olivia’s brother. Before the feud, which feels like a hundred years ago, he, Dante, and I were inseparable.

“He got their bank and the brewery in Ireland.”

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