The Ultimate Sin

by Jillian Quinn

  She couldn’t even look Lorenzo in the eyes. He made her sick to her stomach. We were only a few months away from our wedding. My mother helped Gia plan everything, and the old man paid the hefty price tag for the mansion in the suburbs Gia fell in love with a long time ago.

  “Not anymore,” she muttered. “At least not to me.”

  “If this is the last time, can I at least see Faith?”

  “No,” I answered for her. “This is goodbye, Lorenzo. For good.”

  His jaw clenched in anger. “I always knew you would ruin my daughter. Gia has always been too good for you and your low-life family.”

  I leaned forward, digging my elbows into the table. “For a man who had a hit ordered on his wife, you have some nerve disrespecting my family and me. Gia’s better off without you in her life. Who knows what you would’ve done the next time you needed money.”

  “I wouldn’t have needed it if not for your dad,” he shot back.

  Ignoring his comment, I grabbed Gia by the arm and helped her up from the table. She looked over at her dad and shook her head, her top lip curled up in anger. “Have a nice life, Lorenzo.” Her voice lacked any emotion. “Whatever is left of it.”

  Gia knew I would have her father tortured and mentally shattered until the day I decided he was allowed to die a slow and painful death. But she didn’t want to know about it. That was the deal.

  “Gia,” Lorenzo called out, as we started to leave the room.

  She angled her body to listen to his next words.

  “I tried to be a good father. Even if I failed you in some ways, I’d like to think I did okay in others. I’m proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished.”

  She gritted her teeth. “I wish I could say the same about you. You’re the biggest disappointment. The last person I expected was you. All along the clues were right there, under my nose. I will never forgive you for taking my mother from me. I can’t. No matter how many good things you did for me over the years, I can’t absolve you of your sins. I hope you rot in hell… where you belong.”

  Gia ran out of the visitation room so fast I had to power walk after her to catch up. We left the prison hand-in-hand and met Sonny and Faith outside. Sonny was pushing Faith’s stroller across the parking lot as if he were in a race. His stupidity not only pulled a smile from Faith but Gia as well. He was the perfect choice for her godfather.

  That day, Gia closed one door and never looked back. We only looked toward our future together and stopped living in the past.

  Even if the sins of our past could one day catch up with us, we still had our happily ever after. Because we had each other.

  Epilogue

  Gia

  Sitting behind my desk, I typed away at my computer on the latest contract I prepared for a huge construction project downtown. My company was in the running for the project. It had taken me months to convince our vendors I was not like my father. His conviction did some immediate damage to Carlini Construction. I did everything in my power to keep the company my father risked everything to hold onto.

  Even though I hated him, the company was still part of me. I was the CEO, the one person everyone looked to when they needed confirmation they would still have their jobs at the end of the year. Most of the time, Angelo operated on the wrong side of the law. But I was determined to make Carlini Construction a legitimate company, one that didn’t have mobsters on their payroll.

  They were the first people who got the boot, whether Angelo Sr. liked it or not. His happiness meant nothing to me. No more free rides for anyone. If they wanted a paycheck, I told Angelo Sr. they would have to work for one. A few of his men did, which shocked the hell out of me.

  After I wrapped up the final details on the city contract, my phone buzzed. Kelly, my secretary, yelled into the speaker, “Gia, I have a woman here for you. She says she’s a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her name is Monica Peters.”

  Hearing the name of the investigative journalist who helped me put my father behind bars surprised me.

  What was she doing here?

  I hit the button on the intercom. “Send her in.”

  A few seconds later, a pretty blonde in a pencil skirt and pink blouse strolled into my office with a Gucci bag clutched in one hand and a manila folder in the other.

  Sonny was out for a walk with Faith, leaving Luca, the man who guarded the door, behind with us. He stood in the doorway until I shooed him away with my hand and shut the door behind him.

  Monica sat in the chair across from me and smoothed a hand down the front of her skirt. “Gia, how are you? It’s been a while since we last spoke.”

  The last time we saw each other was in the final semester before we graduated from Strickland University.

  A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Yes, it has. I’m good. Angelo and I have a two-year-old daughter and are getting married in a few months.”

  “You two were always inseparable. I could never get near you when he was around.”

  I laughed. “Angelo is very protective of me.”

  She nodded. “I’ll say.”

  “So, what brings you here today?” I folded my hands on the desk in front of me and leaned forward.

  Her visit was not a social call. Even though she started off with an icebreaker, I could see through the facade.

  She dropped the folder in her hand onto the desk and slid it in my direction with her index finger. “I know you were the one who sent me the package.”

  I tried to hide my surprise and smiled through it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “The one that helped me bring down your father.”

  “I had nothing to do with that. My father was a bad man. He had plenty of enemies.”

  “I heard about what happened while he was in the infirmary. I’m so sorry, Gia.”

  My face remained stoic. “Thank you.”

  The day I left the prison my father no longer existed. He was dead to me long before his death. I knew Angelo had something to do with his passing, and I didn’t care. Every time I wanted to break down and cry, I thought of my mother being blown to bits. I had no room in my heart to love or care about the man who would do that to the woman he supposedly loved.

  “Open it.” Monica motioned her head at the folder she pushed in front of me. “It’s a gift for helping me climb the ladder fast at the Inquirer. The exclusive on your father was something most reporters wait their entire career to get. If ever. And you dropped it right into my lap. There’s no way I can ever repay you. But this can. Maybe this will give you some closure.”

  I flipped open the folder and scanned the documents inside. Bank account statements showed five thousand dollar wire transfers each month for the last twenty-three years from my father. Monica had traced the transfers to an account in Las Vegas in the name of Savannah Locke.

  I glanced up at Monica, confused. “Why was my dad sending money to this woman?”

  “Because she’s your half-sister.”

  A chill ran through me, tightening every muscle in my body in the process. My mouth fell open in shock, unable to hide it this time. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. Look at the last page.”

  I shuffled through the stapled pages and found a copy of a birth certificate. My father was listed as the father along with her mother, a woman named Rhiannon O’Shea, the oldest sister of the head of the Irish Mob. She’d fled when she was in her early twenties, supposedly to escape from the wrath of the underworld. At the time, Angelo Sr. was in the middle of his war with Jimmy Scaglione.

  Was her escape nothing more than a front to cover another one of my father’s mistakes?

  My heart sunk into my chest. No wonder my father was so close with Sean O’Shea. He was the father of his niece.

  “You have a sister, Gia.” Monica pushed herself up from the chair, hovering over my desk. “I thought you’d want to meet her now that your family is all gone. She’s only a few years younger than you.” />
  “I have all the family I need.”

  She smiled. “Well, it was nice to see you, Gia. Good luck with everything.”

  “Thanks.”

  I walked her to the door, and as I was opening it, Sonny barged into my office with Faith in her stroller. Monica waved one last time before she disappeared into the hallway. The second I laid eyes on Faith, I knew I had to find my half-sister. Not for me but for Faith. I lifted my daughter from the stroller and hugged her tight against my chest.

  “My little princess,” I whispered into her ear, rubbing her back with my hand. Then, I kissed her on the forehead, looking over at Sonny. “I need you to find someone for me.”

  Sonny moved closer to us. “Who?”

  “My sister.”

  The Next Sin

  Once upon a time, I fell in love with a Mafia Capo. We fell hard and fast, even though our relationship was forbidden. Loving a Morelli wasn’t my first sin. It wouldn’t be my last.

  The Morelli brothers saved me at my darkest hour. They took me in when I needed someone most.

  He was the man who brought me back to life. He made me whole and helped me heal. But someone had to pay for the sins of the past. Too bad that person was me.

  Learn more about The Next Sin

  The Next Sin Excerpt

  Pete

  Three years ago

  I sat in the corner of my father’s office next to Marco with a glass of scotch in my hand, waiting for my the old man to put Lorenzo Carlini in his place. The entire engagement dinner was a sham, nothing more than a ruse to drag Lorenzo to our family’s compound in South Jersey.

  Even though they’d been friends since childhood, Lorenzo was afraid of my father. He knew how much power he held at the tip of his fingers. One word and Lorenzo would be dead. And he wouldn’t even know what hit him.

  At this very moment, I could come up from behind his chair and choke him with my bare hands without even blinking an eye. I would enjoy it. So would my father. Lorenzo and his daughter, Gia, were complications we didn’t need. They needed to play their part and know their place, or we would have to remove them from the situation. For good.

  My dad sat with his hands folded on top of the wood desk he sat behind, glaring at Lorenzo with a look of death in his eyes. Paulie entered the room with Angelo and shut the door behind them, the room growing tenser from the silence. I could hear Lorenzo taking in deep breaths, most likely saying a silent prayer he made it out of this room.

  My father’s office was in the unfinished basement below the main house, disconnected from modern technology and encased in cement that would make his screams inaudible. The Feds couldn’t get a tap on us down here. No one could get to us from our private fortress. Our compound was more guarded than the White House and with much more privacy.

  Leaning back in his leather chair, my dad loosened his black pin-striped tie and tugged on his collar. He motioned for Angelo to take the chair next to Lorenzo. Paulie sat on his right. One day, my father planned to replace Paulie with Angelo, who would become his consigliere, and someday, after my father was gone, Angelo would become mine, too. But I wasn’t convinced he was up for the challenge.

  Angelo wasn’t like the rest of us. He allowed his heart to rule him, which was a weakness I couldn’t have in my regime. My youngest brother was as much of a liability as the Carlini family. They needed to be eliminated, wiped off the map. But we had to be smart, act with a level head, and a plan that would get us what we wanted.

  Sandwiched between Lorenzo and Paulie, Angelo stirred in his chair and sucked in a deep breath. With my father pinning him down with his cold brown eyes—same as mine—he leaned forward and smirked at each of them.

  Dad pinned down Lorenzo. “I’m ready to collect the favor you owe me.”

  “What do you want?” The fear in Lorenzo’s voice was evident. He was terrified of my father.

  “The parcel of land where my son found you, give it to me.”

  Until then, Angelo probably had no idea our father had a hand in Lorenzo’s disappearance. Angelo and Sonny had helped Gia find her dad. My brother should have known better. Carlini Construction owned the massive tract of land with industrial machinery on it. We needed it to maintain our foothold in the construction business. Everything Lorenzo had was because of my father—and he knew it. Lorenzo owed him so many favors he couldn’t pay them back in ten lifetimes. But Gia would. Someone would pay.

  Lorenzo narrowed his eyes at him. “Give it to you? Haven’t I given you enough already? Haven’t you spilled enough blood?”

  My dad held out his hand to silence him. “You should consider yourself lucky I’m only collecting on the one favor you owe me.”

  Lorenzo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Lucky? I committed the worst sin imaginable to repay you. We were supposed to be friends. We’re going to be family. Is this how you treat your family?”

  What man would kill his wife to settle a debt? A coward.

  Lorenzo had the O’Shea family murder his wife at the children’s hospital dinner. Back then, I thought he was an idiot for making her death so public. Until I realized he was using it for his campaign for mayor. He was smarter than I gave him credit. Angelo was still looking for the murderer, all while Gia was grieving her mother. She knew our family was responsible, but she had no idea the man she’d looked up to her entire life was a cold-blooded killer, no different from the rest of us.

  “My family is smart enough not to cross me. They have a role. They play their part.” He looked at Angelo, who always needed a reminder. “They do as they’re told.”

  My dad folded his arms over his chest as a knowing look was fired off in Paulie’s direction. Paulie responded with a nod. They had communicated something only a few of us in the room understood. While Angelo was training to become my father’s consigliere, we kept him out of the loop on anything involving the Carlini family. He was a loose cannon, too emotional to be trusted with important matters.

  A few moments of uncomfortable silence ensued before my dad removed a white slip of paper from the top drawer of his desk. He slid the paper in Lorenzo’s direction, shutting the drawer with his other hand.

  Lorenzo stared at the paper for far too long before he picked it up. He read the words several times with a defeated expression on his face. My father owned him. He knew it. There was no running from a man who had everything.

  “No,” Lorenzo said, crumbling the paper in his hand. He threw it on the desk in front of my father.

  His lip curled up in anger. “How dare you deny my request after everything I have given you?”

  “We’re done here.” Lorenzo stood, kicking his chair behind him.

  My father pushed himself up from behind the desk, meeting Lorenzo’s gaze.

  They engaged in a stare down.

  Lorenzo turned to leave.

  I thought my father would stop him, but he let him go. He flexed his jaw, his eyes so dark and menacing he looked like a demon. His expression mirrored mine when I had men on my table in the kill room.

  My father ordered Paulie and Angelo to follow Lorenzo back upstairs. The narrow hallways were unlit, save for the few camping lanterns scattered throughout, the ceiling full of exposed wooden beams. It was impossible to navigate the path to the upstairs if you didn’t know the way.

  Marco stood to close the door behind them, leaving us in silence. My brother and I sat in the chairs in front of my dad’s desk and waited for him to speak. There was an order to things when it came to the old man. He believed it was respectful for us to await his next move.

  We never spoke out of turn or did anything we weren’t ordered to do. I was a soldier in the Morelli army, as were my brothers, except I was being groomed to take the old man’s place. I was a Caporegime, a boss of my own crew. One day, I would sit behind the same desk and bark orders to my brothers, no different from what I do now, only with a different amount of power behind those words.

  “Since I can
’t rely on Angelo, I need you two to take care of this problem for me.” My father ran a hand through his short, dark hair and sighed. “Lorenzo will not budge on Pitt Steel. We need to acquire the company to gain some of the contracts I’ve worked hard to get for this family.”

  I nodded. “What do you need us to do?”

  The corners of his mouth turned up into a wicked grin when he locked eyes with me. “I need you to take Gia, force Lorenzo’s hand. It’s the only way to make him listen.”

  Angelo was a pain in my ass on a normal day. If Gia went missing, he would lose his fucking shit.

  “When?”

  He leaned back in his chair and kicked up his shoe on his knee. “Tonight. Make it quick and painless.”

  “Sonny will be with Gia,” Marco interjected, “now that Angelo has him babysitting her all the time.”

  My father’s grin turned pure evil. “Good. We can kill two birds with one stone. Sonny has a weakness for that girl, too.”

  “What do you want us to do with Sonny?”

  My dad shrugged. “I want Angelo to blame himself for this. He needs to think killing Antonio Mancuso is the reason for Gia’s disappearance.”

  “How do you want it done?”

  “Don’t kill her,” he growled. “We need her as leverage. You can’t bargain with a dead body.”

  “Dante DiSalvo is having his usual birthday party in Atlantic City,” I said, wondering if this would solve our problem. “We could give Gia to him as a gift.”

  The old man turned his head and scratched the stubble along his jaw. “That could work. But make sure Dante and his men don’t touch her. Lorenzo won’t pay for damaged goods, and Angelo will start a war if anything happens to that girl. I can’t have that kind of fallback on our family. I need this taken care of tonight. The longer I give Lorenzo to think this through, the longer he will find ways to avoid me. No one takes money or favors from me and walks away without paying me back. He needs to learn a lesson. They all do.”