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“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.”
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“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?”
