Page 16 of Sloth

“We all want that,” Damion Pride said, “it’s why we’re here. Since your father is gone, you’re the head of household for the Sloth family. If you would still like to join the alliance, we’d be happy to have you.”

“And if I join the alliance, what’s to stop the Gluttony family from doing to me what they did to my father?” Victor asked, side-eyeing Bruno.

“Because I’m going to take over the Gluttony Syndicate from my father. I want peace, Victor. I’m done with the old ways. The guys have said that they will help me take over and oust my father from his position.”

“How do you plan on doing that exactly?” Victor asked. He knew that the families who had formed the alliance liked to try to peacefully work things out, but he was sure that there would be no peaceful resolution to the change of household position for the Gluttony family. Old man Gluttony wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“By any means necessary,” Bruno breathed. “I know that you guys think that this can be done peacefully, but it can’t. My father won’t willingly step down and just hand me his seat. He’ll come after me with everything he has, just like he did Victor and my sister. Hell, I’m betting he’s already planning the hit against me.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Rock Greed insisted. Victor barked out his laugh. They had promised him the same thing. They assured him that he and his father would both be safe as long as he stuck to the plan. He was supposed to convince his father that the Gluttony family had a hit out on him. And then, his father was supposed to see the light and beg the rest of the families for their help and want to join their alliance. Instead, his father acted like an idiot, running to old man Gluttony, and begging him for his help. He was sticking to his old alliance and the old ways, and that’s what ended up getting him killed. Victor knew that, but it was still easier to blame Bruno and his last name.

“I’m sorry for how things went down with your father, Victor,” Rock said. “He was one of my oldest friends. You all don’t know this, but when we started the Deadly Sins Syndicate, we didn’t want to end up with all the families at war.” Rock was one of the founding members, so he knew the syndicate families inside and out. Now, he and his son, Jett Greed were co-heads of the Greed Syndicate. When they joined forces and announced that their family was joining the alliance with the other families, Victor wondered if he and his father could work like the two of them were. Jett and Rock seemed to have their differences, but they had learned to work through them. Now, Victor would never know if he’d be able to do something like that with his father since he was dead.

“Things started going south once we began having kids. I can’t speak for the rest of the families, but when Jett was born, I started thinking about what I wanted to leave him. There was so much competition, and I just couldn’t leave him with anything other than the best. We all started fighting and that led to killing and vendettas. It wasn’t how we planned things to go, but you all know the saying about best-laid plans.” There was a grumble that seemed to go around the table and Rock nodded as if he was happy with their response to his speech.

“So, how do we stop the war now? How do we finish what our father’s started?” Bowie Wrath asked.

“We find a way to bring down old man Gluttony and put Bruno in place as head of household, by whatever means possible. Bruno is right, his father won’t go down without a fight,” Damion Pride said.

“Then, we’ll give him a fight,” Rock Greed growled. “Let’s put it to a vote.” They went around the table, each voicing their vote and Victor had to admit he liked being a part of a peaceful decision rather than a war. It was so different from what he was used to and for the first time in a long time, he felt hopeful about the syndicate’s future.

* * *

Victor felt good about the way the meeting with the other families went down. If everything played out the way that it was supposed to, and Bruno pulled his weight, they would finally be rid of the old Syndicate ways. It was what they all wanted, and Victor couldn’t wait to get back to the safe house to tell Trish that they were finally going to be free. They could leave their little house, out in the middle of nowhere, and return back to their lives. He just hoped that she’d agree to move in with him because he didn’t want to go back to his old life. He wanted to begin a new one with her by his side.

He turned the corner, walking to the back of the parking lot where he had parked Trisha’s SUV. He was going to make a quick stop at a local jewelry store to buy her the biggest, most sparkly engagement ring he could find, and then, he’d drive like a bat out of hell to get home to her and ask her to be his forever.

Victor was just about to his car when a black SUV pulled up out of nowhere, nearly running him down. “What the fuck?” he growled, taking a few steps back as the passenger side door opened to reveal Mr. Gluttony himself holding a gun pointed right at Victor.

“Hey, Vic,” he said.

“It’s Victor.” Yeah, semantics wasn’t something that he should be arguing about right now, but he needed to stall for time. Victor was hoping that one of the other family members might leave the meeting and come out to the parking lot to find him being held at gunpoint.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want to be called,” Mr. Gluttony growled. “Get in the fucking car.”

“While that’s a really nice offer, what happens if I refuse?” he asked. He knew exactly what would happen, but stalling for time was getting harder and harder.

“I’ll leave you for dead right here,” Mr. Gluttony said.

“Well, you’ve given me a lot to think about,” Victor said. The back door popped open to reveal another guy holding a gun pointed at Victor. The odds were stacking up against him, and he knew that if he didn’t want to bleed out on the asphalt of a parking lot, he needed to follow orders. He’d just have to figure something out as he went along.

“Since you asked so nicely,” Victor drawled, climbing into the backseat. “Shove over,” he told Gluttony’s goon. The guy slid over the back seat and Victor settled in, shutting the door behind himself. He did a quick search of the parking lot, noting the cameras, and he just hoped like hell that the other family members saw his car still parked in the back of the lot when they left. Maybe they’d put two and two together and look at the camera feeds to see that he was taken at gunpoint by the Gluttony family. It probably wouldn’t matter at that point. He’d most likely be dead once they started to even look for him, but at least someone would tell Trish about what happened to him.

“Where are you taking me?” Victor asked.

“We’re going to see my daughter,” Mr. Gluttony said. “I think that it’s only fitting that you two die together since she’s the reason why you’ve been such a thorn in my side.”

“You would kill your own daughter?” Victor asked. He knew that Gluttony would not only kill his own daughter, but he’d also go after Bruno next. Blood relations meant nothing to men like Gluttony and their old ways.

“She stopped being my daughter the minute she chose to help you,” Mr. Gluttony growled. “As far as I’m concerned, I have no children left.”

“Who will you leave your precious syndicate to?” Victor asked. Mr. Gluttony looked at him in the rearview mirror and for just a minute, he thought that the guy was going to just shoot him in the back of the car. He was definitely getting under the old man’s skin.

“I’ll pick one of my nephews,” Gluttony said. “They at least stay in line and know their place.”

Victor turned to the guy sitting next to him and looked him over. “I’m assuming that you’re one of the nephews then?” he asked.

“Shut the fuck up,” the big guy next to him ordered.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com