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My voice is cold, and I pity my mother. “She needed help, not punishment. Why didn’t you get her professional help instead of damning her to hell with a bastard husband?”
She winces as I raise my voice. “Was it to protect your business? Were you afraid that she would let spill about the mass murders you carried out on her behalf? Was it to prevent her from telling your secrets, or was it to shift the problem onto someone else? It appears you are good at that, because I am one prime example.”
I am so angry I can’t even see straight and then I jump out of my skin when a harsh voice hits me like whiplash.
“Enough!”
I stare in shock as a man who makes my soul weep, stands before us, and I am left in no doubt at all. This is my grandfather, Don Vieri himself.
CHAPTER 52
LAURA
Istare at him in shock as he points to the chair, commanding me to sit without any words and I drop into it like a good little sheep.
He rests his hand on his wife’s shoulder and says gruffly, “You will speak to your grandmother with respect.”
I bite back my sharp retort because, for the first time in my life, my brain is taking charge.
He pauses and I swear I don’t breathe once until he says, “Ariana did everything for you, Laura. Your mother was in no position to make her own decisions and to answer your question, yes, we failed Giselle. She was sent away because in our world, life is brutal.”
I say nothing as he takes his seat and stares at me pointedly. “We have all been born into this life. We know no different. The old ways were all we had to guide us, and we dealt with our problems the only way we knew how. Would we have done things differently now, of course, but we must own up to our failures as well as our successes?”
His voice is hypnotizing me. It’s as if he has cast a spell over me and I stare at him in awed fascination as he says gruffly, “Asit turns out, Giselle turned against us all. She plotted the death of her brother and ordered a hit on the rest of us.”
“She murdered her own brother?” I can’t help blurting out and he nods, the pain in his eyes devastating.
“She was set on punishing us. By taking away my son, my grandchildren and seizing control of my empire. She wanted us to watch everything we had worked so hard for taken from us. It wasnevergoing to happen.”
“So, you murdered her too.” My voice shakes as he says huskily, “No. We would never murder a member of our family in cold blood. We merely removed her from the situation.”
I have no words because this world is nothing like the one I’m used to and I want nothing to do with it, or with them.
They are strangers to me and it’s probably best to keep it that way and as I stare at them both watching me with, dare I say it, hope, I say sadly, “It’s hard to hear.”
The tears burn behind my eyes as I whisper, “I’m so afraid.”
“Of what?” My grandmother says kindly and takes my hand across the table.
“Of who I am.”
“You are a good, kind, beautiful woman, Laura. That is all you need to know.”
“But I was born out of evil. Born evil if you like. What if the madness is inside me and comes out when I least expect it?”
My grandmother shakes her head and whispers, “We are all born with the capacity for good and evil. Which one you become is determined by the life you lead and the hurdles you face. You are not evil unless you choose to be, and I have a feeling that you would rather choose good.”
“I would.”
Don Vieri leans forward and stares deeply into my eyes. “You may think you are evil, Laura, but look past all of this.” He waves his hands at the guards who are standing watchfully nearby.
“We are honest about who we are. What it says on the tin to a point, but what you don’t see is the good we do for those who deserve it. Spend time with the younger members of this family. Discover the good work they do and the people they help. Decide for yourself if evil deeds are deserved and if good is rewarded. There are multiple layers to a human that cannot be compartmentalized. We enjoy freedom of choice and the capacity to do amazing things. Giselle chose to concentrate on the evil in her life and didn’t focus on the good she could bring to the world. Do not judge us until you have all the facts.”
He glances past me and points to the boat.
“There is your example of good versus evil, Laura. I believe Troy Remington offered you a job with an ulterior motive in mind. He is a good man who was about to use evil to get what he wanted. It backfired because he discovered something that changed his mind. You. Good people can do bad things and the other example of that brought you here.”
“Adonis.” I add, and he nods.
