Garden of Sins

My gaze slides to Caden, who is the dominate of the two, and wonder if he could have prevented this.

“You won’t believe me now, Dad, but I didn’t want to,” Caden mumbles calmly. “I did everything I could to keep Carter out of it.”

I turn my head and take a closer look at my son. “You don’t make a move without your brother,” I state.

“Dad, I wanted it. Caden didn’t really want it,” Carter says, trying to pacify me and I sigh heavily. It doesn’t matter because they’re already inside. Not as high up as some of the other men we have on our radar, but they are part of it. And if they do well, they’re going to sink much deeper.

“How could you be so stupid?” Dad asks the two of them. “Who got you into this?” I’d like to know that too, Emilia.

Caden clears his throat and Carter lets him do the talking. “We’ve been doing it a long time.” I’m stu

Exhausted, I run a hand over my face.

“Super, congratulations,” my father says drily. But there’s so much hardness in his voice that even Caden slides a little further to the right in his chair. “Now you’re on the list of a hundred and fifty most suspicious men in the Chicago mob.” Actually, they have been for quite some time, they’ve only just been discovered it seems. It makes me sick when I think about it too much.

“Wow,” Carter replies totally stoned and I shake my head. “Bro, we’re on a list!”

“You really should smoke less weed,” I hiss at Carter.

“You always take everything so seriously,” he mumbles and drinks his coffee.

“Put down the damn cup,” Dad growls. “And sit up straight when I am talking to you.”

Carter’s gaze flits over the cup to my dad before he slowly sets it down and sits up. Then he folds his hands and places them on the table.

Dad glares at Carter a little longer, who gets a little nervous under his gaze. “Isabelle Marino. Stay away from her. She’s Massimo Marino’s daughter, as you probably know, isn’t she? Ever heard that name in your circle?” Dad mocks.

Carter stiffens a bit more, his fingers clenching each other. “Yeah.” Yes, Emilia. Yes, he says.

“Yes,” Dad repeats, delighted and slightly psychopathic. “She has been sorely missed for two months because she should have married Dorian de Luca, your boss’s son. But I’m sure you know that too. You were surely invited! She is his fiancée, surprise! What a coincidence. Isn’t it a small world?”

This information doesn’t seem to surprise Carter or Caden and Dad’s going to freak out any moment now, Emilia, and so will I when he does.

Now Dad sits backward on the chair, folds his hands over the backrest, and stares at everyone, waiting. His wedding ring sparkles on his finger and his eyes are pseudo-patient. He is in full FBI interrogation mode.

Carter wants to stand up. I see the anger slowly building inside him because he is irritated, but my father uses the voice again. “Sit!”

Carter immediately sinks back into the chair and his gaze shoots to my dad. He grinds his teeth and his turquoise eyes harden, as if my dad could help it that this little Isabelle is Dorian de Luca’s fiancée.

Oh, Emilia, I sometimes wonder how the boys would have turned out if I had left them both with Dad when they were little.

“Calm down, Carter,” my dad says, even though Carter is trying to pull himself together. My dad knows what’s going on in his head as well as I do. We’re all a bit possessive when we’ve decided on a woman. I just hope he hasn’t fallen for a mobster’s daughter.

“I’m just going to kill him,” Carter now gloriously decides.

Caden raises his eyebrow and says almost gently, “Bro, you can’t just kill Dorian de Luca, you know that.”

Carter stares at his hands and nods. “I can and I will,” he calmly decides. “Sooner or later.”

“Listen to me,” my father says forcefully and looks Carter straight in the eye. “I know you want to do everything for her, that she is the center of your life right now, that you want to mow down anything that gets in your way, but you must not lose your head now. Believe me, it won’t turn out well.”

Carter grinds his teeth and looks at his brother while my father talks to him.

“Use your brain, Carter,” Dad continues insistently. “Now!”

Carter squeezes out a breath, cracks his neck, and concentrates fully on Caden’s gaze. It is a bit fascinating, Emilia, how the two of them co

“Good,” Dad says and Carter takes another deep breath before he relaxes with a jerk and looks at my dad.

“Can I go now?” he asks.

Everyone is staring at each other, about to lose their heads, but you can’t really tell. My dad doesn’t allow Carter to get up yet.

“You know you can’t get out of there, at least, not alive and neither I nor your father can get you out.” That sounds so final in my ears, I sink against the table and my heart stops for a moment. They are still my children. And if my father doesn’t have a plan, we’re all fucked because if anything happens to them, Chicago will burn, only this time by me.

“You also know that you have chosen the other side and that from now on, we are no longer a unit because you are officially part of it,” my father continues calmly and I feel nauseous inside.

“Do you want to put us in jail?” Carter asks emotionlessly.

“Jail will feel like a vacation to you as opposed to what’s in store.” Dad doesn’t sound happy.

“I have nothing left to lose,” Caden now mumbles and my heart breaks. He has so much, but he doesn’t see it because when he gets involved in something, everything revolves around that and anything else is lost on him. That is why he feels so empty now and the only one who can change it is his brother.

Carter now stands up so that he is next to my father looking down at him. “So, from now on, we are adversaries, not family.” Carter is about to go to the garage, but Dad calls out to him, “Stop.”

Carter doesn’t turn around, but stands still, hands clenched, shoulders tensed.

“Do you really want me as an opponent, Carter?” he asks calmly and I crack my neck. I don’t like where this is heading.

Carter glances over his shoulder and raises a brow. “Come kill me if you want. I don’t give a shit.” With that, he leaves, slamming the garage door behind him. Shit, he’s never been so fucked up, so empty, or so drained, and I can’t fill that emptiness. I think he honestly lost his heart to that girl, something I never believed would happen, not to him, not like that.

“Now you know how it is and because I never leave my brother alone, I’ll continue to follow him, no matter where he goes,” Caden states gently before he gets up after a last look and follows Carter into the garage.

I want to follow him, both of them, but my father holds me by the arm. His grip is steely. I exhale loudly and sink powerlessly back into the chair where Caden was sitting a moment ago. Shit, Emilia.

Exhausted, I rub my face and look at my father, who is still watching Carter and Caden walk away. His other hand is now clenched too.

I feel so drained, Emilia, so powerless. I don’t like it at all. “Carter’s going to screw this whole thing up because of her, Dad, and Caden’s going to lose his head because of Carter just as Carter lost his heart.” When that happens, Emilia, I won’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help them.