54. Epilogue VIN
Epilogue: VIN
The Demonio brotherhood and our women are at the burial site on the Demonio estate, officially laying Aurelio to rest. A few others join us—Ronan, Declan, Olivia, to name a few—but practically no one compared to the funeral.
I hold Sophie’s hand, ready to walk into this new chapter of life with her by my side.
I place my hand on her belly and she smiles up at me.
This is more than I could have ever dared to hope for.
Nothing in this world could convince me to fuck this up.
Not intentionally anyway. And I know she’ll let me know if I’m even coming close to that. I smile down at her. My queen.
My mother is buried here as well, and when the priest says the final words and we’ve all thrown a handful of dirt on top of the casket in the ground, I let go of Sophie’s hand and go to see her.
She was always closer to Tommy, but I loved her. I wonder how our lives would have been different if she had lived. Or if they would have been different at all.
The one thing I know for sure is that she would have loved Sophie. “I’m going to make you proud,” I tell her softly, placing a rose from Aurelio’s arrangement on her grave.
A figure appears out of the fog walking toward us, large and hulking. I narrow my eyes at it, and look for Sophie. She’s with everyone else, heading back toward the house. Only Ronan remains, and he comes to stand beside me as my guards run in from all directions, guns pointed.
The man raises his hands in surrender but keeps moving toward me.
Ronan mutters. “What the fuck is this then?”
I peer into the fog, trying to see what he sees. What the fuck? “Is that… your cousin? Is that Luca?”
Ronan says, “Yeah, it is. Well, cousin, no. Not my cousin. My father took him as a baby a few years before I was born. He was a capo for awhile, disappeared for awhile, and came back a few years ago.”
This makes absolutely no sense. “Why’s he here?”
Ronan shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t know much about him, honestly. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak more than two words together.”
Luca arrives in front of us and stops, but he says nothing.
Jesus, no fucking peace around here. I reach for my gun at my back. “Do you mind telling me why you think it’s appropriate to sneak onto my estate?”
Luca nods once, his voice clipped. “I’m here to make good on one part of a contract brokered by the MacCuinn Clan on behalf of the Demonio Brotherhood triggered by the death and burial of Aurelio Demonio.”
I grimace. “I’ve already made it clear that I will not be marrying Ashlyn MacCuinn.”
Luca shakes his head. “Not the contract I’m referring to.”
How many fucking contracts are there? Jesus Christ. “Okay. Enlighten me.”
“The contract which states, in part, that I am to receive Olivia Neroli.”
Wait, what? My adopted little sister? The girl that’s lived with us since she was 12? “The fuck are you talking about? She’s a fucking child.”
“She’s 22. Legal age.”
I look Luca up and down. “Which makes you twice her age at least.”
Luca nods once.
Ronan shakes his head in disbelief when I look to him for answers. “First I’m hearing of it.” Ronan turns to Luca. “I thought you were married.”
Luca grunts, the first flicker of emotion I’ve ever seen from him crossing his face. And it’s not a good emotion. “Not anymore. But it’s not a marriage contract in any case.”
Not a marriage contract? But he’s supposed to ‘receive’ her?
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. All contracts set into motion by Aurelio Demonio are null and void. I’m the boss now. We’re starting from scratch.”
Luca lowers his hands slowly. “I thought you might say that. Maybe I should have introduced myself properly first. I’m Luca. Luca Demonio.”
My brain literally stops functioning for about five seconds. Then I turn to Ronan who looks as shocked as I feel. He shakes his head at me. “I had no idea,” he says.
I don’t even know what to say. I look down at my mother’s grave. How many secrets are buried in this graveyard?
“Demonio.”
Luca follows my gaze to the headstone. “Yes. I’m Aurelio’s first born. We share the same father but not the same mother.”
I don’t know what to do, so I glare at him. Is this why Aurelio blew me off for so long? Treated me like I was unnecessary instead of grooming me to take his place? Because I’m not the oldest son and therefore not the heir? “What is your business here, Luca?”
“I’m not here for your title, if that’s what you’re worried about. Don’t want it. But there’s a fair amount of money that comes my way when I take the virgin Olivia. She was raised for me. Her parents brokered the deal.”
“Her parents are dead,” Vin says. “They’ve been dead a long time.”
“Her parents’ fortune is what the Demonio estate, family, and now Brotherhood are built on.
If I don’t confirm that I’ve had her, if I don’t take my spot in the family, the Demonio Brotherhood goes bankrupt.
Today. The contract is apart of a will that will be executed automatically.
I’ve looked into stopping it, trust me. It’s iron clad. ”
“Why the fuck would her parents leave money to Aurelio and sell their daughter’s virginity in the process? That makes no fucking sense,” I sneer.
“I was given to understand it wasn’t a choice. Aurelio gave them a clear option: either sign the financial documents he had drawn up, allowing him to choose where and with whom Olivia goes, or he would rape her and kill her in front of them.”
Luca has zero emotion on his face, and I want to fucking kill him for easily those words come out of his mouth.
“And he chose you? Convenient,” I snarl.
“Not really. I didn’t want it. I fought it.
Married someone else. Left town. But Aurelio forced me back and made it clear it was my only option.
” His eyes cloud over as he looks off in the mid-distance, then locks eyes with me.
“Now that Aurelio is in the ground, we have 24 hours to make good on the contract or the banks automatically shut down funding with no recourse to recoup.”
“We’ll find money somewhere else,” I snort. This is fucking insane. I’m not selling my sister to some douchebag for any amount of money.
Luca shakes his head. “It’s not just stopping the flow of funds going forward. It’s seizing all assets and investments going back to the date of signing. That’s 12 years of investments, mens’ salaries, real estate—everything.”
Fuck. There’s no way I can cover that, no way our enemies won’t take advantage if they found out about the problem while I tried to fix it.
I turn my back on Luca and start heading toward the house. Ronan, Luca, and the guards follow me.
In the distance, I spot Olivia, standing on the crest of a small hill in the fog, staring out across the water, a glass of wine in hand. Her gray dresses blends into the fog. She looks like a ghost.
I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to tell her.