The Deadliest Sin Series Complete Collection, page 27
I love him.
Not the same way I love Konstandin. I could never love anyone else like that. But Lorenc is my best friend, my confidant, and my protector. I can't lose him. I would give myself over to Aleksander if it meant he released Pjeter and I knew Lorenc and Konstandin would be with him. His two fathers. The men who love him more than anything.
I squeeze his hand back.
Don’t lose your shit, Rea.
I have to be one-hundred-percent focused here. I can’t be emotional—not with The Dragon involved and Pjeter's life at risk. All of our lives are at risk.
There’s no room for emotions in this game. You have to be hard. Cold. Ruthless. All the things Lorenc and Konstandin are so naturally, and the things I’ve had to become since Tarek took me.
I suck in a deep breath.
Whatever walks through that door, I'm ready.
The door opens, and a big man in black fatigues enters, gun drawn. Lorenc drops my hand and raises his into the air. I do the same. The man lowers his weapon slightly and steps through the door. Another man enters, followed by…The Dragon…with a sleeping Pjeter cradled in his arms, his tiny face turned away from me.
My baby.
My chest tightens, and I fight back the sob threatening to claw its way up my throat.
Lorenc glances at me. “He's okay. He wouldn't hurt him.”
I nod and watch as the man of everyone's nightmares marches toward us with a smug grin across his lips. The perfectly tailored black suit he wears shifts with every step he takes. His men continue to scan the warehouse, checking for threats.
They won't see Konstandin. The man is a master at blending in, and we made sure he was well-concealed in an area where he could still hopefully get a good shot.
Aleksander and his men stop ten feet in front of us. His dark, soulless eyes rake over me and then over Lorenc. “It's so nice to finally meet you. I've heard so many things.” The corner was mouth tilts up. “Not all good, unfortunately.”
Lorenc lowers his hands. “I could say the same about you, Aleksander.”
A dark chuckle rumbles from The Dragon’s chest, and he shifts Pjeter in his arms slightly. “Ouch, my feelings are hurt.”
“You don't have feelings,” I practically snarl at him.
His eyes flick over to mine. “Well, well, well, the woman who started the war. You must have a pussy of gold to have so many men willing to die for you.”
A rage I didn't know was possible blisters my skin, and I lurch toward him, intent on strangling the life from him with my bare hands if necessary. Lorenc grabs my arm and pulls me back.
Aleksander tips back his head and laughs darkly, the sound echoing through the cavernous space.
Lorenc’s lips brush my ear. “You okay?”
I nod, and he slowly releases his grip on my arm.
Maybe if Aleksander understood…
I never wanted to speak out loud what Tarek did to me. Saying the words makes it even more real, but I need to try. “Tarek was a monster. He treated me like a toy. Something to own, to possess, something to play with whenever and however he wanted. I was ready to die to escape him when Konstandin rescued me.”
Aleksander narrows his eyes on me. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. What you did killed my brother. That will not go unavenged.”
Lorenc pushes me back slightly with one hand. “Let's just do what we came here for. Give Pjeter to Rea, and I'm all yours.”
The eyes of the man who holds my entire world in his hands darken even more, to almost black. He flashes a deadly grin.
Ice floods my veins.
Oh shit.
There was no way this was going to end well. We all knew it would end with blood. But that look…that smile…
It’s going to be worse than we ever imagined.
“There's been a slight change of plans.” His right arm raises so fast, we don't have time to react.
Bang.
The blast from the gunshot rings in my ears, mixing with Lorenc’s scream. Both echo through the warehouse and still my heart as Lorenc drops to the floor.
“No!”
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
My cry mixes with three quick shots in succession from above and behind me.
Aleksander's men drop one by one, and I throw myself to the floor where Lorenc lies. “Lorenc!”
Blood seeps from between his fingers pressed against the growing red spot on his chest.
No. No. No.
I press my hands over his and push down as I glare at Aleksander. “You bastard!”
But The Dragon isn’t looking at me. His eyes are focused up and over my shoulder where he aims his gun—where the real threat is.
A low chuckle slips from his curled lips, and he shakes his head. “I should've known. What was done to my men at the motel…Lorenc would not have been able to do that himself, and Rea wouldn’t have offered much help if she were protecting Pjeter. Who's out there? Michael?”
Michael? Lorenc’s brother? Why would he think Michael is here?
Aleksander narrows his eyes, trying to see into the darkness. “Did you have a change of heart about coming on as my second-in-command? You should've thought of that before you told me they were here. Could've saved them a lot of pain.”
Michael did tell Aleksander.
All because he wanted what the Gashi family could offer, something Lorenc and his family never had the ability to accomplish on their own.
Power.
“He did have second thoughts.” Konstandin's ice-cold voice comes from the rafters. “Which is why he warned me that you were coming for them.”
His heavy boots thud down the metal stairs, and he finally comes into view.
Aleksander's eyes widen as he shifts Pjeter again, struggling to hold him with one arm while pointing a gun at Konstandin with the other hand.
Shit.
That's why Konstandin hasn't taken him out yet. He can't while Aleksander is holding Pjeter. It’s too much of a risk, which is precisely why the asshole is doing it. In case we set up something like this. In case there was anyone who was dumb enough to take a shot at him.
Smart. But no one ever said he wasn't intelligent.
Yet, he made a mistake when he chose to come after us because Konstandin is smarter, and now that he knows he has a son, he’s not going to stop until he eliminates any threat.
Including The Dragon.
“Konstandin. My…this is a surprise. I was assured you died at that airport.”
So was I.
Konstandin shrugs as he steps down the final stair onto the warehouse floor. “I did die, but I came back.”
He certainly did.
The Dragon smirks. “But it's too little, too late. Anything you think you may have accomplished here is all for naught. Your friend,” his eyes drift down to where I kneel with Lorenc, “will die. And so will you and your girl.”
Konstandin chuckles.
This is dangerous.
Aleksander shifts again, the weight of holding a sleeping two-year-old starting to bother him.
I know that feeling.
He's going to have to put him down eventually, or he’s going to have to lower his weapon. Either way, Konstandin will take advantage of any opening Aleksander gives us.
The man who holds my heart slowly makes his way across the warehouse floor toward us, gun still trained on Aleksander even though he can't shoot while he's holding Pjeter.
Lorenc coughs and groans.
I press against his wound harder. “Stay with me, Lor. You are not dying on me.”
He shakes his head, and his eyelids flutter open. The eyes I stared into every day for the last two years are laced with pain, regret, and love. “I need you to tell Pjeter something for me.”
“No.” I shake my head as tears fall down my cheeks. “You're going to tell him yourself.”
Lorenc coughs again, this time blood trickling from his lips. “No, I'm not. Please, Rea, I need you to tell him that I was his father in every way that mattered, blood or not, and that I love him more than anything on this planet, and I'm so sorry I had to leave him.”
I choke back a sob.
Konstandin stops next to me, and I glance up at him. “How’s he doing?”
I shake my head. “Not good.”
Konstandin snarls toward Aleksander. “Do you really think I’m going to let you get out of here alive?”
“You can’t touch me.” Aleksander grins. “It would only take a second for me to end Pjeter's life. Your son?” He raises a dark eyebrow at Konstandin.
Konstandin growls low, and Aleksander chuckles, the sound of a man with a sinister plan and no soul.
“But I won't. I have plans for him, especially knowing he's your child. So many plans.”
That motherfucker.
Konstandin closes the distance until only a few feet stand between them. Their raised guns point at each other.
But Aleksander has the upper hand here.
There may be two of us and only one of him, but he has Pjeter and therefore all the cards. Konstandin can't take a shot even that close with the risk that he might shift or Pjeter might move and get in the line of the bullet.
It's a no-win situation.
Konstandin and Aleksander stand with their guns pointed at each other, my son between them, and me desperately trying to keep the life in Lorenc.
Something’s gotta give.
Unless…
I suck in a breath. “Pjeter!”
His name echoes in the space, and Konstandin and Aleksander’s eyes both shift to me.
Konstandin glares. “What are you doing?”
Figure it out.
“Pjeter, wake up!”
I don't want him to see this. I don't want him to bear witness to any of the evil dealings here, but it’s the only thing I can think of that might give us a shot right now.
My tiny man shifts and slowly lifts his head, rubbing and blinking his eyes.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I jerk back, even though I was expecting the shots.
Pjeter cries out, and Konstandin lurches forward to catch him before he falls as Aleksander collapses, his gun clattering near his feet. A red stain blooms on the crisp white shirt covering his chest.
When my heart finally starts beating again, I look at Lorenc. The beautiful eyes that have been so kind and so important to me are staring into nothingness, the stony glaze of death settled over them.
No.
God no.
But there's no time to dwell on his passing.
I curl my fingers around the gun at my back and walk over to where Aleksander lies on the concrete floor.
Konstandin clutches Pjeter to him, keeping his face buried against his shoulder.
Please don’t let him see Lorenc and what’s about to happen…
The Dragon shifts backward, his left hand pressed against his chest. He laughs as he stares up at the barrel of my gun. “What are you going to do with that, Rea? Are you really going to shoot me? You don't have it in you. Either that or your story about Tarek is bullshit. Just an excuse to explain away your throwing yourself at Konstandin. Because if you had the balls to do what you’re threatening right now, you would've killed Tarek and left him long ago.”
He's right. Back then, I didn't have the balls. I didn't have anything. I was alone in the Morina household. Just a young girl in a shitty situation because Father wanted an alliance with the most powerful family he could find.
I had been sheltered from what Father was and from the people he was involved with, but I learned very quickly in Tarek’s hands what man is capable of, especially men like the Morinas and Aleksander Gashi.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry as I stare down at the man who has hunted us since Konstandin killed Saban.
The Dragon.
The man everyone fears.
The man who was a fucking legend is right here right in front of me.
My hand doesn't waver as I step toward him and point the barrel down at his head.
“You might be right, Aleksander. Maybe I didn’t have the balls back then, but I'm a completely different person now. I'm a fighter. I'm a lover. And I'm also a mother. And you threatened my child.”
Aleksander will never stop. They were right. If we let him live, he will just come back for us, again, and again, and again.
Konstandin's wrath cost him years with us. Time he could have spent with me. Time he could have been a father to Pjeter. If he had just left with us, had just walked away and let Tarek bleed to death or, hell, even live to face the consequences of his actions in the courts instead of needing so badly to exact his revenge, things would've been so different.
Wrath cost him his life, and now, he holds a new life in his hands. I can’t take the risk that Aleksander will try to take it again.
Aleksander's wrath brought him here, and even with the gun pointed at his head and bullets in his chest, he's incapable of letting it go. Incapable of giving us life, of letting us live, of forgiving whatever Konstandin did in the name of love.
So, what I've learned over the last two years is that wrath is a deadly sin. It will take your life. It will take your mind. It will take your heart, but sometimes…
The only way to survive wrath is to give into it. Bang.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Yes, Aleksander is really dead.
I know a lot of readers won’t be happy about that because they fell in love with him in After Wrath even though he was the bad guy. And make no mistake, he was a bad guy. Ultimately, The Deadliest Sin Series Wrath trilogy is the love story of Konstandin and Rea/Griffin and Jade. It’s about what the sin of wrath does to people, how it destroys their lives and costs them things that are important to them. If you missed them, check out the quotes before the start of each book. Each of these quotes accurately reflects the role and cost of wrath.
For Konstandin and Rea, Tarek’s wrath after they left led to him taking her back and Konstandin’s wrath over losing her led to him making a horrible decision to stay and finish off Tarek instead of leaving with Lorenc and Rea. Had he not given into that wrath, he wouldn’t have “died” and lost those years with her and the son he didn’t even know he had. It was Aleksander’s wrath over Saban’s death that blinded him from seeing the truth - that Tarek was in the wrong and so was Saban for helping him. Even the love of Brynn a.k.a. Kitty wasn’t enough to soften him or let him see that Rea was an innocent victim in the entire situation. And finally, Rea’s wrath over what Aleksander did and was willing to do to them and their son is what finally ended it. She will pay the price for her wrath, as everyone does in one way or another. For Rea, it will likely be living with the guilt of what she’s done because it’s not in her nature.
My goal with this trilogy was to explore the sin of wrath and what it does/can do to people and how it affects those around them. So, please, don’t hate me if you loved Aleksander. I loved him, too, but it was the only way this trilogy could ever end.
However, this is not the end of The Deadliest Sin Series! Lorenc’s brother Michael betrayed him. Want to know why and what price may be paid for it? Find out in the Envy trilogy, next!
- Gwyn
Envy slays itself by its own arrows.
-Anonymous
THEN (A YEAR AGO)
Becoming Envy
MICHAEL
I end the call before the man on the other end of the line can ask any questions and take a long drag from my cigarette. Nicotine courses through my system, but even it can’t still my shaking hand.
It’s done.
He wouldn’t get the answers he seeks anyway. Not from me. I gave him just enough to get him where he needs to go.
Things have been set in motion. A runaway train now barrels down on those who stand in my way. It’s only a matter of time before the collision will occur, and there won’t be any survivors of the carnage. Except me, watching at a safe distance from the sidelines, waiting in the wings to step up and take what’s mine.
I’ve worked far too long to see this all come to fruition. To finally get what I deserve. It feels like it’s been a lifetime. And it almost has been.
They say envy lives and breathes in your soul. That it eats away at you like a cancer, latching onto your vital organs. A disease you can’t see or feel but one that will destroy you, nonetheless.
I’ve felt envy for longer than I can even remember.
For what everyone else has, for what they have—the Morenas, the Gashis, my own damn brother. But most of all, for what our family lost by trusting the wrong people—the power, the prestige, the wealth, the fear. We had all of it. Then it was taken away.
Well, they’re the ones who trusted the wrong person this time. They trusted me.
Envy got me to where I am today, poised on the precipice of regaining what was so stupidly lost. And I’m not going to let anyone stand in my way now.
Not even my own blood.
NOW
The girl with my cock down her throat tightens the suction around my hard flesh and moans, sending ripples of pleasure straight to my balls. I thread my fingers through her hair and shift my hips up, forcing myself farther down her throat.
My cell phone rings on the desk, and I glance at the screen to see who’s calling.
Fuck.
I can’t ignore this, as much as my cock and I would love to pretend it’s not ringing. If it were anyone else, I might silence it and continue enjoying the moment. But that’s not an option. I grab the phone with my free hand and swipe open the call. “Mr. Rose, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
The blonde pulls off my dick with wide eyes, and I force her back down with a firm hand.
“Did I tell you to fucking stop, bitch?”
Krishti, a man can't even get a good blow job anymore.
“Mr. Syla, it sounds like you’re otherwise occupied. Would another time be better?” Rose's smooth, lightly accented voice grates on my nerves. He’s always so damn smug.
