Page 44 of Redemption
He hesitated to continue, but under the pressure of my gaze, relented.
“I have to ask. Did you hit your head recently? Or take a strange combination of drugs or something?”
“What?” I asked incredulously. “No.”
“It’s just that I can’t figure out why you would do something so fucking stupid.”
“Explain yourself. Enough games.” I said.
He leaned in close, dropping his playful act. "Do you know who owns those fuckin oil rigs? Did you even try to find out before extorting them?”
“Of course I did. Rosso Drilling. I had Nikolai look into it. Just some corporate assholes. How did you find out about that?”
He let the question hang heavy in the air between us, and a sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
"Everyone knows about it, Gabriel. Those assholes, as you so wisely put it, are connected to the Sinclairs." I sank back into my chair as his words hit me.
“Yeah,” Damien said, “as if it weren’t bad enough you ruined our shot at peace with them before you left, now you hit them in the most cowardly way possible. Extortion? Really, Gabriel? That’s so far beneath you.”
“Marrying a Sinclair is not the way to create peace, Damien. Our father is a relic, and so is the Sinclair Don. The old ways are dead; those two are the only ones who can’t see that.”
He leaned in close and pressed his finger into my chest, snarling his teeth. “It could have worked, You fucked us.”
I swatted his hand away. “If I married that Sinclair bitch, we would all have a knife in our backs within a year, and you fucking know it.”
Silence hung between us again for what felt like minutes as we drank. Then it dawned on me, all the pieces fit together.
“They let me extort them, to make the other families think we made the first move against them.”
Damien nodded, his lips pressed together in a fine line.
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “Look, I didn’t know they had a hand in Rosso Drilling. Nikolai, that damn Russian, didn’t mention their involvement.”
Damien leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed. “Nikolai isn’t some all-knowing being; he makes mistakes sometimes. This is your fucking fault, no one else’s. He’s been loyal to us for decades. You should actually be grateful for him.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And why is that?”
“He’s got an inside man with the Sinclairs. He told us what they’re planning. The Sinclairs are going to pay you a long, unpleasant visit at your house tonight. They don’t know about your little girlfriend, as far as I know, but thanks to me cleaning up your paper trail, when they don't find you at home and visityour office and see it was already flipped, they’ll think someone else got to you first. So, now you owe me one, and I expect a thank you.”
At the mention of Sophia, I leaned forward. "She has nothing to do with this," I said through clenched teeth.
He tossed his drink back as though it were water. "Even if that were true, she’s a cute little target. They'd fuck her just because you care about her."
I ran my fingers through my hair, thoughts racing. Sophia didn't know anything about the Sinclairs; she barely knew anything about me, and I had to keep it that way.
"I need to go,” I said.
“Relax. Im not the only one in town. I’ve got Nikolai and Tony following her. She’s fine. Sit. Drink.”
I studied him for a moment and slid back into my seat, unable to shake the sense of growing unease threatening to consume me. I couldn’t let Sophia get caught up in this. I’d go back home and never speak to her again if that’s what it took, but it was too late for that now. Damien scrutinized me from across the table, his face unreadable.
“I doubt you are, but I have to ask, are you on good terms with her? Is she happily expecting you to show up at her new little apartment anytime soon?”
“No. She’s pissed at me, thanks to you.”
"You haven’t changed a bit, Gabriel," he grinned, his earlier seriousness giving way to amusement. “I knew saying your name at the camera was a long shot, but I had a feeling she would be in your lap when you watched the footage back. She was, wasn’t she?”
I wanted nothing more than to punch that smug grin off his face. But I forced myself to keep calm, my knuckles whitening as I clenched my fists.
