By Fate I Conquer (Sins of the Fathers, #4)

by Cora Reilly

For a moment his dark eyes—the same dark brown as mine—held a gleam I couldn’t read before they became tender.

“Do that.” He kissed the top of my head before I pulled away and gave Nino and Fabiano a smile that felt a little tight from overuse today, then I headed into my family’s wing and into my room.

Until a couple of years ago, Nevio and I had shared a room but when I got overwhelmed by events, I often sought absolute quiet and Nevio wasn’t the quiet type.

His room was a zone of war while mine was organized and spotlessly clean. Yet, our rooms were joined by a door so...

Mom, Nino’s wife Kiara, Savio’s wife Gemma and Fabiano’s wife Leona were still talking and drinking wine.

My uncle Adamo and his family lived there whenever they visited Las Vegas.

Dad and Nevio were inside but they didn’t seem to see me.

This was like a one-way window. I moved closer, wondering what was happening. Nevio’s hair was still wet and he was barefoot.

The door to the cell opened, and Nino and Fabiano entered, dragging along a v...

“He’s yours to deal with,” Dad said, motioning at the man who looked terrified as his wide eyes darted between my brother and father.

A scream rang out and I whirled around, my heart pounding, my vision becoming blurry.

I didn’t stop running until I reached a dark corridor. My breathing was labored. I tried to process what I’d seen, to understand the meaning of it all. Dad had gifted Nevio a man to deal with…

“If you always give up control like that when you torture, then you won’t get any useful information out of them,”

“And an onslaught of immense pain like this in such a short period of time isn’t as torturous as dosed amounts of agony over a longer period,” Nino drawled.

“What is going on here?” Mom’s shrill voice pierced my ear.

“Oh fuck,” Dad muttered.

She stared at Nevio with horror-widened, blue eyes. Last time I’d seen her, she’d been happy and tipsy, nothing of that remained.

Mom ripped away from Dad’s hold. “How could you do this?” she screamed, her skin red, and tears streaming down her face.

“What is wrong with you?”

“What. Is. Wrong. With. You? How could you give a twelve-year-old boy a present like that?”

Dad grabbed Mom’s wrists, his expression scary.

I didn’t understand what was going on. I’d never seen my parents fighting. I’d never seen Mom freak out like this either. She w...

“Do you really want Nevio to become as mes...

Dad jerked Mom against his chest, smiling in a way that made my heart beat very fast.

“Maybe you are blind to the truth, Angel. But I am not. Maybe you cannot see or won’t see that our son is a monster. I don’t have to turn him into one. He’s messed up and I’m trying to channel his monster before it goes rampant in a way none of us want. For fuck’s sake, look at him.”

“Go upstairs. I’ll stop it. For today. You can’t stop who Nevio is becoming, who he has been all his life. It’s in his genes.”

“Maybe we can get help.”

“We are his help. He doesn’t need anything else. Now go...

“I said it’s over. And you better remember who makes the laws in this house and in the West.”

My brother had done this. Dad and Nino had shown him how to do it.

I couldn’t understand how the people who protected and loved me were capable of this.

“Help me,” he croaked.

“Help me please.” He sucked in a rattling breath.

“Kill me.”

“Stab me,” he pleaded.

looked up at his begging face, or what was left of it.

“Show mercy, girl, and kill me.”

How could killing someone be mercy? I’d sworn to never hurt a living creature, didn’t eat meat, dairy or eggs, and here this man was asking me to end his life.

I never touched people I didn’t know. But this man needed comfort and so I had to get over my anxiety. “I can’t.”

The man’s eye widened because of something at my back, and he began to shake, then cry.

“Greta,” Nino said in a careful voice.

“Give me the knife, Greta.”

Nino reached for my hand with the knife but I shoved away from him, whirled around and backed up against the wall. I breathed harshly.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You know that. Give me the knife and come upstairs.”

and I brought the blade up so it pressed against the spot beneath my ribs.

Nino regarded the knife then nodded slowly. “All right.”

“What the fuck is it now?” Dad muttered, stepping in and freezing when he spotted me. The harshness slipped off his face,

his expression became one I couldn’t understand. Too many emotions flashe...

Dad glanced at Nino, then at the knife in my fists, aiming at the soft spot beneath my ribs.

Nino, who shifted his weight. Maybe they thought I didn’t notice, but I did. I noticed everything, every little detail no matter how inconsequential.