Ria
She looked at her father who gave her a silent, warning look.
‘Not now, “his cold eyes warned, ‘not in front of everyone.’
Mumma was on her feet again, asking Philippe to join them for lunch. But to Ria’s relief, he gently refused. She bowed her head and went on eating, dimly aware of the conversation around her. She avoided looking at him but her heightened senses knew when he turned and left the room. Ria met her twin’s eyes and noted the amusement. She glared at him and said, in a chilly voice,
“Piers, could you pass me the lime pie?’ He nodded sagely but his eyes were still dancing with merriment. He was probably the only one who knew about this crazed infatuation she had for the Capo of her father’s mob. But she suspected that her mother knew it too. Her eyes met Proserpina Delano’s and all at once, she knew her mother had figured it out, a long while ago. She smiled weakly at her mother and went on eating.
Mumma was privy to a whole lot of things; she could be s intuitive, thought Ria as she looked again at her lovely mother.
*
Later, Piers and Ria were at their father’s study, sitting in the large chairs facing his desk. Lucien Delano looked seriously at them as Philippe entered. James Schwartz was already in the room.
‘I guessed long back that Cole’s appearance was no mistake. And Paval,’ here his expression turned cold, murderous as he spoke,’ That fake monk, Brother Paval or Father as he calls himself, was behind their sudden appearance.”
Ria started. She had had no idea that the plot stretched back so far; or that her Pappa had known about it all along. piers had also gone still , very still, when their Pappa saId the words in a growl.
Lucien Delano, the Mafia Don met the startled eyes of his children and gave a thin smile.
‘DNA can be manipulated.’ he said gently. ‘And when I was informed that Claude’s towels and objects he was using at the Academy where he goes for practice, had gone missing, I knew it was no error on my boy’s part.’
The twins noted his use of the term to talk of Claude and they silently exchanged a quick look. A happy look.
It seemed as though Pappa had finally buried the bone of contention between their younger sibling and himself; it was also the first time that he had not squarely blamed Claude.
Ria sat forward as what her father had said, began to sink in.
“Pappa…I do not understand…so are you saying…?’
Lucien looked at her and said in a cold voice.
“I am saying that Cole is not my son.’
*
Lucien
He had known, almost from the beginning, that there was something wrong. He was clever enough to never impregnate a wh*re; it had never happened before. Besides, Britney and her sister had been Shark’s favourite wh*res and they were always all over him.
His former friend, who had turned out to be a traitor, had been the one to keep bringing wh*res for him to use, a steady supply of them in those days, when the Mafia Don had been a cynical, jaded beast in his lust.
Yes, they regularly serviced Lucien Delano in those days but that was all. They knew that they had to be clean before coming to him. He used their bodies, but that was it.
He remembered Shark urging him to slake his lust on them, in those days after Proserpina had run away from him and he was like a raging beast.
Britney had become too close to Shark towards the end and then, all of a sudden, she had disappeared. And Shark had been livid, swearing to kill her when he found her.
Only, Lucien had killed Shark before that.
*
And the boy had looked anything but like his children, all of who had the same grey-blue eyes, startling bright and clear. The blonde hair was like his. None of them, all six of them, had taken after his wife, with her brown eyes, molten and soft, her dark hair.
No, they were all look-alikes of himself, thought the Don drily. A smile tugged at his hard mouth as he thought of how Proserpina had once complained bitterly when he was riding her hard; even your genes dominate mine. and
And he had laughed and sucked her neck before sinking his teeth into her soft flesh. “I will always dominate you, woman,’ he had growled before sinking his shaft into her wet, warm sex, “I am your Master.’ And she had sobbed in desire as she echoed his words.
This youth with his thin hair, blonde was like Shark and had not remotely resembled the children the Don had sired. Lucien had known that something was afoot. He had only confided in Schwartz. He knew very well that the man was trustworthy and although his best friend had been miserable knowing the sorrow the situation was causing his wife, he knew that in the interests of his family, he had to go along with the pretence.
And for this reason, he had pretended to give in to the young man’s demands for a new car and other expensive gadgets.
He would have continued to lead Cole, to wait for him to make a mistake but then, the inevitable had happened.
The sight of Cole familiarly molesting Proserpina had upped the game for the Mafia Don. There were some things which were sacred; his wife being the top most of them all. he knew men lusted after her but not one of them had the right to touch her. She belonged to Him.
When he had the youth transferred to the Club, he had told Danielle about the real plans he had for Cole; the woman who was loyal to a fault, had agreed to his requests, The and Cole had been under surveillance. They knew that Paval had been behind this dastardly plan.
*
His children his twins who looked so alike stared at him in astonishment.