Sinful (Goddaughter Book 2)

by Raven Crow

  “Wow that is a lot of responsibility. I didn’t know there would be that many things here on the marina. I was kind of picturing a few new docks and bigger bait shack but this… on second thought I don’t know if I can handle that much work on my own Blaine.” Pen gasped before using the king’s first name which caught me off guard.

  Suddenly all of our attention was drawn to the crew as a fight seemed to breakout. Both the king and I headed straight for the pile of men who seemed to be the source of the disorder. After a few minutes of several near blows to the face we managed to pull the two men apart.

  “I am going to kill you Parker!” One man shouted into the other man’s face while the king stood in between them. I held the other man as he tried to get free. “This isn’t over!”

  “Damn right this isn’t over Rick! I’m not afraid of you just try and kill me man!” The man shouted back while I managed to keep a hold of him.

  “I don’t care if you two kill each other but you will do so on your own time, gentlemen. Right now, every one of you is on the clock. I expect each one of you to get back to work right now!” King Moreau II roared in the two men’s faces.

  Quickly the crew disbursed before I let go of the man as he calmly went back to work. I found the king’s ability to command his people quite impressive. They all had seemed to follow him immediately without question which was something that a new king normally wasn’t able to do. If it had been his brother Buster who was in charge this situation might have ended in bloodshed. This new king seemed, level headed, organized, and calculating.

  I looked for Pen spotting her about forty feet away by the top of the boat launch ramp near the parking lot. I started to head up the ramp towards her when I heard yelling coming from behind me. I could see Pen’s face which looked like she was watching a train accident. I turned around expecting to see the two men fighting again. Instead I saw a cloud of debris heading my way. I moved to the side hoping to clear the unidentified wreckage. I felt burning pain on my arms at first before it moved to my torso. I tried to run but my legs were heavy and fixed in place like the earth itself would not let me go. The cloud began to blind me before filling my lungs making breathing impossible. I started choking as my body tingled with a pain unlike anything I’d ever experienced I thought for sure I was dying. I could only hear the sound of my own thoughts nothing else around was clear. My shoulders tighten as I felt my body collapse.

  “Sax…Sax! Someone help him he is stuck underneath there!” Pen yelled out to the surrounding workers.

  I felt my body getting numb and cold while I felt a sharp pain growing in my lower back. My eyes were filled with dust.

  “Everyone moved back from him! I called the ambulance their on the way now.” It sounded like King Moreau’s voice but I could no longer see.

  I tried to speak but no sounds would move out of me. All I could taste was a nasty metal flavor on my tongue.

  “I’m here with you Sax we are getting help for you now.” Pen said into my ear. It seemed as if she was leaning over me but I wasn’t sure.

  Chapter 17

  Gio

  I knew that both of my mothers would be home first thing in the morning so I had made sure to shower and get downstairs to await their arrival. Jo on the other hand had not been able to decide what to wear so she was still upstairs doing whatever.

  I had sat down at the breakfast nook to wait for everyone. The table was set with juice and coffee calling my name. I grabbed a cup of coffee before sipping it. Pierce entered the kitchen approaching me with a plate of food.

  “Good morning sir I trust that you slept well?”

  “Yes—indeed I did sleep very well, thank you.” I thanked him while taking a fork in hand.

  “I received a message earlier from your mothers. They asked me to apologize to you and Josephina for not being here. They are running behind schedule and they won’t make it here in time to have breakfast with you two. They hope to be here for a late lunch though.” Pierce informed me.

  “Oh that’s too bad.” I started to say as Jo entered the kitchen before joining me. “Good morning Jo, Pierce was just telling me that my mothers are running late and won’t be here until this afternoon.” I finished as Pierce placed a plate of food in front of Jo.

  She seemed relieved by my words. “Thank you.” She thanked Pierce with a smile. “Ok I guess we will have to keep ourselves entertained until then.” She took a bite of scrambled eggs.

  “I can show you the gardens and the labyrinth that will take us hours. So eat up you’ll need your strength.” I laughed but I was being serious.

  In the light of the day the last thing I wanted was to get caught touching the king’s goddaughter. If any worker saw us they would be bound to inform the king. Hell, I didn’t even know what my mothers would do if they knew something was going on.

  **

  The gardens seemed more mysterious to me back when I was a kid. I had come to realize after leaving the last set of rose bushes that things didn’t quite feel the same. Jo had been quiet for most of the tour probably because Pierce had surprised us both by being our personal escort equipped with a golf cart. I of course had been stuck in the back of the cart facing backward making the whole event completely awkward.

  “Would you like another iced tea Josephina?” Pierce asked.

  “Oh no thank you I don’t want to need to use the restroom again.” She sighed.

  [“Pierce, come in?” A voice sounded loudly through the CB radio that Pierce had on his side.]

  “Go for Pierce.” Pierce barked into the radio.

  [“Will you please come and help with the morning shift change?” The voice barked back.]

  “Oh no—I forgot I need to go attend to this. I can drive you back right after.” Pierce turned to me to ask.

  “Uh—no we can walk from here the maze entrance is right over there.” I looked back at him.

  “Call me once you are finished and I will come pick you up if you want.” Pierce added.

  “I have my phone on me if I need you I’ll let you know, thank you.” I jumped out of the cart and took Jo’s hand helping her out as well.

  “I’m on my way now.” Pierce said into the radio while driving away.

  “I have been waiting to get inside of there all morning.” Jo expressed before jetting off towards the maze.

  I followed trying to keep up without running but I failed. I needed to get out in front of her or she’d ended up lost in the maze.

  “Slow down, you are going to go the wrong way and end up lost in there Jo.”

  “Well hurry up old man and lead the way.” She joked making me smile.

  As I entered the maze I noticed right away that it was completely different from before. I didn’t recognize the first corridor. The bushes must have towered over twelve feet in the air plus the leaves were thickly woven together making it impossible for me to see anything else but green. Once we rounded the corridor all we could see was green walls surrounding us.

  “Uh—mm let’s go this way.”

  I make my first decision based off my gut. I felt for my phone making sure that I had it. I was immediately put at ease once I felt the bump in my pocket.

  “This is so cool. I have never been inside of a real maze before. It is very exciting. Did you memorize the whole maze Gio?” Jo asked while walking alongside me.

  “Honestly, I did memorize the whole maze but this isn’t the same maze from when I was little. The entire thing has been remodeled. This is new to the both of us.” I admitted.

  “Yes—now we can experience this for the first time together.” She took my hand.

  I looked quickly behind us checking to make sure that we were alone.

  “Yes this will be the first time in this maze for the both of us.” I gently squeezed her hand before I winked at her.

  *

  About forty minutes into the maze I started to feel as though we weren’t making any progress. Jo seemed content with just being alone out
in the somewhat open with me but I was feeling nervous. I was worried that we really weren’t alone at all.

  “How much further do you think the center is from here?” Jo pressed.

  “Honestly…you’d know as well as me.” I laughed.

  This new maze was difficult to navigate. I had never seen the center of this maze. I started to fear that maybe the surprise I had for her wouldn’t actually still be there.

  “How long have your mothers lived here?”

  “Ever since I have known them they have lived here, I never seen them even stay a night in Gardier Manor back in town.”

  “Uh…that is very different. I mean no disrespect but I would be very sad if I wasn’t living with my husband.” She sighed a bit and I looked over at her. “I’m sorry I am not judging or anything.” She wildly shook her head.

  “No disrespect taken…admittedly my family isn’t exactly your average one. I don’t know if my mothers are sad, at least they don’t show it if they are.” I answered with a raised brow.

  A strange flash of light caught my eye causing me to turn towards its way. There seemed to be a shiny object inside one of the maze’s walls.

  “What are you looking at?” Jo looked over at the same wall.

  “I don’t know but it seems like there’s something inside of that bush.” I moved closer to the bush to investigate. I pushed my hands into the bush parting the leaves revealing a hidden video camera. “What the hell is this some sort of security camera?”

  I had a good reason for feeling like we were not alone after all. Both of our eyes grew in size as we put distance between each other immediately.

  “Do you think that they can hear us speaking too?” She scoffed.

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Who knows…I’m not taking any chances though I don’t know whose watching or listening to us.”

  “Should we go back?”

  “Hell no…unless you want to.”

  “No—I want to find the center of this thing. We have come this far why not finish it?”

  “Agreed…let’s finish this maze than.” I set off down the corridor with Jo next to me. We kept our distance from one another intentionally while we edged towards what we hoped was the center of the maze. “It shouldn’t be much further now.”

  I ignored the uneasiness that I felt after seeing the security camera but I still couldn’t help myself from wondering just how many more cameras there were in this maze.

  “Do you think that maybe your mothers installed the cameras because they are afraid to live all the way out here alone? My grandparents are like that, like my grandma hates it when my grandpa is away on business. She will usually call me and talk to me at night for hours when he’s away. It’s a good thing he only travels once a year or she’d probably have me come and stay there with her every time he traveled.”

  “Oh yeah, where do your grandparents live, Jo?”

  “They are on the east coast in Vermont. We haven’t seen them in years.”

  “That’s far from here. That’s cool that you have a good relationship with them though.”

  “What about you, are you close with your grandparents?”

  “I’m adopted. I don’t know much about my grandpa, Juno. When the king adopted me I was four and I have forgotten my time before living with him. That’s why those letters are so important to me.”

  I felt suddenly bothered by her question and I couldn’t figure out why.

  “I’m sorry of course I shouldn’t have any asked such a stupid question, Gio.” Her voice dropped in tone as her eyes lowered.

  “Hey don’t think about it—I’m good. Come on we are lagging. We need to move it before it’s nighttime.” I chuckled before I started to jog slightly while Jo tried to keep up.

  I jogged around two right corners before taking a left which lead us straight for a long time. Again we took another right turn before coming finally to the end.

  “Is this the center of the maze Gio?”

  “Yes—yes I believe that we reached the center finally.” I answered her.

  All I wanted to do was grab her up and kiss her after reaching the end of our journey but there was no way I was doing that with the cameras on us.

  “Hey is that one of those glass-bottle-trees like the one back in town?” She walked towards the large tree in the middle of patch of short grass.

  “Yes. But that one is real—which means the wishes that are made here always comes true.” I approached the basket of glasses by the tree’s trunk. “Go ahead grab a bottle Jo to make a wish.”

  “Ok…I will,” she grabbed up a light purple-colored bottle with a huge smile on her face. “This is the perfect bottle.” She held the bottle while closing her eyes briefly. “Ok…I have made my wish.” She announced while opening her eyes.

  “Ok good…now tie the bottle up there.”

  She quickly tied the string of the bottle to one of the branches on the tree.

  I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket so I pulled it out to see who was calling. It was Sax’s calling so I answered.

  “Hello bro, what’s up?”

  [“Gio this is Pen. There has been an accident. Sax is—hurt! We are on the way to the hospital right now.” Pen yelled in my ear.]

  “What—are you serious Pen? What happened?” I shouted back while my heart started to race. “Pen…what happened?”

  My entire whole mind narrowed in onto her voice.

  [“He got hit in the head down by the marina. Gio he’s not waking up! I’m scared! I need to call his parents but I don’t know their numbers.”]

  “Don’t you worry about that I will call them. I’m on my way back right now with Jo.” I looked over at Jo.

  “What is happening? Is someone hurt?” Jo asked while I nodded at her making her eyes spread wide.

  “And Pen…stay with him, make sure those doctors help him don’t let them treat him like shit because he’s a gypsy.”

  [“Yes—yes of course I will do everything I can, please hurry.” She cried before disconnecting.]

  “Something has happened to Sax we need to go now.” I barked while she nodded. “I knew that I shouldn’t have left town. I just felt it in my gut.”

  “This is not your fault Gio.”

  *

  We had been on the road for less than twenty minutes I couldn’t focus on anything other then rage for whoever had hurt my friend.

  “Gio…Gio hello are you in there?” Jo’s voice pulled me out of my head.

  “Huh—what sorry I was thinking did you say something?”

  “I thought as much I was asking if you wanted me to read those letters to you while you drive maybe the distraction will help you calm down?”

  “Sure but all of the letters are in French.”

  “I know I downloaded an app to my phone that will translate them really fast.”

  “Whatever. Sure go ahead.” I pointed my thumb to the backseat. “Their back there on the seat.”

  She reached back into the backseat to retrieve the letters.

  “Got them…ok I will start with the oldest one that is not opened.” She opened the envelope.

  “Dear Giovanni,

  Today was the last day of the harvest. It was the worst turnover that I have had since I started farming. I don’t understand how the seeds were brown and corroded some of them even smelled rotten. I will need to come up with another system next harvest or we will not make a profit. I am sorry for sounding like I am complaining. I am a blessed man to have such a wonderful grandson.”

  “Aww…he sounds so sweet Gio. He loves you so much I can tell.” She commented before reading again.

  Unfortunately I had no idea what he was talking about when it came to farming. I felt a little shameful for not understanding his life which was once my life.

  “The flowers have filled the valley again. Your mother would have been out there roaming the hills busy picking as many of those flowers that she could carry. She would spend hours out t
here to the point that I’d wonder if she would end up sleeping outside on a bed of flowers instead of inside.”

  “Hmm…the rest of this letter is smudged. Sorry I can’t read it.”

  “That’s ok just read the next one.”

  “Already ahead of you,”

  “Dear Giovanni,

  I am sorry that I have not been writing you as much as I wanted to but I am alone here and there is lots of work for me. Honestly, I am not much for words my grandson. Your birthday was last week you are now seven years old. I had hoped to receive a letter from the king on your behalf by now. I don’t know why I have not heard anything from America. I hope that you are alright?

  I love you,

  Your Pop”

  “I wish I could remember my seventh birthday but I can’t recall it at all.” I turned the car off the canyon road heading back towards town. “Thank you Jo for reading these letters to me and you are right it has distracted me enough to calm me down.

  “Of course it is my pleasure to read these to you. Your grandfather seems like an amazing man.” She opened another letter. “Hey this one is really long.”

  “Dear Giovanni,

  I attended the town meeting last night. You are old enough to hear the things I’m about to tell you. I have decided to sell the farm. I will not be able to travel to America as I had hoped. I will have to move to a bigger city to seek work. After I have earned enough I will make arrangements to travel to you there in America.

  On a grave note Giovanni; there have been ten more reported unexplained deaths in town. Many townsfolk are starting to grow concerned that they too will fall ill. My health has been fine. I will take my chances in another city just to be safe.

  I will contact you once I am settled.

  I love you,

  You Pop”

  “That is strange. What year is on that letter?” I bounced a puzzled look off my face.

  “The date on the postmark is November, 10 2009.”

  I remembered that I was in middle school at that time. I was thickly entrenched in snobs with riches while my grandfather was struggling to make ends meet? Why? What was my father the king doing at that time that he couldn’t have helped him or any of those ill people