Authors Note: Thank you to everyone left comments or sent me feedback about the resumption of the story. I appreciate it all greatly. I am incredibly grateful to my new proof reader blunajana who offered to help me and has done an amazing job. I hope you enjoy this chapter. ~ellie
*****
Charles and Josh had taken Nik home to the farm the following day. By the evening, she had become ill and it was obvious she was suffering from substance withdrawal. It had taken a further two days for her to recover enough to understand the seriousness of her situation. Her excuses initially sounded reasonable but as evidence of her misdeeds and extravagant lifestyle were uncovered by family investigations in the city; her parents no longer listened to her accusations of how she had been mistreated by her brothers, particularly Josh.
Drugs, violence and standover tactics reminiscent of all that they stood against throughout history had pushed Joseph to threaten to disown her and call the authorities. At the urgings of his wife, he had relented and arranged a place for her in a secure rehabilitation center. It would be some time before she would be welcome back into the family and he was clear about that fact as she prepared to leave the farm.
"Please Mama, don't let them do this to me, I love you so much, I'm a good girl you know I am. I just need another chance to live my life the way you wanted," she pleaded seeing her mother's tears. "I could stay here on the farm where you could look after me properly, don't let him send away like this."
"Joseph, are you sure this is necessary?" Antonia asked softly.
"She is fooling you again," he replied not having taken his eyes from his daughter who had grinned slyly as Antonia turned to her husband. "She takes all and gives nothing back not even contrition." He looked at Nik sadly, "You have shamed your family and taken no responsibility for your actions." Joseph said. "Your brother has accepted the responsibility for his actions and you would let him take responsibility for yours as well."
"I've done nothing wrong, Papa!" Nik yelled in frustration.
"That is why you must go," he said softly reaching out to touch his daughter's cheek in a rare show of affection. "You don't understand how very wrong you have been." He kissed her forehead and nodded at the men standing on either side of her. "Be well, Veronica," he whispered and watched as she was manhandled onto the light plane screaming obscenities at everyone around her. Then he took his wife's arm and led her inside their home.
"Poor Joshua, he had no idea," Antonia sobbed. "How long will he punish himself?" she wondered out loud.
Josh had been beside himself as each new revelation about Nik's life came out in the days following their arrival at the farm. He had stayed through all of it despite his father understanding that his role in Nik's demise was not intentional. Joseph had called her a master manipulator and accepted some of the blame for her current situation, as all his sons did now. It was different for Josh, though, being her twin and having what he thought was a close bond with her.
He had watched her leave from the windows at the front of the house. He couldn't bear to look her in the eyes as she was taken away. His concern now what that she would one day be allowed to return. His mind wandered back over all of the revelations that had come out since their arrival here.
The slave girl who served as Nik's housekeeper had been found beaten and miserable in a tiny room within her apartment. Grateful for her rescue she had told all of Nik's secrets and had been brought to the farm to heal and confront her Mistress. She told of lavish weekly parties that degenerated into drug and alcohol fuelled orgies. She spoke of her obsession with Josh and her rage over his new girlfriend. Mostly she recounted the incidents of Nik's violent temper when something didn't occur exactly as she had planned it. The girl had been in fear of her life in recent weeks as Nik's violent outbursts had become more frequent.
Until faced with the battered girl, Nik had maintained that she had never hurt anyone and all she had done was offer Peri and her mother some friendly advice because she didn't want to see Josh hurt. When faced with the girl and her story she had pronounced her a liar. The girl was clearly jealous of her and just trying to cause trouble within the family.
After finding the girl, Romeo and Jules had begun a deeper investigation and the evidence of her psychopathic nature mounted up. The tantrums they had experienced were nothing compared to how she reacted when people not in the family crossed her. The money she had taken from Josh was just a mere drop in the bucket compared to the debts she had amassed and it would seem that she was heavily involved in the designer drug scene, not only as a client but as a distributor too.
Nik had hidden that side of her life well, though, and with each shocking revelation, the brothers knew they should have paid closer attention to her and done something sooner. If not for her reaction to Josh's relationship with Peri they would probably all be none the wiser and Nik would have eventually died of an overdose or worse yet killed someone. As it was, they weren't certain she hadn't.
*****
Josh had been gone for almost a week, and Peri sighed and looked at her phone. They spoke to each other several times a day, and she knew he would welcome her call anytime, but at this moment she was tentative. He had told her of Nik's fate, that she would leave the farm this morning and not be there for the holidays. Her heart broke for him hearing the guilt and sadness in his voice.
She looked down at the two books sitting on her desk. Newly printed with real leather covers decorated with gold embossed titles. She smiled and ran a finger over the bigger volume of the two books she had done so far. They weren't a hundred percent complete by any means, but she was happy with what she had accomplished. She desperately wanted to call Josh but just couldn't bring herself to disturb him today until he had called her. In his absence, she decided to show Dante and Emilio. They had looked after her as if she was one of their priceless treasures in Josh's absence and she had come to think of them as her brothers as well.
Taking her phone with her just in case Josh called, she gathered the books and went to the large office the brothers shared. She tapped lightly on the door. .
"You don't have to knock, Peri, we have told you that often enough," Emilio smiled and welcomed her in.
"What have you brought us to look at this time? Another dusty old tome for our collection?" Dante chuckled knowing it was the history she had been working on but enjoying her blush when he teased her.
"Something like that," Peri giggled in return. "I need an honest opinion. I have had these made into what I hope the finished books will look like, but as much as I ran a sketchy idea past Josh for the graphics he wasn't here for the final okay, and I am a bit nervous about showing him when we see each other again."
"Well hand it over then," Dante held out his hand.
"This is the main one showing the family line back as far as I have been able to go for now," she placed the book in Dante's hands holding the second volume to her chest as they looked it over.
"This is brilliant," Emilio enthused. "Each table, who sat on it, and where it was located. The only thing I can think to add is a little bit of history of the individual people and what happened to them, as well as anything noteworthy they did aside of being our ancestors."
"I thought of that too and rather than bogging down the lineage side of things with a lot of extra text I thought maybe I could create one of these for each table," she presented the second book which detailed the original table. Taking the table from the lineage volume and creating a story of each member and his or her family. Taking the advice of Bianca and Carmen and cutting out all the cousins had made the whole process more streamlined. The man who sat at the head of the original table of Donati was an amazing man in his own right and Peri had loved researching his life and that of his children.
"So in this volume, you have just got the two diagrams of all of the twelve, the original and the current listed by the heads of the tables only," He flicked back to the front pages of the book. "Then the rest is just our table line through history to present day."
"You did all this in just a little over a month?" Dante sat back and looked at her seriously.
