Sloth: The Deadliest Sin Series, #13

By Gwyn McNamee

I've been hiding for decades.

Watching and waiting.

Calling the shots while maintaining the ruse.

Only I haven't been cowering in the shadows…

I've been in plain sight.

Veiled by the church and faith.

This collar gives me the perfect cover.

No one has ever suspected the truth.

Of who and what I really am.

But it's time to step from behind the cloth and into the light.

Because Chicago is ripe for the taking.

The families are warring.

And now, I have an ally who will ensure my enemies will blow away in the wind this city is famous for with one little breath.

 

***Sloth is the thirteenth book in The Deadliest Sin Series about organized crime in Chicago. This series is best read in order, as the stories are chronological and each sin builds on the events of the previous one.***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gwyn McNamee
• Release date: Oct 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201733933

Gwyn McNamee

Gwyn McNamee is an attorney, writer, wife, and mother (to one human baby and two fur babies). Originally from the Midwest, Gwyn relocated to her husband’s home town of Las Vegas in 2015 and is enjoying her respite from the cold and snow. Gwyn has been writing down her crazy stories and ideas for years and finally decided to share them with the world. She loves to write stories with a bit of suspense and action mingled with romance and heat. When she isn’t either writing or voraciously devouring any books she can get her hands on, Gwyn is busy adding to her tattoo collection, golfing, and stirring up trouble with her perfect mix of sweetness and sarcasm (usually while wearing heels). Gwyn is the author of The Hawke Family series, The Slip Series, The Deadliest Sin Series, The Inland Seas Series, The Supernatural Love Stories in the Absurd (written as her alter-ego, DP Payne), and several stand-alone novels.

Book preview

Sloth

SLOTH

THE DEADLIEST SIN SERIES - BOOK 13

GWYN MCNAMEE

SLOTH

© 2021 Gwyn McNamee

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All rights reserved. Except as permitted by U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the author.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, or organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

About the Author

OTHER WORKS BY GWYN MCNAMEE

To everyone who has ever felt the pull of sloth and apathy.

Sloth, not ill-will, makes me unjust.

-Mason Cooley

1

FATHER FELIPE

T rue evil exists when ‘good’ people fail to act.

I let my words hang in the air of the nave, settling heavily on the rapt parishioners, including Rowan, where she sits in her usual spot in the front pew, attention focused fully on me, her hands clasped on her lap.

My cock hardens, watching her twist them delicately there, sometimes tugging at the fabric of the pale-blue dress she’s wearing, imagining what it would feel like to have those small, delicate, soft hands on me, expertly stroking me until she climbs on top, straddles my hips, and sinks down. Or perhaps wraps one around the base of my cock and greedily sucks my length down her hot, wet throat.

All focus remains on me, waiting with bated breath for me to continue my sermon while I fantasize about Rowan and surreptitiously reach down to adjust my hard cock underneath my vestments—protected from view by the pulpit.

But I wait.

Not because I expect anyone to act or the words I just spoke to have any sort of real effect on the members of my congregation, but because I can.

Because seeing them uncomfortable, shifting on the hard, unforgiving wooden pews that their asses have sat on for an hour now while they bask in the guilt being here usually brings gives my cold, black heart a little twinge of joy that I rarely experience anymore.

While I prefer to spend as little time as possible in this place, dragging out Sunday Mass as long as possible serves two purposes. It allows me to torture the people inside St. Mary of the Angels on the holiest day of the week, and it also gives me the opportunity to have Rowan see me as the kind, gentle, devout man she believes me to be.

Her faith in that hasn’t wavered in the time she’s been here with me since I pulled her from Kat’s pussy trap with promises of redemption for her soul and safety—both from that which she was running and the unknown danger I warned her was to come. But the need to reinforce that belief in the stunning redheaded hooker is even stronger now that she’s made the connection between my dear brother and me and Kat knows where she is.

It’s a dangerous situation. One I hadn’t anticipated until I was forced to bring Andres and Genti here to be patched up after their run-in with Valerian.

The reality of her having that knowledge will force my hand and move my timeline up, but it’s unavoidable at this point. Just as God will ultimately destroy mankind in a conflagration of flames for their sin, so shall I destroy those who stand in the way of my plans for Chicago.

And it all starts with the beautiful redhead staring up at me from the front row with wide, green eyes so intent on listening to every word that falls from my lips. It’s almost as if coming here flipped something inside the woman who used to sell her body. She’s seeking something she seems to have found in this church, with me as her spiritual leader.

When she learns the truth, her new faith will come crumbling down around her, but I’ll be there to pick up the pieces and use them to rebuild her into who she was always destined to be.

Mi palomita…

I spread out my hands and scan the crowd gathered for Mass—a sea of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Hundreds of people searching for God in these four walls and through my words.

Though they know not what they do.

Like Rowan, they seek connection to something larger than themselves in this place, from a human man who supposedly has a direct conduit to Him. A man who is pious. A man who blesses them with the body and blood of their savior, Jesus Christ, and who listens to them confess their sins and absolves them of all the stains on their souls.

Little do they know…I’m the greatest sinner of them all.

"Many do not connect this notion of inaction with the cardinal sin of sloth, but at its very core, that is what the term means. Sloth isn’t about being ‘lazy’ per se. In fact, the original monk who outlined the eight deadly sins—and yes—I hold up my hands with eight fingers raised—there were originally eight—referred to this idea as acedia. And it was not about a physical ailment, but rather, a spiritual one."

Giving a sermon on the dangers of sloth to the soul always brings with it a sense of accomplishment and pride. Another deadly sin—the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, thought to be the source of all the others—washing over me because I’ve managed to pull off the great charade for the last two decades, convincing these people I’m exactly what they see instead of the monster lurking beneath these robes and white collar.

It makes my hard cock twitch again beneath the layers of heavy, adorned fabric I hide under. It’s the kind of power that can’t be bought. The kind of faith that must be earned.

And I’ve more than paid my dues. Lived as Father Felipe for more than half my life. Hidden behind Andres and the Rose name while he enjoys getting his hands dirty and reaps the benefits, living life with all the power and anything else he could ever want in the world.

It would be a lie to say I don’t feel envy for what he can do. But it’s the least of my sins.

"Acedia, and its successor sloth, in fact, are addressing spiritual