Page 66 of Broken Princess

Slowly opening the door, I smile at the pile of limbs that entangle Benny. He’s awake and brings his finger to his lips to get me to keep it down and mouths, “Ten minutes,” to which I nod, closing the door as quietly as possible.

I can’t help but laugh as I head to the basement to make us all some coffee. I would never have pegged Nico as a cuddler. Benny had looked more than content to be trapped under his weight.

I finish making our drinks and head back up to the living room just as Nico, Aurora, and Benny come down the stairs. They each grab a mug and I watch as they try to figure out who’s sitting where. I chuckle as Aurora looks around awkwardly, obviously not sure where she should sit. Grabbing her wrist, I pull her down on the sofa next to me, nestling her under my arm. I feel better having her close and she settles into me, tucking her legs to one side and burrowing under my arm.

“Where’s Zo?” Nico asks.

“Asleep. I assume he was up half the night as usual and had a meeting with Manny at stupid o’clock this morning, so I’m going to try to let him sleep as long as possible. I’m amazed he actually went to bed when he got in, if I’m honest, so don’t fucking disturb him,” I say.

“‘Kay,” is the only response I get. Nico’s a monosyllabic prick before he’s had caffeine.

“Zo sent through instructions. Benny, I need to know if you can handle what we’ve got planned for your dad?”

“Depends on what we’ve got planned, doesn’t it?” He keeps his voice even as he sips his drink while Nico strokes his shoulder absentmindedly.

“He has an appointment at his favourite club tonight?—”

“By club, I assume you mean whorehouse?” Benny snarks out and I catch Nico squeezing his shoulder, giving him a signal to check his temper. I hear Aurora dry heave beside me and arch a brow at her quizzically.

“What? It’s bad enough most of the capos can’t keep their dicks in their wives, and nearly every one of them has a girlfriend on the side, but some can’t even be faithful to their mistresses. They make me sick—bunch of disloyal cunts, the lot of them.”

Nico laughs and Benny looks like he’s got a sour taste in his mouth.

“Sorry, Benny,” she says. “You probably don’t want to think about who your dad’s fucking, but the old boys are fucking gross, and your father is one of them.”

“It’s not that. It’s more thinking that my mum has been married to him for twenty-five years. I don’t know how she stomachs it.”

Aurora’s bravado fades fast as she mumbles, “She may not have had much of a choice, Benny.” His gaze snaps to hers and he nods in understanding.

“So, what’s the plan?” he tosses my way.

“We’re planting a girl for him. His regular girl is calling in sick tonight.”

“Shit, Sinclair. How much information do you have on the capos?” Aurora asks, expression confused.

“Enough, nowhere near everything. Stefano and Manny helped me fill in some blanks. I’m limited only by my time and resources. But what we do find out, Enzo is exceptionally skilled at exploiting when we need to.”

“Good to know.”

“Anyway, someone else will be waiting for him in his usual room and we should have about an hour before anyone becomes suspicious.”

“Who’s going in?” Nico probes.

This is the bit I wasn’t looking forward to. Zo is entirely right. This is the best way to handle this and keep as low a profile as possible, but they’re not going to like it.

“Aurora will be the plant and Ni?—”

Before I can finish my sentence, I’m met with the angry cries of, “Like fuck she will,” and, “Over my cold dead body,” from the other sofa. I go to respond, but before I can get a word in, Aurora is already putting them in their place.

“One night between my legs and you think you have any fucking say over what I will and will not be doing? You can both fuck right off, you misogynistic twats.”

They look sheepish as fuck as they realise their mistake. Aurora has had someone deciding for her for far too long, and now that she’s free from her husband’s clutches, she’s unlikely to let a man decide anything for her again. Rookie fucking error boys. I can’t help but smile at their mistake, bless them. The ignorance of youth.

Because we’ve all worked together for such a long time, I forget how inexperienced you are at their age. At twenty-three and twenty-four, they’re a decade younger than me. Babies in the organisation, really. The next-gen. Although thinking about it, it could also be because they’ve never been with a woman before…

Idiots.

“As I was saying,” I glare at them, hoping they take the hint and shut the fuck up, “Aurora will wait in the room, but she won’t be alone. Nico will be in there, too. Since you worked so well together with Carlo, Zo wants you both on this. But this time, you guys have to keep it clean. No torture on site.” I nudge Aurora and she gives me a sheepish smile.

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