Page 57 of Dirty Heirs

My eyes snapped open to an annoying, repetitive sound that would not disappear. It was still dark inside my bedroom. Ella curled up on my chest, snoring softly, with Aiden snuggled up to her back. His face burrowed into the crook of her neck, his hand cupping her bare breast.

Thump, thump, thump.

This time, the sound was accompanied by Marcello’s deep voice. “Sonny, the cops are here. Wake up.”

Fuck.

“What time is it?”

“Five o’clock,” Marcello said in a hushed tone.

I only had one hour of sleep after an all-night fuckfest.

Fucking awesome.

The police knew better than to annoy me with some mundane disturbance like a noise complaint. My family paid the Devil’s Creek and Beacon Bay police departments to look the other way. As per the deal Arlo Salvatore made on our behalf, all Founders kicked in their share.

The cops looked the other way, and we ensured their kids attended private school. The chief of police lived in a fucking mansion, for crying out loud. So why were they bothering me with this shit?

I untangled myself from Ella, and she stirred at the sudden movement. She rolled back onto the pillow and looked up at me. Ella blinked twice. Then her eyes flicked toward the entrance, where Marcello waited impatiently, gripping the door jam. I could barely see the outline of his sexy body. So, we must have looked like shapes moving in the dark to him.

“Oh God,” Ella whispered and yanked the sheet over her naked body. “Is that…”

“Marcello,” I told her. “Yeah. Nothing he hasn’t seen before, El.” Laughing, I bent down and kissed her forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

Aiden groaned and curled his arm tighter around her. “Close your eyes, Cinders.” He rubbed his lips on her cheek. “Sonny will get rid of them.”

“But won’t they come up here?”

“Fuck no,” I said. “We have an agreement with the police. Trust me, babe, this is nothing. Probably a rookie cop who doesn’t know about the deal with our families.”

“It’s not,” Marcello interjected. “Detectives Swanson and Richardson are here.”

“Why?” I rose from the bed, scrubbing a hand at my tired eyes. “Did our parents forget to pay them this month?”

He shook his head. “Your dad sent them here to break up the party.”

“Oh, fuck him.” I searched for my boxer briefs in the dark and stumbled into the dresser. A roaring pain shot up my right arm. “Fucking shit.”

Instead of looking for the lost pair on the floor, I grabbed clean ones from the top drawer and slipped into them. The floor was littered with clothing. I couldn’t see what belonged to whom, so I picked up the first pair of pants I found.

“I’m wearing your jeans, Sunshine.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Aiden waved his hand, clearly not a morning person. “Fuck off. I’m sleeping.”

After dressing in Aiden’s ripped jeans and sneakers, I left the suite with Marcello. I could see the tension dripping off him, his entire body tense. He usually only looked this wound up after a fight with his brothers.

In the hallway, he said, “You fucked them?”

“Yep.” I paused and then decided to correct myself, “Well, I fucked Ella. So did Aiden.”

“Son, what are you doing?” Marcello dragged his fingers through his messy black hair and tugged at the ends. “Ella Doyle is going to ruin your life. She’s the daughter of your enemy. A relationship with her is pointless and will go nowhere.”

Keeping my eyes on the door before us, I said, “Who says I want a relationship?” I reached into my pocket for the keys and realized I was wearing the wrong pants. “I need you to open the door.”

Only Marcello and family friends had keys to the upper floors.

He tossed them at my bare chest, and the metal scratched my skin. “You’re so fucked and don’t even see it.”

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