Page 227 of Sinful Pleasure

The only thing I cared about was my family waiting for me at home.

“No,” he quickly interrupted. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him toelaborate. “I invited you here to get your consent to take my place as heir.”

I blinked, processing his words.

Did I hear him correctly?

I waited for him to crack a smile or make a joke, but his face remained as serious as stone.

Fuck. He wasn’t joking.

“Say something,” Angelo finally spoke, breaking the silence as we both just stared at each other like idiots.

“Why?” I asked, my voice sharp. “Why do you want to deny the place that’s rightfully yours?”It made no fucking sense.

“Because we both know I’m not a worthy leader,” he muttered with a laugh. “But you are.”

I pursed my lips, considering his words.

Never in my fucking life had I thought about this.Being the head of The King family was something that had always been out of my reach.

I’d known from the moment I entered this world that the role would one day go to Angelo. Our father had trained him for it all his life.

I was just a weapon, a tool Martin had designed to do his dirty work.

But he’d never wanted me to be a leader.

“With your permission, I’d like to take the position as your right hand,” Angelo continued, his tone steady.‘’I want to restore The King family to the heights it belongs to and clear our name of all the things our father did behind our backs.”

This had to be some stupid fucking joke. Everything sounded too damn good to be true. I wasn’t used to things going well in my life.

Angelo’s face stayed serious, his eyes filled with a glimmer of hope, and everything he said was drawing me in more than I liked.

I had never thought about being a leader before, but now that he brought it up—why the fuck not?

I could do this. I could be a good leader.

I’d restore our name, bring us back to the top. I had The Romano family as an ally, which made us nearly unstoppable. And one day, my child would inherit the King family, where the position rightfully belonged.

“Giving up your birthright so easily?” I narrowed my eyes, still skeptical, but Angelo just nodded, his expression serious as hell, proving how committed he was.

“Do you want me to draw up a contract and have me sign it if it’ll give you more faith in my words?” Angelo raised his eyebrows, sarcasm lacing his voice. “Seriously, Maddox, stop being such a dick and just say yes.”

Angelo tapped his fingers on the desk, leaning slightly toward me, a sly grin playing on his face.

“A brand new beginning,” he said. “Let’s show the world who the fuck we are.”

I might grow to love seeing that fire in Angelo’s eyes—the desire, the flames. Something I hadn’t noticed in him before, but now, seeing him so determined, I realized he might just be the loyal right-hand man I needed.Despite everything that had happened between us, he was still family.

That’s why I said, “Fine. Let’s fucking do this.”

Angelo’s grin stretched wide—as if he’d just won the lottery.

“That’s what I’m talking about, brother,” he said, standing up and offering his hand.

We shook on it, sealing the deal. The details could wait—I had more pressing matters.

As we reached the door, something crossed my mind—something that had been eating at me for a while now. If I didn’t get it off my chest, it would drive me mad.

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