Page 236 of Sinful Desires
Now, eighty-seven workers harvested our lavender fields, bottling the essence of her success.
She still wrote music for some of the biggest names in the industry, her melodies tracing the hearts of celebrities. But when I’d asked her about performing again, she just smiled softly and said she wasn’t ready to walk back on stage yet.
When we got home to her condo, I’d handed her a test.
Positive.
I’d hugged her so tightly, twirling her around the kitchen until she almost threw up again.
And that’s how, nine months later, on a warm September night, Aurore was born.
She came into our world crying, furious, and perfect.
And she changed everything.
We named her Aurore because she was the result of a love forged in pain, survival, and second chances.
Because after years of silence and shadows, she’d arrived like the dawn.
Our light.
And I carried the legacy my father had taught me to become a great father like he had always been.
Georgino barked and bolted across the grass as the kids chased after him, wild little limbs and high-pitched screams echoing through the garden.
“I still can’t believe you all have kids,” Angelo muttered, sipping his drink with a shake of his head. “It’s a whole damn army now.”
Jade elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt. “Say that again and they’ll hear you. They already outnumber us,amore.”
Alexsei chuckled, raising his beer lazily. “Look at us. Former criminals, mercenaries, heartbreakers?…?now we spend Saturdays dodging plastic swords and juice spills.”
“They grow up too fast,” Caia said softly, her eyes following her twins through the grass. “Yesterday they couldn’t pronounce their name. Now they correct mine.”
“Thank God,” Mikhaïl muttered. “I couldn’t wait to stop changing diapers. Felt like trench warfare.”
Sofiya shot him a glare, curling her arm tighter around his waist. “He says that now, but he’d leap out of bed at three in the morning like it was a hostage rescue.”
Mikhaïl smirked. “Didn’t hear you complaining when I handled it better than you.”
“Oh, I didn’t complain,” she said, sweet and slow. “You just liked being needed.”
He leaned down, lips brushing her temple. “Still do.”
Jade laughed, raising her glass. “To all of you degenerates somehow keeping small humans alive.”
“Barely,” Mikhaïl muttered.
Alexsei grinned. “Speak for yourself. Mine are already learning Russian economics. Give it a year, they’ll slit your throat in your sleep and take over the Silas without spilling a drop of juice.”
I snorted. “Charming.”
“Efficient,” Alexsei corrected, lifting his glass. “What more could a father want?”
We all laughed, glasses raised, the clink of crystal cutting through the September air.
Then it was time. Scarlett held our daughter in her arms as the birthday song began. Her mother, her sister, and our friends all sang along, voices soft and cracked with joy.
We stood together on land that once reeked of sadness.
