Page 112 of Scandalous Kingpin
Just when I released her, my nephew appeared, and I pressed a kiss on the top of his head.
“And how is our Romeo doing?”
“Good, Aunt Ivy. Can Maddox and I go see the cake?” Romeo was slightly older than Maddox, but it didn’t stop them from being best friends.
“Of course.” They were just about to bolt when my voice stopped him. “But first, you forgot something.”
His big dark eyes that were so much like his father’s found me with a frown when they finally flickered with realization. I lowered to my knees and he pecked me with a kiss, then bolted to a waiting Maddox.
I chuckled. “I feel cheated. That could barely be called a kiss.”
“Soon they’ll avoid us like the plague,” Juliette remarked dryly. “Probably move halfway across the world to avoid us.”
“True. Although, with you guys in Chicago and us in Europe, they are left with a lot more playground.”
“Asia,” she muttered. “Hopefully they stay away from the Yakuza.”
I winced. “We better not even introduce that into their vocabulary.”
Our gazes traveled over the backyard, our family laughing and hugging. Grandpa Frank was even singing some old Italian song and I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the way things turned out. For all of us.
I didn’t care about the heartaches we’d had to endure to get to this point.
Maybe it was just a lesson we had to learn.
All that mattered to me was that we got here, surrounded by a loving family and amazing husbands who supported us through our dreams. Family, friends, slightly dysfunctional dynamics—it all reminded me what it was like to be alive and loved.
This was what truly mattered in life. The only thing that mattered.
Epilogue
PRIEST
Thirteen Years Later
Children ran wildly over the busy courtyard of St. Jean d’Arc School.
My wife, sister, sister-in-law, and Davina had done a good job with the school, making it a very sought-after place. It wasn’t only for the children of the people involved in criminal organizations, but also for the kids of powerful and distinguished families of the political and royal world.
The children, including ours, would be well protected within the lines of this large property. I, along with many of our other associates, had ensured it. I doubted that even the president of the United States was under better protection than the children attending this school.
But as a parent, it still made me nervous not to have my children within my eyesight. My attention darted to my son who was sixteen now, his eyes darting eagerly around, probably already scheming what kind of shit he could get into with his cousins. While protective of his younger sister, much to Poppy’sdismay, Maddox certainly didn’t know how to keep himself out of trouble.
And that kept me up at night sometimes.
We had been traveling back and forth between two continents for years, but once our son and daughter started school, we intended to stay in the States full-time, close to them.
Yes, both of them were a force to be reckoned with, but so were Dante and I. Morally wrong and wicked people still found our vulnerabilities and used them against us. The truth of the matter was that I would sooner level this earth than allow my children to be touched by such evil.
It was my job to protect them.
Hence the reason for adding several additional surveillance services for security and staying close to the property.
“You have that look on your face,” my wife murmured softly, glancing at my profile. “The one that says I’m going to kill anyone who looks at my kids wrong.”
I shrugged. “Because I am.”
Poppy squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry, Papà. If you do kill them, I’ll help you get rid of the body.”
