Page 115 of Alexei (Belles & Mobsters 4)

Kingston is alive.

ChapterThirty-Eight

AURORA

My insides shook as I roamed the streets of Lisbon.

Portugal.

It was the only piece of information Cassio King would share. I understood his allegiance to Alexei; but then I didn’t. This was my brother we were talking about. I needed to see him. Hear him. Feel him.

I felt like that little girl again who always ran after her big brother. I loved all my brothers, but the disparity in age with the others made me always run to Kingston first. Byron, Winston, and Royce were almost in the category of my caretakers. While Kingston was my brother. The one that I got into trouble with. The one that supported my idea of drawing on the wall or dumping all my paint colors into the pool so we’d see an everlasting rainbow.

The other three brothers had more common sense than we did.

I held my breath until my lungs suffocated and then slowly exhaled.

Twenty years.All kinds of scenarios ran through my mind. Was he as tall as my other brothers? Did he smell the same? Did he still like gummy bears?

It was stupid, I knew it. He was an adult now. He probably hadn’t eaten gummy bears since that day.

Goosebumps broke through my skin and I fought back a shiver and the images in my mind creating the worst kind of scenarios. I had to tell Kingston how sorry I was. Beg him for forgiveness. Help him somehow.

Alexei helped him. Cassio said that he set him up financially and Kingston took it from there. He had made his own fortune since that day, but Alexei visited him often and sometimes even invested in Kingston’s dealings.

Maybe Kingston would let me help him somehow too.

Then a thought struck me and my step faltered. Maybe I was the reason he didn’t want to come back. I swallowed hard the lump in my throat, my stomach burning with guilt. It was heavy and bitter as it weaved its way through me.

A shuddering breath slipped through my lips and I stilled myself with determination. If he didn’t want anything to do with me, then I’d… My heart got stuck in my throat at the thought he wouldn’t want to see me. I sniffled, already getting teary-eyed.

Fucking bullshit.

“Grow a pair, Aurora,” I mumbled under my breath. Everything was making me cry since Russia. It has been almost two months since I last saw Alexei. A week since I learned Kingston was alive. And all I did was fucking cry.

All that mattered to me was that Kingston was alive. Everything else, I’d overcome. If he didn’t want to see me, I’d respect his wishes. But I’d find a way to make it up to him for as long as I lived.

I picked up my pace, soaking up the old city and rushed words spoken in Portuguese as my eyes met men’s faces, searching for any resemblance to my brother. Was it dumb? Yes. Kingston would be a grown ass man now. Thirty.

His birthday was coming up in July and he’d turn thirty-one.

There was so much that was stolen from us. Maybe he’d see how sorry I was, and if he didn’t want to see me, I’d beg him to see our brothers. I’d stay away. Kingston needed our brothers as much as they needed him.

An odd sense of purpose had me rushing down the streets, making me want to find out what the future had in store for us. I heard my bodyguard’s steps behind me. He was always nearby. Probably thought this trip was lunacy, but I didn’t care. I sold some lame-ass story to my brothers about a much needed vacation.

It wasn’t as hard to sell it to Willow. I called her when I knew she’d be busy so she’d be distracted trying to do two things at once. And I lucked out with Sailor. She and Gabriel took a little vacation, though it was odd that they went alone. They always dragged Willow and I along.

A man crashed into me, causing me to lose my balance. Before I hit the ground, my bodyguard’s hands caught me. At least I thought they were until I looked up and my breath got stuck in my lungs.

Dark hair. Olive skin. Dark eyes with an almost haunting chill in their depths. My hands gripped his shirt, his tall body a solid wall of muscle.

“You alright?” His voice was deep, a light accent in his two words. Yet, I knew him. I fucking knew him.

“Kingston,” I breathed. It had to be him. I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. Except, they didn’t shine as they used to. The little boy that used to laugh with me was gone. In its place was a hard man. Sharp angles. Harsh expression. His jet black hair slightly tousled.

“Not anymore.”

My chest tightened. He hated me. That softened expression I remembered was replaced by something cruel and… broken. It reminded me of Alexei’s eyes when I first saw him in the zoo.

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