Page 29 of Sinful Kingdom

“No, that was different.”

“Where did he go?” I ask, needing to dive into something, anything but the current situation.

“Are you two okay if Evie and I—”

“Go,” my sister says. “We’ve got all this covered.” She wipes her finger along the counter before licking it. “And not just in icing sugar.” She raises a brow.

“I’m a messy cook,” Calli admits with a shrug.

Grabbing a bottle of water, she nods toward the back of the house and takes off. With my hands wrapped around my coffee, I follow her down to a massive sunroom and then out through open double doors to the patio.

“Wow,” I breathe. The garden looked impressive from the window, but it’s nothing compared to down here with the comfortable furniture laid out in the shade. There are brightly coloured flowers everywhere.

“It’s my favourite spot in the whole house. Not that I really spend much time here.”

“Is Stefanos a keen gardener?” I ask, making her burst out laughing.

“Hell no. That man wouldn’t know a daisy from a rose if they smacked him in the face.”

“But this is—”

“He has a gardener. And I think his last housekeeper enjoyed being out here.”

“I can assure you that his new one won’t be deadheaded anything,” I say, my fingers delicately stroking a vibrant orange rose petal. Thinking about my sister spending her day cleaning is a push, but gardening…

I shake my head.

We’ve lived in that flat in Lovell all our lives. Any plant that ever found its way inside ended up dead within a week

“Give your sister some credit,” Calli says with a smile. “Stefanos seems to love having her around.”

“Anything to do with the booty shorts and overflowing cleavage, by any chance?”

“Huh,” Calli says, tilting her head to the side. “And here I thought it was her skills with a feather duster.”

“My sister might have skills, but I can assure you, they don’t involve a feather duster. Or,” I say in a rush, “at least not doing what she should be with it.”

Calli laughs as I take a seat on the other end of the outdoor sofa to her. I attempt to curl my legs beneath me and tuck into the corner, but one of the cuts across my thigh pulls and I’m forced to sit a little more sensibly.

“Still hurting?”

I shrug. “It could be worse,” I say absently, staring out at the perfect lawn and endless flowers before us.

“A few months ago, Daemon was taken by the Italians,” Calli says, dragging my attention back to her. “We had a Family event for my mother’s birthday and they attacked.

“We had no idea if he was alive. My dad died that night, I lost my boyfriend—a boyfriend no one but Alex knew I had—and I discovered I was pregnant. It was—”

“Horrendous?” I finished for her.

She smiles despite the nightmare she’s explaining. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“The guys rescued him?” I ask, assuming there’s a happy ending here, seeing as I ran into his arms when I got back.

“No, actually. He was locked up with Ant after they discovered he was a traitor. They escaped.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it was pretty impressive. They were… they were a mess. But he came back to me.” Her hand gently rubs over her small bump as she talks. “I know everyone keeps saying that it’ll be okay, and I know how it feels to hear that when everything feels so hopeless and out of your control. But you need to have faith.

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