Page 21 of These Sinful Kingdoms

“Of course. I want to make sure we aren’t dealing with some kind of freak who is preying on him.” Kingston said gruffly and I smiled.

Declan had already said the guy seemed harmless enough with no history to speak of, but there was something off about him. A disconnect in the records meant he was hiding something.

“Let’s head over there and pay our Wizard a little visit.” I said as I cracked my knuckles, earning an eye roll from Aurora.

The address wasn’t far from our place, in a nice quiet suburban street with manicured gardens and average homes.

This was the side of Sinclair Bay that had middle-class workers inheriting their homes from their parents and living a peaceful yet mediocre life.

What made me uncomfortable was the proximity to our own home and in turn, the school. The house was an old solid brick home, white awnings were in pristine condition and shining in the morning sunlight.

Spring bulbs were making their appearance in the gardens surrounding the rose bushes that had little buds blooming on them.

“Looks like whoever it is who lives here has a love for the traditional garden.” I said to myself as both Aurora and Kingston stared at me with curiosity.

“What? I can see tulips and hyacinth bulbs. Those are very traditional and not the cheapest of bulbs to buy.” I defended and they looked at each other, then back at me.

“I never took you for a gardening man, Luca.” Aurora said with a teasing tone, and I could feel my cheeks heating.

“I’m not. Well not exactly. My mother is and she used to sit with me in the winter and go through the gardening catalogs labeled, letting me choose the colors for that year’s additions. I would spend time with her in the school holidays helping her garden. She didn’t have a daughter, so I filled the gaps sometimes.” I smiled at the memory, making a note to send my mama a message later.

Aurora was smiling indulgently, and Kingston was trying unsuccessfully to hide his grin.

“Okay. So, what do we know about this guy? This house doesn’t exactly scream killer.” Aurora said as she looked around the neighborhood.

“His name is Kenji but there was a discrepancy with his last name. It was labelled as Hanson but that seemed to be updated recently. Both Declan and Theo had issues with trying to find out more.” I didn’t add that I suspected that it seemed whoever this guy was, he didn’t want anyone to find out about his past.

“Okay. Let’s just knock and see what we are dealing with.” Kingston said as we all got out of the car, following the manicured path to the door.

I pressed the doorbell, wincing at the obnoxious chime that seemed to go on forever.

When the door opened, a little old lady who barely came to my chest squinted out at us, her graying hair pulled back into a neat bun.

“Yes?” she said, looking between us all with a suspicious eye.

“Ahh. We are looking for Kenji.” I said and she pursed her lips, looking me up and down as if she were trying to judge my character.

“What do you want with him?” she asked, and my patience started to fray. I could just pick her up and move her aside, but I was trying to be polite.

“Hi. My name is Aurora. We are looking for Kenji because we believe he is friends with my son and may be able to help us understand his friendship with Kenji. He mentioned that he is known as the Wizard in the game he plays.” Aurora smiled politely as she pushed me aside.

The lady sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“That damn game. I swear it will fry his brain. I tell him to get outside and breathe some fresh air, but he still struggles with that. Maybe seeing a pretty thing like yourself will shake him up a little and motivate him to get out some more.” She grinned, winking like it was the most brilliant idea and I suddenly wondered who we were dealing with.

“Come in, come in. My name is Agatha. I am Kenji’s grandmother.” She gestured for us to come inside. We followed her through to a neatly kept living room with furniture that was old but in good condition.

“KENJI! Visitors.” She hollered down the hallway before smiling at us, pointing to the seat. We sat down in the low chair, my legs feeling like they were right in front of my face with how low it was, and I couldn’t shake the feeling like I was a kid again about to be told off.

We could hear some muttering from someone as they came down the hallway and the man who walked in was not what I was expecting.

He looked barely twenty, his body lithe and pale beneath the oversized T-shirt with stains on the front. He was of Asian descent, a little taller than Aurora who was 5ft 2, and had a huge pair of headphones with a speaker hanging around his neck.

He looked us over, hesitating on Aurora before he took a step backward as if he wanted to run.

Aurora smiled, standing to shake his hand.

“Hi, Kenji. My name is Aurora. I think you may know my son Fabian.” She held her hand out and he stared at it like it was a weapon.

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