Page 42 of These Sinful Kingdoms

“Is that the book called Priest you were reading?” Caleb said and I knew my face was bright red now.

“Ahh. Yeah.” I couldn’t look at him, glaring at Connor who shrugged.

“You should read it. A real eye opener into what women want.” He yelped when Elsie flicked him in the ear.

“Stop it! Leave the man alone, Connor.” She said and Connor’s eyes darkened with challenge.

“Or what?” He pushed and Elsie’s eyes narrowed with a sly smile.

“Or you don’t get to share the bed for the rest of the week. No more candy for you.” She said as Declan laughed, leaning over to whisper something in Connor’s ear.

“Candy?” Luca said with amusement as Benjamin grinned.

“We can’t use the word s-e-x anymore. Someone has started picking up words and repeating them at the most embarrassing times. Candy became the replacement.” He looked amused as he stared at Aisling who was now sitting comfortably in Alfie’s arms.

“Come on. Let’s get the formalities out of the way then we can discuss the other things too.” Benjamin said as Alejandro appeared with Dante from somewhere in the house.

They gestured to a door that was clearly a newly renovated office, big enough to fit all of us around the table with no issues.

“I’ll get right to it. You are in the midst of a public war, and we can’t have that. After the incidents that occurred with the Mendez situation, we had a lovely warning from the Russians that if we didn’t get on top of things, they would come in and do it for us. No one wants that. Frankly, you need help.” Benjamin said, leaning back in his seat with a sigh.

“I never intended for this to happen. I am sorry. I just…” Luca made a sound that stopped me as he leaned forward, fierce determination in his eyes.

“Stop, Aurora. You have to stop. This isn’t the time to be a nice person anymore. This has proven you have no choice now but to step up. Stop hiding behind the meek damsel in distress mask and fucking take a stand. You know you can. You have our support. We can do this quickly and efficiently.” Luca snarled and I sat back in shock. He never spoke to me like that, my temper quickly rose in replacement.

“Fuck you, Luca. You know I never wanted this life, and I don’t want to put my son in the middle of it. This isn’t the path I wanted for any of us.” I snapped and he laughed.

“Come on, Ror. You were born into this world. You didn’t get a choice. You either step up, or you die. That’s it. That is the choice you have now, and I will not let you die. I will not let any of us die because you are too afraid to step into the role you were meant to take. I love you, gorgeous but you have to be the bad bitch now. It’s the only way to stop it.” He sat back with a sigh, looking around the table at the others and I followed his gaze, and saw the looks in both the Maddens and the Mendez families that said they agreed.

“I don’t know if I can. I haven’t been that person since…” I didn’t want to say it. The Rodriguez brothers. Since my time with them and losing my son to their hands.

“You aren’t alone, Aurora. You seem to be forgetting that you have our support to fall back on as well. None of us wants to see Rocco on the Italian throne.” Benjamin said softly.

“I have it on good authority that Nicolo hasn’t been seen in public for a while now. There is unrest. Rocco is hiding something.” Alejandro said, drawing my attention.

“What do you mean? Nicolo went with Rocco. How could he not be a part of this?” Alejandro shrugged, looking at Liam.

“We have a contract in place. It seems that Nicolo hasn’t been seen in a few months. He was there in the beginning when they were looking for support but now Rocco seems to be the one pulling the strings and there is talk of a divide. They followed the Moretti name, not Rocco. My guess is that is why he is now pulling out all the stops to remove you.” Liam said.

“You know about the Moretti Thorn being given a contract?” I asked the table and saw the way they hesitated before nodding.

“We also know that Kaito was called in and is now hanging around a certain lawyer. We are already looking into the possibilities of who the Thorn might be.” Declan said as Benjamin sighed.

“The point is this public aspect has to stop. I’m surprised we haven’t heard from the Russians as it is. You need to take the fight directly to them and we will help you do that.” Benjamin waited as I nodded. I wasn’t about to argue with him, the man was the top of the Sinclair food chain.

“That brings us to the next matter. You need to get your people trained. Kingston and Luca may be good at what they do, but if you are going to be living in this world, you all need to step it up. Eric has already said he will help with some basic self-defense training.” He held up a hand before I could protest.

“Before you say anything, know that we are all doing this. Even Elsie and Serena are signed up. Though Elsie will be going through a modified program.” He smiled warily at Declan.

“Why?” Alejandro asked, clearly not afraid to push the man.

“Because Elsie is pregnant again.” He said, the room silent for a moment before Dante and Alejandro clapped Declan on the back then reached over to shake Benjamin’s hand.

“Congratulation’s man. Couldn’t wait for another hey?” Dante said with a grin, and he shrugged.

“It was Elsie’s idea. Aisling will be a year old soon, she didn’t want to have a big age gap and since it’s her body, who was I to argue? Besides, the IVF process makes it a little harder so we weren’t sure how things will go.” Luca and Kingston shook Benjamin’s hand, then Declan’s.

“Congratulations. You are such a beautiful family.” I said, feeling a mixture of happiness for them and an odd sense of longing that took me by surprise.

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