Page 113 of Scandalous Kingpin

I glanced at my daughter, the mirror image of my wife. “Thank you, wildling.”

Ivy smacked my forearm gently. “You should scold her, Christian, not thank her.”

I shrugged. “She wouldn’t be the one doing the killing, angel, so we’re all good.”

Glancing at my daughter, I winked and she stifled a grin.

Was it scandalous that we spoke like that? Maybe, but while protective of our children, I didn’t shield them from the ways of the mafia life. I wanted them to be aware, eyes wide open when walking this world, especially the criminal one.

Especially my girl who would one day probably marry a man who was part of a criminal organization. If the fucker did herwrong, I wanted her to know exactly how to handle him. Yes, I’d be there in the blink of an eye to kill the fucker, but if I no longer walked this earth, she would also know how to do it herself.

Poppy spotted her cousins, Wynter and Basilio’s Brady bunch, and she shot me a pleading look. “Can I go say hi to Fallon?”

“Sure,” Ivy told her. “We’re right behind you.”

She barely finished the sentence and our daughter was dust in the wind.

Poppy didn’t shy away from a challenge and had a good head on her shoulders which made her get along with Basilio’s daughter, Fallon, despite their age difference. Both knew how to rule a room and the people in it. I daresay that my niece was a damn terror. I guess with her big brother, she had to be. Fallon never hesitated to put anyone in their place. After all, she’d had plenty of practice with her siblings.

“There’s Romeo,” Maddox exclaimed, and without waiting, he bolted to join his cousin.

My wife’s beautiful eyes found me and she smiled, sliding her small hand into mine. “Ah, alone at last.”

My lips twitched. “Not for long.”

She sombered for a moment. “Are you sure you’re okay with Maddox and Poppy attending St. Jean D’Arc?”

“Of course,” I assured her for the millionth time. “Where else would our children be better protected than in the school that my wife’s running?”

I meant it too. Yes, I implemented security measures that would make Rikers Island proud, but that had nothing to do with this school and everything with the ghosts that sometimes still haunted me. These measures would ensure my children would never experience them.

She rose on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to my lips. It was our favorite way to show affection, kissing, and I could never get enough.

“How did I get so lucky?” she murmured against my lips.

I smiled against her mouth. “I ravished you in a dark hallway, and I got addicted.”

“And the rest is history.”

“The rest is history.” I leaned in and nipped her bottom lip gently. “Which paved the way for our future.”

I didn’t deserve this happiness or future with a beautiful, loving family, but I’d keep it all anyhow. And I’d end anyone who tried to take it from me.

THE END