Chapter 3.4

Now that she was home again, fresh from graduating university, Aurora was ready to start her criminal career at the Llama Corp Shipping Co. warehouse.

Aurora’s boyfriend Derek had moved to Twinbrook like he’d promised. Although he was renting a room in town, he spent so much time at the Maldini house he practically lived there.

Derek didn’t have a job, but he managed to make some money on the side by doing commissioned murals in car parks around the town.

His real passion, though, was for writing science fiction novels.

In fact he had just started his first book “Adventures in Space, Time and Other Places”.

Alec’s girlfriend Ann was also a regular visitor.

They had only been dating for a couple of months since finishing University, but Alec was as impulsive as his mother when it came to matters of the heart. When Ann came over to visit one weekend, Alec got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.

Ann was thrilled and immediately said yes!

The young couple wanted to get married as quickly as possible, so they sped ahead with their wedding preparations.

The evening before the wedding, the boys threw Alec a Bachelor party at a nightclub in town.

Alec’s step-father Israel was there, as was his uncle Tristan and Derek.

Even Celeste’s boyfriend Tyree showed up for the party.

They had a blast – and all drank a bit too much!

Back at home, the bachelorette party was less of a success – Aurora had to work and Ann decided to go to bed early in preparation for the big day.

So it was just Esmerelda and Celeste left to party on.

Celeste knew she definitely drank too much – she had a strange memory of dancing on the kitchen counter!

The family had recently invested in doing some work to the back of the house, including adding a pool and a deck. They rushed to have the deck ready in time for Alec and Ann’s wedding.

But unfortunately the day of the wedding brought a torrential downfall of rain, making an outdoor wedding impossible.

So they set up for the ceremony in the entrance hall of the house.

Though it was a dark and gloomy morning, nothing could dampen the spirits of the Bride and Groom on their special day.

The whole family gathered around the watch Alec and Ann say their vows and exchange rings.

Though it had been an impulsive wedding, Alec had never felt more certain that Ann was the right girl for him, and all the family was pleased to see that he had found some one who suited him so well.

They had no sooner cut the cake and sat down to eat it when the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds.

Alec and Ann went to sit out on the deck and enjoy the sunshine while they discussed plans for their honeymoon.

After a holiday abroad, they planned on moving to a place of their own. Though Esmerelda would have been happy for her son and daughter-in-law to continue living at the house, both Alec and Ann, being generally good virtuous people, felt a bit uncomfortable with the family’s criminal behavior.

Certainly the family did little to hide their profession while at home. In fact they often forgot to change out of their work uniforms as they went about their daily lives.

And with the unusual work hours of the job, people were sneaking in and out of the house at all kind of strange times.

Esmerelda was just about to go to bed one evening when she received a phone call.

Aurora had been arrested, and needed someone to come bail her out.

When Aurora got home, she had to face her uncle’s wrath.

“It was a simple job,” Tristan snarled, “How could you possible screw it up? Good criminals don’t get busted by the cops on a simple job! If you honestly think you have what it takes to do my job one day then you’d better pick up your game. You’ve let whole Organization down, and you’ve let your family down too.”

Aurora was furious. Everyone got busted sometimes! But she held her tongue. She  knew she’d show him one day – whatever Tristan might think, Aurora knew she was going to be a great criminal leader.

Now she just had to prove it.