The doors to the warehouse were slid open by the men who guarded it, his cousin's men, as Ben approached – entering quickly before they were shut behind him and the small entourage he arrived with. The only sounds that echoed in the vast space were their dress shoes on the concrete as they made their way to the middle where Poe and Chewie stood near a bruised and beaten man who was tied to a chair in the only spotlight in the dark place. When they were close enough, Armitage bent slightly to slap Palpatine's cheek ever so gently to wake the man who could open only one eye due to the other being swollen shut. Armitage straightened with a smirk before moving back to stand united with his family as they watched with amusement as the former don of a once-powerful family sputtered awake – fear reflected in his eyes as they shifted back and forth between each person.
"Don Palpatine, what a pleasure it is to meet you here of all places," Ben grinned as he stared down at the older man. "I was hoping to run into you sooner, but it seems your schedule was so full you had no time to return any of my calls or messages."
Palpatine tried to speak around the gag in his mouth, but it was futile.
"I'm sorry, can you speak up? I can't hear a word you're trying to say."
The men around him chuckled before Chewie ripped the cloth away from his mouth.
Palpatine panted heavily as he spoke. "I'll give you whatever you want. Money, jewels, drugs, land, weapons, women. Anything, just please don't kill me, please!"
Ben snickered sadistically as he gripped him by the chin, his fingers digging into the face he never wanted to see again. "Those things are worthless to me. What else do you have to offer?"
"What about an alliance between our families?! With my heir apparent taking over my seat as the head of my family soon, you two would be unstoppable, and no other family outside of ours would dare to cross us, cross you."
Forcing his face to the side, Ben made sure Palpatine saw what he wanted him to see as Kylo Ren stepped out of the shadows.
"No..." Palpatine gasped as he shook in his chair, fear radiating off of his entire body as Ben stepped away.
"You mean the heir that is my brother – the one you stole from my family?"
"Kylo Ren, son," Palpatine pleaded. "You need to help me get out of this. I raised you, clothed you, protected you, and gave you everything you've ever desired. How can you do this to the only father you've ever known, who only wanted the best for you? None of this is my fault, you know that. Please help me."
Kylo Ren growled, tired of being manipulated by him. "No, you've brought this upon yourself and are at fault for everything. I can't believe I couldn't see how much of a manipulative bastard you were before... before you had me killed my own father in cold blood. I thought the world of you and was willing to do anything and everything you asked of me because I did think of you as a father-figure, but no, you made me experience the worst type of betrayal against my actual family." Kylo Ren laughed bitterly before continuing. "And I was never your son because you used me as your pawn in your sick twisted little game of gaining power my entire life. This is what you deserve after every lie you've told over the years to help your family – for everything you've ever done to my real family." Kylo Ren turned his head to stare at the men beside him, his gaze landing on his twin brother before saying, "Our family."
Armitage, Poe, Chewie, Obi-Wan, Kylo Ren, and Ben stood in front of Palpatine to glare at the man who hurt their family in more ways than one.
Stepping forward first with a cleaver in hand, Obi-Wan stuffed the gag back into Palpatine's mouth before slicing one of his hands clean off – his screams muffled by the cloth. "This is for thinking you could touch our family."
Chewie then stepped forward with a small blade and stabbed him in the eye, leaving it there to stick out of the socket. "This is for coveting my wife and for setting your sights on our family."
Ben and Armitage exchanged a glance with each other, curious about their cousin's backstory about his wife and the former don they knew nothing about, before Armitage stepped forward with a serrated knife to slice both of Palpatine's Achilles tendons. "This is for thinking you could run from our family."
With nothing in hand, Poe stepped forward and grinned widely at the tiny man who sat in front of him before pulling out his gun from the back of his pants to shoot both of Palpatine's kneecaps. When he moved to return to the spot he occupied before, he noticed all eyes were on him as he shrugged. "What? No one told me we needed to bring a knife or a reason to this joyous celebration with Sheevy here. I just wanted to bust some kneecaps and only brought a gun like a normal member of a mafia syndicate. You guys are the weird ones, carrying fucking knives around like it's normal – newsflash, it's not." Raising his hand as if he were making a toast, Poe said, "To our family."
Chuckling, the group of men shook their heads as Kylo Ren stepped forth and pulled down the gag to pull out Palpatine's tongue, cutting it off and shoving it back into his mouth before replacing the gag to its original position. "This is for all the lies you've told to me and our family." Kylo Ren spat on his face before stepping back.
And finally, Ben stepped forward, plunging a knife deep into the heart of the man he hated with all the fibers of his being. "This is for taking my father, who I loved more than anyone away from me, for hurting every member of this family in some way or form, and for attempting to take the love of my life away from me. This is for our family."
With the knife embedded into his chest, Ben stepped back to stand with his family as they watched the blood pour from Palpatine's wounds until the light left his eyes.
Ben turned to his cousins. "Cut off his fingers and send them to the remaining families that were under Sheev's care, then burn the body. Let's give them a little scare before we kill them all and take everything he worked so hard to get for his family."
*****
A few weeks later...
Sicily, Italy: Armitage & Rose's wedding day
"Why do they need a flower boy when there are less than a dozen people here?" Rey whispered as Ben bounced a happy Han on his thigh.
"Just watch, and you'll see."
"Okay~ But why Poe? And is he wearing a fanny pack?"
As the soft music played, cueing Poe to walk down the aisle, he grinned widely as he unzipped the pack attached to his hips before confidently making his way down – throwing the petals as if he were 'making it rain.'
Rey couldn't keep her laughter at bay as she snorted, drawing the attention of her new family members as their laughter and cheers filled the air, and she was glad they were enjoying themselves after so much heartache over the last few months and the hardships they endured during the last few weeks as they seized everything that belonged to Sheev and his family.
"Was that Rose's idea or Poe's?"
"Both. They wanted everyone to have a fun time, and what better way than letting Poe be Poe."
When the music changed, all those who attended Rose and Armitage's wedding stood as they watched Rose walk down the aisle by Obi-Wan until she was given away to Armitage.
Once the beautiful ceremony ended, and everyone gathered to congratulate the newly wedded couple, Rey couldn't keep her eyes off of the tiny woman tucked protectively against Chewie.
"She's smaller than I thought and still can't see how she doesn't end up in the hospital after they have sex," Rey whispered to her husband. "He's at least three times her size."
He chuckled. "He would never do anything to harm her in any way because he loves her more than his own life and will do everything in his power to prevent her from being hurt."
"Hmm, sounds familiar. It must be a trait in your family."
"You could not ask for a better family to marry into than ours."
__________
On the dancefloor, as Obi-Wan played with their son, Rey and Ben were wrapped in each other's arms as they swayed to the soft music of the twelve piece orchestra hired for the night.
"I can't believe you closed the entire hotel to the public so Rose and Armitage could have a private wedding here."
"Anything for family, wife. How could I deny such a simple request from Rose when this particular branch of the hotel is special to all of us since it is the one we all met in for the first time? Which reminds me... How would you feel about adding CEO to your title?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the hotel chain. I bought it because of you, and I must admit, I am not apt enough to run it properly, but I know you could do great things for it."
"You're giving me the Resistance Luxury hotel chain, like all of it? Even the international ones?"
"Yes, and I understand it'll be a lot to undertake, but we can hire anyone you desire to help you run it, that is if you want it."
"Of course, I do!" Pressing herself more fully into him, she laughed as he spun her around.
"Think of it as an early birthday present."
Pulling back, Rey beamed up at Ben. "I can't believe it's been almost 365 days since we met. It feels as though it's been thousands."
"Which also reminds me of the deadline I gave you... Rey, the love of my life, will you give me your final answer? Have you fallen in love with me within the last 365 days, and if you have, will you remain by my side forever, or do I need to release you so you can go back to the life you had before we met?"
Cupping his face, she trailed her thumb down his regal, albeit rather large nose before brushing it against his full lips – his mouth opening to nip at her finger playfully. "A lot has changed for us in the last 365 days. We met under interesting circumstances, fell in love with each other, found out you have a twin brother, got married, had a healthy baby boy together, and got rid of a tyrant who thought he could take everything away from you and your family, our family."
"You forgot to mention all of the sex we've had in so many places and positions." Ben chuckled as his eyes lowered to her cleavage before slowly lifting them up to stare lovingly at her.
"Behave, Benjamin~"
"And if I don't want to?" he growled in her ear as he pressed his erection into her before he repeated the words he had said to her in what felt like a lifetime ago – his hand sliding up her side to wrap his large hand seductively around her throat. "You may think me a gentle man, Rey, but don't provoke me."
Rey released a sound that was a mixture between a laugh and a moan as she smiled. "It's a good thing I taught you how to be gentle for me because I love provoking you."
The chuckle that rumbled in her ear made her shiver as his lips brushed against it. "And it's a good thing you also like it when I'm not a gentle man, but answer my question, woman. Will you stay, or do I have to let you go with no strings attached?"
"You're crazy if you think I could ever leave you now – not after everything we've been through."
With a smirk, he lowered his lips to hers for a brief kiss. "Good because I can't wait to see what other adventures await us in the next 365 days and beyond."