Page 1 of And Twice as Twisted (Agostino Crime Family #4)

SIENNA AGOSTINO

A pollo was alive.

Well, if you could consider the body they pulled from the Hudson River—riddled with gunshots and succumbing to hypothermia with a gaping wound across his throat—any semblance of living.

His chest would rise and fall with every intake of breath, his heart pounded, and blood filtered through his system. But that was it.

Dead. Vacant.All life was extinguished from behind his eyes.

My family blocked me from seeing him, referencing the still-present brutality marring my skin. They’d assumed it would send him over the proverbial edge and we’d lose him forever. However, he didn’t speak or acknowledge anyone who came to visit.

Not my father. Not Lucky.

His silence was slowly destroying the family and none of us had a clue as to how to pull him back from the hell that consumed him.

That day, those bastards had given me everything I’d wanted, while simultaneously stealing it all away. I saw it in his eyes, the revelation, his need for me. Now, I had nothing.

And as I was known to do when it came to anything Apollo, I made another huge mistake when I snuck into his hospital room by myself.When I’d demanded he look at me, a part of me died too—a serrated knife brandished and quickly puncturing my heart. His head turned and he stared at me. Through me.

He hadn’t spoken until that moment. Not a word.

“ Get out! Leave!”

I had to be forcibly removed from the room by the doctors, while their attempts to calm him only inflated his anger. Towards me. His snarled hatred echoed down the hallway, and I fled from my heartache as it nipped bitterly at my heels.

I resented all the love he’d stolen from me and never reciprocated. We were in this position because of something in his past, not mine. Yet, even after he came home to the compound, he had nothing to give. He continued as Lucky’s right hand. A soldier, silently following orders.

He’d proven to me what I’d already known. Even after the egregious crimes enacted against me, my heart still beat for him. While his was nothing more than an organ that pumped blood through his system.

What happened to the girl who demanded respect? I barely recognized the weak woman staring back at me in the mirror.

“Where are we?” I asked my driver. I was so lost in my own misery that I hadn’t noticed we were on the side of the road. It was raining, an absolutely miserable night that matched my miserable mood. I couldn’t make out much besides the trees to our right and the dreary sky looming above us.

I was forever cloaked by the dark cloud that followed me.

Usually that thought was metaphorical, but now it was physical as the car was pelted by a sudden flood of torrential raindrops.

“Sorry, miss, engine problems.” My driver slid out of the car before I could respond.

The hood raised and blocked my view of the road ahead of us.

Pulling out my cell phone, I started checking emails before an odd noise caught my attention.

Dread settled into my gut, but I swallowed back my nerves and opened the door, stepping out into the storm. In more ways than one…

“Everything okay?” I shouted as I approached the front of the car.

“Sienna.” My name was called out from behind me.

Haunted. Distant. And fucking angry.

“W-what’re you doing here?” I hated the weakness in my voice but the animosity in his rattled me.

“I’ve come for you. Isn’t that what you wanted?

” He took a step forward and I took two back, calling for the driver.

“He’s dead.” The words came without remorse.

“He was going to hurt you. I saved you, Sienna. Just like in one of your fairy tales.” He was mocking me, his vacant eyes burning with cruelty.

“What do you want from me?” I rushed forward. Fuck self-preservation. I always knew my temper would be the death of me. “Tell me!” I slammed my fists into his chest, my pain and guilt driving each blow.

“I find it absolutely insulting that you haven’t thanked me yet.”

My heart was lodged in my throat as he pulled me closer.

“No.” I tried to push him back but all I could do was continue to flail my arms. He ignored me, grabbing both of my hands in one of his and slamming my body against the car.

He pinned me in place, his much larger torso rubbing into mine.

I could feel his arousal against my stomach and dread cemented my limbs, stalling my fight as if I were somehow locked in his palpable animosity.

“Fine. I’ll make you thankful.” He wrapped his free hand around my throat and tugged me forward. His muscles flexed and the tattoos on his arm seemed to dance with the movement. Mocking me.

I latched on to his wrist, scratching his skin as he opened the back door and threw me inside the car.

When my pencil skirt hindered my legs from widening, he shredded it down the center and stepped between them.

His fingertips roamed from my thighs, up to my panties, and rubbed me through the fine silk.

He hummed his appreciation before traveling north, groping my breasts and pinching my nipples through the material of my shirt.

I managed to wrap both hands around his wrist and tug.

Then, using all the force I could muster, I bent it backwards.

He reached out on instinct, slamming his meaty fist into my cheekbone.

My brain bounced around my skull for a second before my nails found his face, embedding into the flesh until I could feel the trickle of blood.

“I fucking hate you for what you’ve done!

” I screamed, kicking out at him. He was temporarily taken aback, and I sought my moment to attack with everything I had.

He fell out of the car and I climbed across the center console, trying to get into the driver’s seat.

Before I could, he grabbed my ankle and jerked.

My face slammed into the gear shaft and blood erupted from my nose.

“You know you want this. I saw it in your eyes when you came to visit me. You wanted me to use this body, so there would never be anyone else after I was done with you.” He kept pulling me.

I tried to catch myself as my stomach slid off the seat and my shoulder took the impact as I plummeted onto the concrete. “No, please. Don’t do this.”

He dumped my body into the overgrown grass and ripped off his suit jacket, dropping it beside me before reaching for his zipper.

His hand was heavy against the center of my chest, pinning me down and making it hard to breathe while the rain coated my face and soaked my remaining clothing, chilling me to my bones.

“Please don’t,” I begged in a half whisper as I felt him tug my panties to the side and settle his erection at my entrance.

“That’s it, baby.” He licked along my jawline. “Give me those filthy lies. Pretend you don’t want this.”

My brain was foggy, my fight dwindled, and the blood in my veins stalled as he slammed into me.

This was it. This was the moment I died.

It didn’t matter if I physically survived his assault.

Because, either way, Sienna Agostino was dead.

He pulled back and slammed into me harder, the wet grass slicking my spine and gliding me through the mud.

I turned my head, unable to look at the traitorous bastard so keen on destroying me.

I prided myself on the fact that I was strong.

That I’d overcome the stereotypes of being born a woman in the mafia.

Then shattered my image by believing it somehow made me worthy of love, a ridiculous ideology that women were given at a young age.

And, in the end, it ruined me.

He was so large I couldn’t see past his body, unable to beg the stars for reprieve.

But God must have turned his back on me long ago.

It was the only explanation I had in this moment.

There was a time when I believed people were given trials and tribulations in order to teach them a lesson.

A message sent from a higher power to tell us something.

There were instances where it took a while to understand while others seemed to slap you in the face without much thought.

I needed God to tell me what this was supposed to mean.

What lesson I was meant to learn. Instead, it was the devil who heard my please and showed me the way out.

And I understood. I saw it.

The handle sticking out from under his discarded jacket.

Just within reach. I looked up and his eyes were filled with lust, devoid of the man who’d once protected me.

There was no redemption after this. Not for him and not for me.

I was done with my heart getting broken again and again.

My body was overwhelmed with agony as he pounded into me. Harder and harder with each thrust.

My chest ached but I knew I had to do it.

My arm stretched forward, my fingers digging into the mud until I felt the cool, hard metal.

It was slippery in my grip, but I managed to pull it closer.

He dropped onto his elbows, his face inches from mine as he panted against me.

“You fucking love it. You love everything I do to you.” His breaths became faster, harsher.

“Lies. It’s all goddamn lies.”

He stopped thrusting for a moment to stare down at me in shock.

“You may think you’ve ruined me. But I’ll fucking end you.” I raised my arm.

“You don’t have the balls…” He stopped when I pressed the barrel to his temple. My heart was beating out of my chest, and for a moment, I thought he was right. I thought… I can’t. I can’t do this to him —but this man didn’t deserve anything from me. Nothing but hatred.

“Your tiny balls smacking against my ass are nothing compared to the ones in my designer panties.” It was raining harder now. “Fuck. You.”And I pulled the trigger.

His blood sprayed in the air, mixing with the rain and pouring down over me like a hailstorm of carnage and brain matter.

I could taste it in my mouth and was overcome by the sudden urge to dry heave.

His large body dropped onto mine, and an agonized cry expelled from somewhere so deep within me that my throat burned as I extinguished it.

All the pain, anger, sadness, and guilt transformed the scream into a crescendo of despair.

I did it. I fucking killed him. I didn’t know what I expected to feel after pulling the trigger, but this wasn’t it. I was numb. A huge part of me died along with him, and there was no coming back from it.

“Look what you made me fucking do!” I hissed into the air, the numbness fading as a fresh wave of guilt tore at the shattered remnants of my heart.

I needed to leave. To go far away. From my family and their city before it was too late.

There was already nothing good left of me and seeing their hatred would only make me hate myself worse. I knew if I stayed, I’d never survive.

Not after what I’d done.

Headlights pulled up behind the car and heavy footfalls echoed in the distance.

Charging towards me. “Sienna!” my brother shouted as I struggled to shift the body off me.

“Sienna! Fuck! What did you do? How could… Sienna!” he grunted my name.

Bella sounded from behind us, and the realization had me choking on air.

“No! Bella, baby, stay back!” Lucky helped roll the dead weight to the side, pulling me to my feet and wrapping his suit jacket around me.

“No…” Bella whispered, and my gaze snapped to hers.

The look she gave me added to the torment I’d already inflicted on myself.

There would be no reparations for our relationship.

I’d ruined my family. “What did you do?” Tears filled her mismatched eyes as she tried charging forward, but my brother pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as she broke.

“I can’t believe you fucking did this.” Lucky sounded distant, a radio static filled my head, and I barely felt the harsh bite of the pavement as my body slammed into it.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I had begged this man to give me everything I wanted, everything I thought I deserved.

I thought he’d be my savior in a world built by men and against women.

I wanted to be the queen on the arm of the mad king.

Instead, he broke me beyond repair—something I thought I already was, but quickly realized I wasn’t. Not even close.

Until now.

I rolled onto my side, pulling my knees to my chest, and stared at his motionless body. I did it. I killed him. I thought I’d feel better. But his lifeless eyes stared back at me, forever cemented in my brain. Left to haunt me.

They were the last thing I saw before everything went black. That one thought playing over and over in my mind.

I killed him. I killed...