Page 19 of And Twice as Twisted (Agostino Crime Family #4)

APOLLO DELUCA

P etulant little bitch! Guard cosa mi hai fatto fare!

My intention had been to gain answers, not tempt my inner beast. Lurking skin deep, he seemed to bubble to the surface whenever she was near. Her lies thickened the air between us with ease and forced me to shatter the brick wall harboring my rage.

And I knew what I had to do.

Her list of grievances quickly caught up to my own, drawing a line in the sand and preparing us for this battle of wills.

If her games were going to be my undoing, then I was going to take her with me.

The end of the road met a thick line of trees, and we barreled towards it at dangerously high speeds.

“Woah.” Bella approached me slowly as I stood with my back to Sienna’s door. “Apollo?” she whispered, faltering when I made eye contact.

“Leave.” The word came out breathless, and I grabbed the pulse point in my wrist, counting along with my rapid heartbeat. There was a strong association between anxiety and respiratory symptoms.

The smell of coal infiltrated my nostrils. The path to hell was right in front of me.

“Apollo, it’s okay.” Bella raised her palms as I took a step towards her. “Lucky!” She slammed into the wall, shrieking when I took another step.

I could tell her she was safe, but I wouldn’t believe my hypocrisy either.

I wasn’t blind to the fact that I couldn’t conceptualize my actions.

My mouth opened as something fractured my occipital bone, forcing me to my knees.

The blow sent me slumping onto my side, and I cradled my head as I curled into a ball at Bella’s feet.

“Bella! Get Lucky, go!” The youngest Agostino stood above me. Tall and imposing.

Ever since the disappearance of the girl he’d been seeing , he’d fallen into the ranks.

It was only a matter of time before the games he played caught up to him.

It was unfortunate that someone else paid the cost. Tessa, his plaything, had disappeared.

Though something about that story, that girl, never seemed right to me.

I tried to rise but Marco twisted me into a submission hold, wrapping his legs around my torso as his arms circled my neck. We became lost to the outside world, each trying to beat the other.

Several heavy steps charged towards us, the approaching shouts coming out in waves of static. Al ripped us apart, holding me to his chest with a bicep lodged under my jaw, applying precise pressure to my cricopharyngeal muscles and closing off my airway.

“Sienna.” Bella’s soft gasp forced us to look in her direction, only to find the woman in question standing in the doorway, her silk robe doing little to hide the bruises on her arms and her neck. I’d hurt her. Again.

I could only surmise that I was suffering from a mild cognitive impairment—the stage between normal aging and severe trauma. It was characterized by problems with memory, thinking, and judgement.

“I’m fucking done with you! I don’t know if the reasonable side of you drowned in that fucking river or if it never existed at all.” I couldn’t blame my best friend for the assessment. “Sienna will go to Philly and you’re out of this house.”

“No, I won’t.” Her refusal was dark, stern. “This is ridiculous!”

“You will go to Philly. There is no choice in the matter,” Lucky commanded.

Deadly crimson waves hardened her face as she fought against his orders. She wouldn’t bow to her brothers demands; everyone knew that. However, the mere mention of Philly—of Romano touching what belonged to me—had me twisting against Al’s hold.

“Why am I being forced out when this is his fault?” Her voice was high-pitched and devastated, eliciting a niggling discomfort in my chest.

“Get the fuck over it, Sienna. You can run Energia from anywhere. You just need to be away from each other!” Al released me, shoving me into the wall and knocking me to my knees again.

“This fucking obsession, or whatever it is you have for him, needs to end! He’s going to fucking kill you!

” Al leaned forward until they were nearly nose to nose.

“How dumb do you have to be to see that, Sienna!”

“Al!” Bella gasped, her expression appalled, yet she didn’t offer Sienna any support.

“Seriously, sis,” Marco added, staring daggers at me. “This is ridiculous.”

“Again! How is this my fault?” Sienna’s composure was unraveling as she stared at each of her accusers, one at a time.

“Because he’s gone off the deep end, and you’re supposed to be the smart one out of all of us!”

Her jaw dropped at Marco’s insult. She was waiting for someone to stand up for her. But they’d turned their proverbial backs on her instead. The accusation in her eyes turned to pain as she realized everyone was siding with Lucky. With me. And not her.

“Pick!” Lucky’s rage settled on his sister.

Sienna’s normal complacency when it came to her family and duty was gone and an icy chill filled the hallway.

It was frigid, almost painful. Slow and blank, she glared at each of her onlookers before ending on her brother.

“As you wish, brother.” She turned to walk into her room.

“Or is it my king? Seeing as I’m still in New York…

for now.” Glacial. She gently closed the door and the entire hall noticed the turn of the lock.

“Something’s wrong, Lucky.” Bella stared at Sienna’s bedroom door. “She never folds like that.”

“This doesn’t feel good,” Marco muttered before disappearing down the hall.

“It had to be done.” Lucky pulled Bella into his arms.

“She’s lying.” I swallowed the rest of my words, the rough skin of my scar crawling, begging me to tear it open with my nails. “About the phone call.” My hands shook as I replayed each of her lies.

“I’m aware.” Lucky refused to look at me. “Alexei couldn’t trace it either.”

She was the queen of secrets, keeping everyone in the dark. Her cowardice was almost alarming. Sienna refused to appear weak, dismissing our attempts to help. There was an army at her back, threatening decimation, and yet she marched into battle alone.

“Stay the fuck away from her.” Al shouldered past me and stormed down the staircase.

Lucky walked off behind him, commanding his wife to follow suit. But as was true to her nature, Bella was yet another Agostino who was too defiant for her own good. And she fought back where she knew she’d win, and her husband handled the rest.

“It’s the funniest thing,” Bella whispered, still staring at the door. “Sienna is the strongest, most intelligent woman I’ve ever met. Except when it comes to you.” Bella craned her neck to look at me.

“You heard your husband .” My mouth watered as Sienna’s scent lingered on my skin.

“Can you stay away?” she asked, stepping closer. “Answer me this: who sent you in there?”

How the fuck did I end up in Sienna’s room?

“As I thought, you’re confused.” Bella smiled sadly, wrapping her cold, thin fingers around my wrist. “Neither of you have been particularly healthy in your pursuit of each other. But unlike my husband, I see what’s really happening.

Sienna is lashing out, begging someone to be on her side.

To receive the same allegiance we all give you.

And if we’re not careful, we’re going to lose her… forever.”

“She won’t leave.”

“Isn’t she already gone?” Bella’s question had me turning to look at the door.

“She’s not leaving.” I silently dared Sienna to open it.

Her refusal to listen caused total discord, leaving us to pick up the pieces.

I’d attempted to right the wrongs from my past, but as usual, Sienna was one step ahead of us.

The Affanad boys’ deaths were supposed to bring me peace, the tranquility my control provided.

Well, that was before I was thrown into the Hudson.

And she took that from me.

“Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the wall, ignoring Isabella’s shout of protest and disregarding everyone else, as I sped away from the compound in Al’s Audi.

I quickly rolled down the windows to alleviate the smell of vomit and whiskey.

The man was boorish, but this was a whole new level of repulsive, even for him.

My thoughts returned to the object of my contention.

Sienna’s face had turned disarmingly blank.

Something in her head sizzled to life—a plan I’d guess.

And that was far more dangerous than her verbal threats.

She was the queen of rash decision-making when she was emotional.

The dismissal of her family, the arrangement with Romano, and Gio Moretti always in the background, I was curious… would she snap and turn against us all?

I stood at the window of my office at the docks, lost in the memories of floating in the frigid waters, until my phone rang.

“Sending Al with a present.” Lucky hung up, and a few minutes later, Al walked in with an unconscious body slung over his shoulder.

“He was caught breaking into Sienna’s apartment.” Al dumped the man at my feet.

His words reawakened my nervous system. Waves of adrenaline contracted the vessels in the body, directing blood to all the major muscle groups, and mine were currently pumping more oxygen into my heart and limbs. I was invigorated, focusing my rage on the man with the death wish.

“Where the fuck’s your suit?” Al stared at my bare feet and chest. It was a wonder I’d remembered pants. “Christ, you really are fucked up. Apollo, don’t do this to her.”

“Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.”

He cracked his knuckles and glared back at me.

“You’re bursting bubbles of synovial fluid and reducing lubrication to your joints.”

Al continued to stare at me, his expression a mixture of anger and confusion. Good, that gave me time to prepare for the punch line.

“Chronic cracking of the knuckles can lead to a reduced grip strength. And since you can go fuck yourself , you may want to stop that before you can’t grip your flaccid member.”

“You son-of-a—” He halted in his steps when the figure at my feet moaned.