Page 34 of And Twice as Twisted (Agostino Crime Family #4)

“Stop trying to talk me out of it.” I was giving up my peace for my sister.

The only one of us who deserved to be saved.

I’d savored my freedom these past several months, but as we approached the city, my heart lodged itself in my throat, choking me.

Every nerve ending in my body knew going back was a bad idea, but I would do anything for my sister.

Even this one last act of self-sacrifice.

“We’ll get Octavia and then you can leave. You don’t need to confess…”

I cut him off and steeled my spine, knowing every ball was in my court. “It’s my decision. It’ll be fine.” I pulled the visor down to stare at my reflection in the mirror.

“Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?” Alexei’s words hung heavy in the air.

In a game of cards, you had no one but yourself on your side.

The dealer would bet on the house, the house didn’t want to lose, and the man next to you was out for cold, hard cash.

Yours, theirs, it didn’t matter. I might have had Alexei in my corner, as he corralled the Russian Bratva to meet us at my family’s compound, but I had to protect myself from il famiglia.

They—he—might just want to kill me. Once the knife in my grip shredded through my veins, the deceit I’d been harboring would change everything.

I walked into the compound with my head held high and ignored the unease churning in my stomach.

“Back up.” Dom pushed Apollo aside before inserting himself between the object of his contention and Persephone.

I couldn’t even look at him . Alexei stepped to my right, intentionally shielding me. It worked both ways. I was blocked from Apollo’s view and he was blocked from mine.

Could I do this?

I swallowed roughly as the entire group settled into my father’s office.

“I entered this game seeking revenge. Not to stand by and watch more innocents get hurt.” Persephone’s words had the entire room tensing.

“Where is my daughter?” my father ground out, his arms engulfing my mother as they both awaited the answer.

“We had nothing to do with this. With Octavia,” Dom added. “I want to make that clear.”

“Who has her?” Apollo urged, his patience clearly waning.

Persephone turned in his direction, and her expression lit up as she eyed my shadow lurking in the doorway. “You should be more concerned with who has the plan to get her back.”

Dom laughed under his breath. But before anyone could respond, I stormed across the threshold with Alexei at my heels and a small Russian army at my back. I could tell my family wanted to ask a million questions, but they all faltered when Nikolai walked into the room.

“We’re brokering a deal, Mario,” Persephone explained cryptically.

I could feel his approach. He moved subtly, but I could sense it like an open flame against my skin.

His growl told me he saw the bruise on my face and the sound sent chills down my spine, even as my father’s tone left little room for argument.

He commanded Apollo to back down. He’d just gotten me home and the sincerity in his voice showed me how heavily my disappearance had weighed on my family.

“ Who fucking touched you?” Apollo pressed me for answers, despite the men attempting to drag him out of the room. I swallowed past the pain in my hollow heart. “Was it you, fica russa ?”

I didn’t have to look to know the insult was directed at Alexei. “ Dio dammi la forza,” I prayed for a moment, closing my eyes to regain my composure as Apollo was finally escorted outside.

Persephone was working to negotiate a meeting spot.

Once that was determined and we confirmed a date and time, I was the point person.

I was supposed to bring Octavia home and avoid all-out war.

They thought I’d be the calm in the anticipated storm, but I planned to teach them a lesson for hurting my sister.

Once we’d updated my family, I pivoted on my heel and marched out of the room as quickly as I’d entered.

Marco stood to the side of the house smoking a cigarette.

I could smell the alcohol on his breath at a distance.

Several Russians in suits circled an idling SUV, their conversation ending the moment we approached.

When the rear car door opened, I watched my brother’s jaw drop, his cigarette falling from his lips and hitting the ground. “Well, fuck me…” Marco muttered the moment his eyes landed on the girl presently stepping onto the gravel path.

“Come, malyska .” Nikolai made his presence known and his men parted like the Red Sea. “Mario invited us to stay while everything is being settled. We’ll go retrieve our belongings from the hotel now.”

I nodded and smiled at Alexei’s sister. “ Do svidaniya,” she said as she promptly followed her uncle.

Uh-oh…

My brother’s face gave nothing away, but something told me the gorgeous Russian doll had his full attention. Before I could ask him about it, Marco turned on his heel and hightailed it inside, leaving me alone with the man who still haunted my dreams… and starred in my nightmares.

“You look good.” His voice at my back sent goosebumps down my spine.

“Eat your heart out.” I tried to hide my body’s natural reaction to his presence but knew that I’d failed.

“I’ll save that for the monster I left in the woods.”

I spun so quickly I had to catch myself from snapping a heel. “He already ate mine.”

“And it was delicious.” Apollo pulled me close, inhaling my scent as if he didn’t recognize me. “Tell me who touched you.”

“Don’t think for one second that my return has anything to do with you. ” I thought I was maintaining my composure, holding my own against the beast in my midst, but his crazed smirk told me I needed to run. “Have a good night,” I threw over my shoulder.

He called out my name, and something in his voice gave me pause. I stared at the darkened sky before slowly turning to him, my expression giving nothing away.

“There’s a darkness inside me but it’s also what draws you to me.” He stepped closer.

And I swallowed back the weakness threatening to overtake all rationality. Instead of crumbling, I held on to my anger. “The fuck does that mean?” I rolled my eyes. “Stop talking in fucking riddles. I used to think it was attractive. Now it’s just exhausting.”

“It means…” His jaw clenched as he gestured between us. “This. Us. We’re toxic.”

“Okay? And?” My walls immediately began to rise.

“Toxic or not, you’re mine. I need this.” He took another step forward. “Crave this.” He ran a finger down my throat, to my breasts, before pulling me in for a kiss—one that whispered his deepest, darkest sins.

I moaned into his mouth, feeling his arousal against my stomach. I wanted him to drop to his knees. To thank God or praise the devil for my return. And while that fantasy was not in any conceivable future for us, I would watch him fall… with a perfectly timed blow to his balls.

“You lost your privilege of taking without asking.” I spat on his hunched form, much like he’d done when he called me a whore. “Don’t make it a habit.” Then I sauntered inside the compound with my head held high.

“I deserved that,” he grunted in reply. “Fuck.”

“Trust me, I deserve worse,” I said to myself.

Hello. My name is Sienna Agostino, and although I’d lost a valuable part of myself to a man who didn’t deserve it, I was back.

My strength was an integral part of the story I was weaving.

I wanted Apollo Deluca to fall at my feet of his own accord, and if he chose not to, then I’d make him regret it.

“Good to see you.” Lucky pulled me in for a hug the moment I stepped inside. “Are you staying here tonight?”

“Sienna…” Bella’s soft voice drew my attention to the stairs.

My beautiful sister-in-law stood before us like a goddess wrapped in a white silk gown.

She looked demure, yet radiant with a new glow to her skin.

But I couldn’t help but laugh at the oversized baby hanging from her arms. “Come meet your nephew. Nico.” She continued down the stairs, and Lucky immediately rushed to her side.

“ This . Came out of you.” I gestured to the infant, the rest of the family laughed, and I finally felt at ease.

For as tiny as Bella was, especially when compared to my brother, she was dwarfed by their oversized son.

He was big for his age, with impossibly long legs and a thick body.

But it was the blue eyes that caught your breath—eyes that were far too aware for such a little baby.

He looked at you as though he was somehow staring through you and into your soul.

Nico was going to run New York one day, and I already pitied anyone who stood in the kid’s path.

I reached forward, and those blue-steel eyes appeared to glance between my face and my hands before the infant finally outstretched his little arms.

“God!” I shuffled him from side to side to get a good grip. I wanted this. I wanted someone to look at me the way my brother looked at his wife.

I wish I may, I wish I might… Please, please keep Apollo from freaking the fuck out tonight…

“I’m only his favorite when my breast is out.” Bella giggled at my back.

“Sienna.” Alexei approached a moment later. “My uncle’s returned with our… belongings.”

The man in question walked in the room with Adrian—his right hand—at his side and a veil of dark hair behind him. Nikolai shook my father’s hand and thanked him again for his hospitality. Adrian nodded and then ordered their men to patrol.

“This is my niece, Mila.”

The Russian doll, often compared to Snow White, stepped forward. With her black hair and light eyes, her porcelain skin fit the bill. She was both beautiful and sweet , according to Alexei. Which was a rarity for someone in her position.

“Hello.” Mila’s saccharine voice was laced with a thick Russian accent as she spoke in broken English. “Thank you… having me.”

Everyone took in the petite girl, their eyes landing on the bundle she was cradling against her chest. However, I was frozen in place as my mind was throttled back to a particular night at Danza .

“You do realize you don’t always have to be a dick, right?” I watched Natalia storm out of the room after having been dismissed from her duties.

“I sent her home to avoid potential concerns for the fetus’s health,” Apollo stated, his nonchalance further demonstrating just how clueless the man was.

“Baby. Normal people call it a baby.” I sipped my drink before turning my glare on him. “And the reasoning was sweet but the delivery was… dickish.”

I didn’t even know what I was doing here.

What I was expecting from a man whose sense of compassion was as foreign to him as a mother’s love.

How could I ever hope that he could understand, accept me and my choices, when he didn’t know what it meant to empathize.

There was no future for us. I should have seen it that night at the club, when Natalia’s child was nothing more to him than a medical term.

A condition, a concern, an ailment…

I was snapped back to the present when a shrill cry filled the foyer.

Mila looked at me, her eyes wide and pleading for help.

The sound was as unmistakable as my looming betrayal.

And I only prayed they didn’t kill me as each lie was unraveled in front of us.

I didn’t have to say anything as Mila lifted the now-awake baby towards me.

His honey-brown eyes were an exact replica of his father’s.

“This is my son. Salvatore.” I straightened my spine and faced the awaiting onslaught.

The room erupted with commentary, but it all melted into the background.

My head was filled with a crackling static as Apollo approached, reaching a tender finger out to his son.

Sal was quick, latching on to it with his chubby hands and bringing it to his mouth.

My son was also big for his age—a sure sign that he’d rival his father in height and width.

“Salvatore means savior in Greek.” Apollo refused to look at me, his usually locked-down expression a myriad of contradictions as he stared at our son. However, there was one emotion I recognized and it was the pain I saw in his eyes.

“He was my savior in my darkest times.” I smiled down at my precious boy, the light of my life. When I peered up again, I noticed that Apollo was finally looking in my direction.

His gaze dropped back to Salvatore when he spoke. “And now that responsibility will fall to me.” When I didn’t seem to immediately grasp his meaning, Apollo added, “I will be the one to save you when you feel lost amidst our shared darkness. I will protect you both. You’re mine.”

I faltered when those honey-brown eyes that matched my son’s pinned me in place. There was a fire flickering beneath the surface, but every time I took comfort in its warmth, I was left to burn…

So, instead of surrendering to his pull, I squared my jaw. “What you’d label a fetus, see as a burden… I call a child, a gift. I belong to no one and he’s mine .”