Page 37 of And Twice as Twisted (Agostino Crime Family #4)

Fuck. Me. She’d just tempted the beast, tugged at his leash just to force him to sit at attention at her feet. And the bastard longed for her next command.

“You can’t fix me, you know. Any more than you can fix yourself. We are two fucked-up pieces of the same goddamn puzzle. We shouldn’t work, shouldn’t fit, but we do.”

This had her pausing midstep, spinning back around, and stomping in my direction again. Good. I needed her fight. Her rage. Her retaliation.

“I was never supposed to feel anything, but every day with you was the purest form of agony, Sienna. And I need the pain. Because without it, I feel nothing.”

“Am I supposed to empathize with that? Should I apologize for loving you to the point it almost killed me? Is that what you want? Will it make you feel better, Apollo?” Her anger was radiating off her in waves of toxic energy. I could almost taste it in the air.

“I’m the last person who would ever try to advise you on how to regulate your emotions, Sienna.

However, that’s not really what you want from me, is it?

” My tongue traced along her ear, down her jaw, until my breath brushed across her lips.

“No, what you want has nothing to do with what makes me feel better and has everything to do with what makes you feel better. You’re the same spoiled princess I’ve always known you to be, no matter what you try to tell yourself.

You like the power you have over me, the control.

You get off on the fact that you tamed the one beast no one else could.

That you and you alone can send me spiraling. Don’t you, Sienna?”

I didn’t give her the opportunity to answer, exploring her mouth while her unique flavor exploded on my tongue. The receptor proteins along my taste buds throttled my nervous system, sending satisfying impulses directly to my brain.

“You may think that girl is dead and buried. But I think she’s been reborn.” I rested my forehead against hers. “I can’t love you the way you want. But we can hate each other until our dying breaths.”

I felt her sharp intake of air, the sudden rise and fall of her chest, before I heard her audible gasp.

My eyes searched hers but Sienna wasn’t looking at me.

Her gaze was focused on something over my shoulder as her hand fumbled along my waistband, her fingers reaching for my gun.

I shoved her back, catching her wrist, but it was too late.

She fired. Two shots. Right next to my ear as I dodged to the side, my senses scrambled amidst the chaos.

A high-pitched sound over 120 decibels could puncture the eardrum. A gunshot ranged anywhere from 140-175. Loud enough to not only disorient you and delay your body’s reaction time, but also cause permanent damage.

Fortunately, I was keen enough to intercept when I saw the fucker behind me go down. The gun dropped to Sienna’s side. I stepped into her space and took hold of her wrist. She ignored me, grabbing the gun that was just out of reach of her latest victim.

“Who the fuck sent you?” Sienna questioned, kicking him once for good measure. “Your boss is dead. I killed him.” She raised the barrel and took aim. “And you can fucking join him.”

“Wait.” Lucky was approaching, Nikolai not far behind him. “Answer the question,” Lucky demanded, but the bastard was losing his fight.

I shoved my boot into the would-be hitman’s ribs, rolling him onto his side and pulling his wallet from his pocket. Just like before, the city and state matched those of the men we encountered in Sienna’s apartment.

Gio Moretti might have been dead, but Romano was coming for her now.

“What is it?” Sienna asked, knowing there was some unspoken conversation being shared between us.

“Seriously? I was sick to my stomach, terrified that you’d hate me for my lies and my secrets.

I forgot how much yours have ruined this family.

” She turned to look at the man at her feet.

“ Vai all’inferno. ” Sienna’s body barely twitched as the gun discharged, forcing Lucky back.

“Fuck! Sienna, puttana pazza! ” Lucky wiped the blowback from his face. “Get someone to clean this shit up.”

Two of our men stepped forward, but Nikolai pushed them aside and ordered his guys to handle it instead.

“Have you always been such a pussy?” Sienna asked her brother, and everyone paused at her words. “Just a little bit of blood, il diavolo. ” She grinned at his deepening scowl.

Lucky opened his mouth a few times as he looked back and forth between us. “You two, figure your shit out.” Then he gestured in our direction before storming off.

My chest heaved as adrenaline coursed through my veins. I looked to the sky, needing a moment to collect myself as an image flashed in my mind. A glimpse of the pain I’d felt when I couldn’t find her. The atrophy her absence had caused. And I refused to allow that to happen again.

“You’re done running, Sienna. Both you and Salvatore.”

And then we attacked each other like animals, freed from our self-imposed cages and absolutely ravenous.

There had always been a power she held over me. No matter how much I wanted to deny it, it was there. She kept my soul on a leash, and each time I wandered farther into the darkness, she pulled me back. She wouldn’t let it consume me.

Her legs dropped from my waist and she tugged me to the ground, nestling us between a group of rose bushes.

She gasped and I noticed how one of the thorns had scraped her cheek, a thin line of red pooling across her flawless skin.

I snapped a rose from the branch and used its soft petals to collect the blood.

Sienna moaned as the flower dragged across her skin, before tugging me flush against her once more. Rose forgotten, I dropped to my elbows and allowed one single kiss to say all the things I couldn’t.

Our bodies melded together, obliterating all the unspoken tension that hung between us.

This was the push and pull that made the chaos between us seem…

right. It was what made me realize so many things I’d avoided before.

Sienna Agostino wasn’t just my ruin; she was my salvation.

And as much as she tried to argue otherwise, I was hers.

Rain started soaking into my shirt, through to my back, but I didn’t care as I pulled her dress over her head.

Her moans of pleasured mixed with the thunderous sky as the heavens let loose upon us.

But neither god nor devil could stop our unsanctimonious union.

It was the perfect symbolism for our tragic story.

Passion and destruction amidst the chaos.

I released her flesh from my teeth and unbuttoned my slacks, barely getting myself free as I fought for my next taste of her.

The moment I was buried inside her, Sienna threw her head back and cried out.

Our bodies were soaked through to the bone, and each forward thrust had her back sliding through the mud.

I wasn’t even breathing anymore, as I watched on as she fell apart at my hands while burying myself deeper and deeper. The storm thrashed above us, but it was nothing compared to the sounds of her moans and my grunts.

I flipped her over, resting Sienna on her knees as she lifted her ass in the air, and shoved her face against the cold, wet grass.

The rain was increasing with my thrusts, as was the symphony of skin slapping skin, the animalistic fucking sending us both over the edge and bringing us back to the present.

We righted ourselves with no words spared between us, taking a moment to adjust our clothing, before I tucked Sienna against my side and guided her back inside the compound.

We heard Bella’s labored breathing before she entered the room, her arms attempting to contain the screaming child.

She dumped the boy in Lucky’s lap and flopped onto the sofa, releasing an exhausted sigh as everyone else seemed to chuckle at her plight.

Isabella was cradling Salvatore against her chest; however, my son seemed to notice his cousin’s distress and joined in on the high-pitched wailing.

Sienna picked him up and I tugged her to me as she soothed our boy into complacency.

And it was then that I had a sudden revelation.

Whatever this unspoken bond was between us, it made me whole.

There was no Sienna without me. Her fire dwindled when she didn’t have me to spark the flames.

And there was no me without her. She inspired me to do better.

Be better. And she kept my demons at bay as much as she incited their fury.

“I can’t handle this.” Bella was the first to break the silence, her eyes flicking to us with tears brimming her lash line and her chin wobbling.

“It’s about time.” She shook her head, her comment clearly meant for me as she rose to her feet, collected Nico in her arms, and stormed off to tuck the boy in bed for the night.

“Nico is…” Isabella stopped to glare at her son. “Well, he’s his father’s son and giving Bella a bit of a hard time when it comes to complying with routine.”

Sienna squeezed me tighter, her words directed at her brother. “I feel bad for her—I mean, one of you is bad enough.”

“Easy,” Lucky warned before his eyes landed on Salvatore.

“I’m your Uncle Lucky, little one.” Our boy grinned at him in return, and Lucky paused and cleared his throat.

“I wouldn’t expect your son to be so… approachable.

” He laughed at my responding growl and then the room froze, the air thick with tension until Lucky’s face broke out in a smirk and everyone appeared to breathe again.

Isabella took Sal and left the room as Sienna slumped against me, clearly overcome with exhaustion. “The body?” I asked, changing the subject to one I understood far better than fatherhood.

“Handled.” Nikolai stepped forward, as Alexei turned a glare in my direction.