Page 14 of And Twice as Twisted
It was thoughts of Sienna that reinvigorated my fight. I’d catalogued the wounds they’d given her, and I felt peace, believing someone would get to her before she bled out—while my own future didn’t seem as likely. If I survived, only one thought would be on my mind.
Revenge. And I’d get it.
My lungs were taking in water. I was drowning on the inside long before I would on the outside. I closed off my mind to the innate panic. It was funny how the same instincts that were meant to keep you alive, only helped to quicken yourdemise in a situation such as this. God—not that I believed in him—was one fucked-up son of a bitch.
In my head, I screamed for help, but never made a sound. No one would hear me and no one was coming, much like my childhood.
The thought of death wasn’t terrifying. Not like it should have been. It never was. My rage was the only thing that kept me going. But the idea of letting go was nearly as gratifying. Peaceful. Her face was the last thing I saw as I succumbed to exhaustion, knowing Lucky would burn down the city to avenge me. To avenge Sienna, if they were too late to rectify my mistake. My inability to protect her.
“Wake up, Apollo!” Small hands shook my body.
“Bella, back up! He could hurt you,” Lucky bellowed.
“Open your eyes, Apollo. Please, you’re safe!” Bella’s voice was filled with such emotion that I forced my dry gaze to hers. She ran a soft fingertip down my face, her mismatched eyes dripping with tears. “You’re safe now.”
I turned away from her. No one was safe around me. From my godforsaken birth to my near death, I’d destroyed everything I touched, and the Agostinos were unwilling to see the truth.
Reality crashed back into me as I shook off the memory of my time spent in that frigid water. My purpose was reinvigorated.
Cassandra was dealt with but the other two… I was still owed their blood. Their pain. Their deaths. It was mine to control and deliver. They couldn’t hide from me forever. Focus and commitment was all I needed to get the job done.
Sienna was my blind spot. Whenever she was near, she was all I could see. That first taste of her had been my undoing. I was a crazed man, driven by obsession rather than duty. I’d become complacent, clouded by the misguided dream that I could have more.
Death was my only companion. Not her. Never her.
That didn’t mean Romano-fucking-Bianchi was for her either.Watching her get into his idling car, I’d been ready to start a war. Instead, I shut my mouth and let her leave with them.
“Go, Lucky.” Bella shoved him towards the door. “Homerand I will keep Apollo company.” She lifted the large book for reference. If I weren’t so apoplectic, I’d be entertained by my best friend’s discomfort.
Lucky was concerned. That much was made obvious, if not by the expression on his face, then by his whispered warning to his wife—the one I’d overheard in my dreamlike state. I’d lost my mask of control in the Hudson, but not my ability to read people.
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Bella’s reticence as she read her book at a safe distance stifled the room, while her audible sighs and random glances made her need for attention all too apparent. I would have mocked her lack of subtlety if I had any semblance of humor left within me.
“I know you’re attuned to my sighs. Can you please put me out of my misery?” Her tone reflected her evident displeasure.
“You’re the one who decided to read that poor example for historic literature.” The book was horrendously overrated.
“How do you not like theOdyssey? Even the damn movie was good! Great soundtrack too.”She nodded, as if her argument bore any merit. It didn’t.
“Never saw it.” I shoved the blankets aside and stalked to my bathroom.
“That doesn't surprise me.” Bella charged to her feet. “What does is your lack of concern for Sienna. You both almost died, and now you’ve cut her out of your life.” The tiny woman slipped her arm through the small opening in the door, forcing me to keep it ajar.
She kept rambling, claiming that my ignorance was morally inept, my actions self-absorbed. I removed my shirt, noticing theobvious change in body language when my hands crept inside the waist of my sweatpants. I waited for her to catch on.
“Oh.” She guffawed, turning to face the door. “But don’t you think, after everything, maybe you were brought back together for a reason?”
“Bella, turn off the incessant Romeo and Juliet complex.” I stepped under the showerhead and my muscles immediately relaxed. Hot water expanded blood vessels and opened circulation, a natural vasodilator I found comforting. “Rationalizing everyone’s decisions and making off-base hypotheses won’t change the facts.”
Her rage obviously outweighing her decorum, Bella spun on her heel to face me, with an accusatory finger aimed in my direction. “So, let me get this right. Youfuckedbefore you both almost died, and now you dismiss her! You can’t be that fucking stupid!” By the end of her tirade, she was yelling, her pale cheeks brightening with the exertion.
“How far along are you, Mirabella? By twenty-seven weeks, the fetus can hear sounds outside the body. If you continue with these antics, your offspring will come out the womb sayingfuck,” I mocked, gripping my cock to add to her discomfort. “Sono sgomento, Bella.”Then I tsked my tongue for good measure.
Frankly, I was tired of all these little girls insisting on going toe-to-toe with the boys. If she wanted to sit at the table with the men, I would treat her like I treated any one of them.
“Gesù Cristo!” Lucky appeared in the doorway like an apparition in the night. “I hear the word fuck ten times and come to find my pregnantwifein the bathroom with a naked man.”
Bella gasped, Lucky’s tone forcing her to assess the situation. She twirled on an angry heel and stormed from the room. Beneath the mock irritation, my best friend was amused by his wife’s lack of social awareness.
