Page 31 of And Twice as Twisted
Then it usually ended with someone dead…
Well, introducing Sienna Agostino. The dumb-ass female lead who would keep dealing with shit she didn’t deserve. Andher costar, Apollo Deluca. The man who simultaneously drove her crazy and would—more than likely—eventually kill her.
Unless she fought back…
The question now was: which one of us would end up dead by the time the credits were rolling? And by whose hands? There were so many variables spread between the two cities.
Walking into my bathroom, I cringed at my reflection. I had dried blood on my face and body, my makeup smeared and my eyes red from my internal woes seeping through any available crevice. I rubbed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets, the harsh pressure doing little to dwindle my pounding headache. My life was a whirlwind of bullshit but at least I finally put my foot down. Moving forward, I was making decisions for the betterment of myself, and not for that of my family.
“Sienna!” Marco pounded on my door.
“Christ! Can’t a girl shower in peace? What!” I shouted back before opening the glass door and angrily wrapping myself in a towel.
“Someone’s been trying to reach you and the fucker won’t tell me who he is. He said turn on your phone,” he barked, slamming the bathroom door twice because my brother is an asshole.
Mumbling to myself, I tightened the towel around me and walked into the bedroom while ignoring Marco’s commentary on my lack of clothing. I powered on my cell phone and computer, smirking as my bastard brother acted so inconvenienced. My phone started ringing as soon as the service was reconnected.
“Sienna, this is important, but I need you alone,” John said, as I turned to my brother and made up a lie on the spot. John was the cop who had helped Persephone in her time of need, though I hadn’t spoken to him in a while.
“You fucking kidding me?” Marco punched my wall as he left.
“Your brother’s a real charmer. Listen…he’sout.” John’s tone was layered with worry and stress, and I felt like I’d swallowed my tongue. Surely, I had heard him wrong. “I was trying to give Persephone time to heal before testifying. They used it to their advantage.” His panicked voice did little to calm me. “Almost six hours ago.”
My heart pounded in my ears as unease settled in my gut. “He’ll still be in the city.”
“Or he has someone in the city to getyou.” I didn’t like that answer. “I watched you together, Sienna. This thing he has for you is real… it’s dangerous.”
“Yet you didn’t tell my brother.”
John wanted Gio alive and he wouldn’t allow Lucky to interfere. “I know how yourfamilydeals with police cooperation.”Aw, he was looking out for me.“I can’t let the mafia handle this.”
“Allegedly,” I muttered, my mind in a tailspin. My brother and Apollo would hunt him down and more than likely, I’d lose them all at once. The FBI were too close to this. Apollo was too unhinged and Lucky didn’t know how to backdown. They’d both be gone because of me.
“I figured I’d run police protection by you.” I was telling him no before he even finished his sentence. “Then what are you going to do, Sienna? I can’t have a war. I won’t sit back and do nothing.”
“I will handle it.” I sounded stronger than I felt. “He won’t… he won’t hurt me.”
“You sure about that?” When I didn’t answer, his impatient sigh hung heavy in the air. “Think this through, then get back to me.”
“Yup.” I hung up, tossing my phone onto my desk and flopping into my seat. The weight of the world on my shoulders was starting to bury me into the ground.
“Who was that?”
I shrieked, staring at Apollo in surprise.Give me a damn break!
He was showered, but in sweatpants, sans shirt. His hair was still dripping down his chest and into the waistband of his pants. I stared at the wet material, inadvertently licking my lips.
“Ever hear of knocking?” My breathy voice gave me away.
“Answer. Me.” He ground out the words, taking a step with each syllable until he was looming over my desk. I gave him the same lie I told my brother, but this time it fell flat. His eyes flared. “Try that again.”
I gulped, remaining quiet.
“Lie to me, Sienna. Do it. See what happens.”
I leaned across the desk and repeated myself, without breaking eye contact. He suddenly wanted to act like my hero, stumbling back into my life as a messy, sex-oozing, tattooed god. Well, fuck him.
“Okay.”
