Page 28 of Twins to Tame Him

Heat streaked through her lower belly and Laila had to retrace her thoughts. “Promises and threats, Kyrios Skalas,” she said, taunting him.

The moment stretched between them, full of sparks and longing and...heated desire.

“What else have you surmised of my brother?”

“His dislike of me is mostly based on something other than logic. When he discovers that, it will go away. As long as he does not extend it to Nikos and Zayn—which he hasn’t—I do not care if he approves of me or not.”

“You sound very used to being disliked, Dr. Jaafri,” he said, shocking her with his perception.

“Nobody gets used to being disliked, do they?” She laughed to bury the pain in her words, but it came out sounding hollow. But then, she had almost no pretensions when it came to Sebastian. So why start now? “Nobody should have to get used to being mocked for being odd or unconventional or differently wired or being sensitive. It’s especially cruel when it comes...from people who should protect you,” she said softly, acknowledging something she hadn’t until now. “I’m used to it. But I’ll do everything in my power to protect Zayn from something like that.”

“He has to face the world on his own merit, too, Laila. Or he would never know what he was capable of.”

Laila heard the almost mournful note in that and tried not to wonder what would make this seemingly powerful man sound so. The thought was terrifying even in her head. “Yes, well, that’s why we both are needed, no? You can push them toward being their own selves and I can coddle them just a little.”

Apparently, all it took to mellow Sebastian’s dark mood was talking about them as a team. She could almost feel him put on the easy, casual mask as he replied, “Fine. Let’s talk about the mighty Alexandros Skalas and why you think I hurt him.”

“It comes to you naturally...being a nurturer. Which is rare enough in powerful men who’re used to getting what they want. Maybe it’s because you were used to Annika as a kid or maybe it’s your artistic nature that pushes you to see the purity of spirit in children, I don’t know,” she said, clearly probing. “But it does not come easily to Alexandros, and it is also clear that the idea of being a parent terrifies him. And yet, instead of offering him some kind of comfort, you rubbed it in his face. I would say it was quite cruel of you, but luckily for me and the boys, I know that you don’t have a cruel bone in your body.”

“It would be dangerous to put so much trust in me, Laila.”

“That’s a one-eighty if I’ve ever heard one,” she said, not heeding the very real warning in his words.

He tucked his hands into the pockets of his trousers and examined her, as if gauging her worthiness. Laila stood her ground. After a while, he exhaled and spoke. “This is the first time in our lives that I’m better at something than him. And it is a big thing, given it’s a child, and his child tomorrow, that we’re talking about. Alexandros is used to being perfect at everything. Except this is not a skill set you acquire overnight, is it?”

Laila slapped his arm. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’re...enjoying his misery. That’s...awful, Sebastian.”

“Well, he was good at everything growing up. The perfect heir, the well-behaved son and a genius whiz kid with numbers and stocks... For a banking dynasty’s heir, that’s like knowing how to alchemize everything into gold.”

Her breath suspended in her throat as she got a tiny glimpse into what made Sebastian so different and so...unpredictable. “And you?” she asked, terrified of being shunted behind that invisible circle he drew around himself.

“I failed at everything he excelled at, and anything I was supposed to be good at. I got expelled out of every private school in Europe, so Alexandros had to return home, too. I made my tutors’ life hell until they ran away screaming. I complained of constant headaches and visions and was high maintenance until I found something to calm me down in my teens. I drew endless amounts of art that no one could make head or tail of. Konstantin loathed my very existence, so I gave him more reasons to do so by failing at everything he set me to do.”

“Your father?” Laila whispered, anxious to know more of what had made him and terrified of what it might be.

“Yes, the great Konstantin Skalas who was full of rot on the inside. He...did his best to mold me into another version of Alexandros. Because one paragon of a son wasn’t enough for the egotistical control freak. The more he tried, the more I loathed it, and the more I acted out. He didn’t miss a single chance to use his words and his fists against me.”

Laila couldn’t breathe. And when she spoke, her words were fragile, insubstantial, full of rage against this...monster of a man who would terrorize a defenseless child. Suddenly, so many things about Sebastian became clear. “What about your grandmother? And your mother? Why didn’t they protect you?”

“Thea didn’t know for a long time. And my mother... He’d already terrified her until she was afraid of her own shadow and lost herself in drink.”

Laila felt a surge of anger toward the woman but tempered it from turning it into judgment. But the thought of no one aiding a young Sebastian, of perverting his sense of self...made her want to rage out. Somehow, she managed to sound steady. “I’m... I have no words, Sebastian. I see where your fierceness for the boys comes from. You’re...” Another realization struck her. “So, you have spent your entire life shaming the Skalas name as some sort of revenge?”

He shrugged, his smile grim. “The need to dirty the name became far too entrenched in me by the time Alexandros discovered Konstantin’s treatment of me. And when he did... He did his best to shield me, begged me not to fuel Konstantin’s rages. For the next few years, Alexandros planned and schemed and strategized with Thea to bring Konstantin under his heel and then he ousted him from the bank and our lives.”

“You resent him for saving you?” Laila bit out, before she could phrase it better.

“Alexandros did not save me,” he said, a jagged edge to his answer that forbade her to probe more.

But something lingered just out of her reach and Laila couldn’t quite catch what it was. “So, because he was better than you as a child, you will rub this fear of his in his face?” she said instead.

He turned toward her, finally paying full attention to her windblown hair and her new dress and her pink lips. Something hot came awake in his eyes.

He rubbed a hand over his tired face. “I reacted out of instinct. Although I do not want him to terrify my sons with his ugly face.”

When she gasped, he raised his brows and grinned. Moving close suddenly, he caught one stray corkscrew curl and pulled it until it stood straight in his fingers.

Laila let him tug her closer, thick clumps of her curls between his fingers as leverage. Her scalp prickled, the remembered sensation of those fingers delving deep and driving her wild acute. “He needs you, Sebastian.”

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