Page 35 of Twins to Tame Him

Any hope of continuing in that way in blissful ignorance ended when her mother called demanding to know where Laila had disappeared to for months on end with “her precious grandsons” in tow. Which was laughable because Mama only visited once in six months, given her “busy career,” and had only missed Laila when she’d needed petty cash or when she needed to be looked after by the daughter she knew worked damned hard.

She’d had no choice but to tell her that she was with the Skalas family—yes, that Skalas family—because Sebastian Skalas was Nikos and Zayn’s father. Too late she had added it was not a good time to visit but it was lost in the furor Mama created at the identity of the boys’ father.

She’d resigned herself to paying the price of keeping that explosive information to herself for more than two years in the form of unlimited amount of criticism in the future. She definitely didn’t want them to come here and...somehow undercut Laila in an already overwhelming situation. But, of course, the model of chaos had always ruled her life. Why shouldn’t it now?

They arrived one gray, drizzly evening, leaving her feeling as rootless and ignored as she always felt around them.

As it had been through her entire childhood and adolescence, Mama and Nadia’s arrival caused quite the stir. Not just because they were two extremely beautiful women dressed to the height of sophistication, but because Mama had been a world-renowned actress in the ’90s and Nadia was a supermodel, albeit one whose career had barely touched superstardom before spiraling down because she had the worst kind of work ethic. Also, there was not even a hint of resemblance between Laila and them.

She could see the surprise in everyone, probably wondering how Laila could be part of a family of women who looked like that. It was like she’d reverted back to being fifteen and gawky and awkward, her brain far too ahead of her body, wondering what she could do to look like them, how she could transform herself so that she belonged to that nest.

Before her adolescent nightmares could become truly fresh, her sensitive child came to her rescue in his own way. Reacting to Mama’s frenetic, frantic energy, Zayn made his way to her, and wrapped his chubby arms around Laila’s legs, begging wordlessly for respite.

Laila picked him up, hugging his small body to hers, feeling that sense of peace fall into place, like it always did when she held one of her sons. As long as she had her boys, she needed nothing. It had been her mantra since she’d held them both moments after they were born but now, as she observed Sebastian’s smiling reception of her family, that conviction that she didn’t need a man in her life stumbled and stuttered.

And even now, it wasn’t that she needed Sebastian so much as she wanted him to need her. To want to spend the rest of his life with her. To choose it because he couldn’t bear it otherwise. Apparently, her heart was just as romantic and delusional as her half sister, who kept throwing herself at men who didn’t value her for anything but her beauty. But she didn’t want to walk away from him, either.

Could she live in this weird limbo, then? Could she bear to marry him and live with the little he would give her while her love and her doubts niggled away at her? Would she ever feel confident enough to even admit to him without some guarantee of return?

No, a voice retorted.

She’d never been able to tell Mama that she craved her attention and her affection, or to Nadia that her taunts hurt, that she wanted to be part of them even if she was different. Or even Baba that she was only a teenager who still needed his care, even after Mama broke his heart.

God, she was a coward.

She gritted her teeth, as if to brace herself against the unbidden thoughts. Zayn cried out at the sudden stiffness of her hold, and she forced herself to relax her arms, cooing wordlessly into his temple, muttering sorry.

Sebastian was at her side instantly, his brow furrowed, as he tried to not crowd Zayn. “Laila, are you—”

“I’m fine,” she said, without meeting Sebastian’s eyes.

He moved closer, his broad frame shielding her from the prying eyes. “You’re not happy to see them,” he said, a thread of dismay in his statement.

She pursed her lips, unable to force even a parody of smile. “They are just a...lot.”

“I will send them away, then,” he said, rubbing his finger over her chin, in an almost tentative gesture that raised her shocked gaze to him. As if he thought she might...push him away.

“No,” she said, looking into his deep gray gaze and swallowing. God, the drama that would cause... She needed to stop being a coward. “They are family. And family is everything, isn’t it?” she whispered.

He searched her gaze for a few moments, and then turned. His welcome words to Mama and Nadia told her he was that Sebastian again, the one she didn’t want. She gingerly brought Zayn down to the floor, who instantly ran off to play with Annika, right as she was engulfed in her mother’s perfume and her sister’s air kisses.

Mama thanked Sebastian with the effusiveness that seemed to grow out of proportion for a man who’d simply slept with Laila—or in proportion with the Skalas name, for his gracious invitation to the villa Skalas, when her own daughter had conveniently omitted them from her good news.

Sebastian had invited them here, then. That explained his dismay.

Why, though?

“Laila has been looking lost these last few weeks. I thought seeing her family might help. And I was eager to meet her family,” Sebastian replied, ever the charmer, though his gaze sought hers.

Pasting a smile to her lips, Laila looked away. For the first time since she had arrived at the villa, she wished the Skalas family wasn’t all present in force. But, of course, they were curious to meet her family and clearly shocked at what she’d hidden.

She introduced Sebastian to Nadia, who demanded it with that usual diva flourish of hers, and wondered if her retinas could be damaged in the face of the radiant smile Nadia threw at Sebastian. She could sense her sister’s growing interest as clearly as she could hear her own thudding pulse. Nadia shook his hand, asked after a common acquaintance and had him pealing in laughter within seconds. Nadia, who knew all about art, and high culture and fashion and business and celebrity... everything about the world Sebastian dwelled in and Laila knew nothing about, nor was interested in.

God, what was wrong with her? She’d never been jealous of her sister even as a pimply, gawky teenager. All she’d ever wanted was not to be so different from them, to belong. She wasn’t going to do this to herself now, just because she was in love with him. Although, saying that to herself didn’t take away sticky, ugly jealousy that consumed her.

“This is quite the pairing, no? Like a comical, reverse retelling of a particular fairy tale,” Nadia said, guffawing at her own cheap joke that couldn’t quite hide her upset at her sister’s sudden bout of good fortune, both in looks and riches of the man she’d “landed.” Her half sister had never quite learned to hide her pettiness. “The charming, gorgeous playboy Sebastian Skalas...”

A full-body cringe took hold of Laila as her meaning sunk. Embarrassment choked her throat as she whispered, “Nadia...”

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