Page 92 of Heart of a Villain

She shrugged. “Everything and nothing. I went from hearing that there was a woman who looked uncannily a lot like me, to learning that there’s a genetic reason for it. We share the same DNA. That means we came from the same egg. Are you and Ari identical or fraternal?”

“Identical.”

“Do you feel like your own person?”

“I always have. Ari’s my other half. Giorgio is my better half. Our parents always allowed our individual personalities to shine. I’ve never not felt like Mo, and I’m sure she would say the same thing.”

Sayeda cupped an imaginary heart over her chest. “I think I felt it. I felt that we were close. It was either that, or I was in love with her.”

Mo chuckled.

“I thought she was the most wonderful person I’ve ever met,” Sayeda continued. “Everything about her was fanfare. I wanted to be close to her, hold her hand, tell her everything. At first, I thought it was a little bit of narcissism—that I only felt close to her because I saw myself in her. But there was something else.”

“Mana.”

She angled her head. “Mana?”

“It’s a Polynesian concept. It’s like…a vibe. It’s the spiritual force that lives inside us. It’s the explanation for why you meet some people you can’t help but feel drawn or connected to. The elders would say that it’s our ancestral spirits influencing our relationships and attraction. So, even if Eesh didn’t have your face, it’s very possible that you would still feel the same pull.”

She stared at Mo’s face.

Mo’s lashes lowered. “What, didn’t think the fighter could get that deep?”

“It’s not that,” Sayeda said, head shaking. “It’s just…that was beautiful. And that applies only to familial relationships?”

Mo looked out at the club and the bustling scene below. “No. It can also happen in romance.”

“Did you feel that with Giorgio?”

“I’ve never thought about it, to be honest. Giorgio simply…is. He’s the love of my life, the father of my child, part of the reason for my strength, the healing in my soul. But…maybe. The first time I met him, I pointed a gun at him. I knew who he was, and that he was one of the most dangerous men I would ever encounter, but I never pulled the trigger. I stared him in the eyes, knowing that if I didn’t, he could kill me with one flick of his wrist, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger.”

“What happened next?”

Mo touched her bottom lip. “He invited me back to his hotel room. We spent days together. I was his first kiss. He would avoid it, you know? He saw himself as this…thing. Hardly a human. A thing that didn’t deserve the affection that came with a kiss. Sex was purely pleasure, but a kiss changed things.”

“And you kissed him.”

“I did.” Mo dipped her head in a single nod. “I saw his pain, yeah, but there hasn’t been a day since the first time I laid eyes on him that I didn’t think Giorgio was beautiful.”

“Damn, Mo. I’m about to cry in a nightclub.”

Mo laughed. “Sorry. I’m in a mood.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just that, recently, I came clean about something that was happening to me, to Giorgio. And the way he handled it…it’s both wonderful, and it breaks my heart to think that he went as long as he did without knowing that he was worthy of being loved.”

Sayeda motioned around. “There’s a lot to go around. The guys, they’re like blood brothers. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“When you bleed together, you eventually share blood.”

“You’re right.”

They remained silent for a brief moment. “Montero” by Lil Nas X now blasted throughout the club. There were several Swedish hip-hop songs that the DJ had played all night, but she hadn’t been in the country long enough to either recognize or understand any of them.

Still, it was a good vibe.

It was an excellent location for a birthday celebration night out, especially for parents of young children.

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