Page 19 of Twins for the Mafia Heir

Even in the depths of his anger, he was mindful of me.

And that mindfulness makes me think of something else.

“Did you… tell Sidony about me?” I ask. “About us?”

Achilles’s broad shoulders stiffen. “I didn’t. I can’t. Not today. She’s with her tutor anyway.”

He’s quiet for another few minutes, and I can’t think of anything to say that will reassure him. I’m afraid of being his wife, and I’m afraid of how that connects me to Sidony too. But it’s too late now.

“You deserve so much better than this,” Achilles says at last, looking out at the lawn and London and the sky. “I don’t even know you, but I know that much.”

I don’t know what possesses me to say it. Maybe it’s the soft scent of his cologne left on the blazer, or my desperate fear of this new future, but I say,

“So do you.”

Chapter 10

Emma

I’m almost grateful for the sleeping pills Achilles had me take the night before. I feel strangely lightheaded and fuzzy as we go to the dining hall for our wedding dinner, but at least I’m not dead on my feet from jetlag. And the lightheadedness could just be nerves.

The only members of this household I’ve met thus far are Fantasia, Sidony, and, of course, my new husband Achilles. But there are at least a hundred other people living on Thomas’s estate who help run things. I’m not living in a private family home, I’m living in a swarming nest. And now I’m going to be introduced to more of the worker ants.

I wonder how many of them hate me just because I’m here, and how many more won’t be afraid to act on that hatred.

As contrary as it might seem- since he’s one of the people who’s trapped me here- I find myself walking closer and closer to Achilles as we approach the yawning double doors leading into the dining hall. It’s a beautiful room, with a wall of windows on one side of its length and a massive fireplace on the other. Unfortunately, the view is totally ruined by the fact that the long table is already full.

And all ten men sitting at it stand to give a rowdy cheer.

I can’t tell whether my face wants to go pale with horror or flush with humiliation. There’s a certain tone to the cheering that tells me these men have one thing and one thing alone on their minds right now. Worse, half of them are already drunk enough to be red in the face. Thank god Sidony isn’t here. She’s apparently getting dinner in the kitchen, watched over by Mrs. Garrow.

Still, this is going to be miserable.

Fantasia is here too, seated at the far end of the table with a glass of wine in her hand. She’s looking a little unsteady herself, but when her eyes land on me, there’s a predatory sharpness in them that sends a shiver from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

“Everyone, welcome our very own newlywed couple!” she calls over the table, raising her glass. The men all hurrah again, pumping their glasses in the air with such force that alcohol splatters over the floor.

Are we in a historic English manor home or a seedy bar? Because it certainly doesn’t look like anyone’s drinking champagne.

Achilles doesn’t acknowledge the applause he’s getting. He storms over to the seat at the opposite end of the table from Fantasia and pulls out the seat to its right for me to take. I don’t like that there’s a huge man to my right and another across the table from me, but there’s nowhere else to go. The table is packed aside from our two seats.

Are all these men Fantasia’s generals? I can’t help but compare them to Thomas’s, a group of ten measured men, ranging from his age to twice that. I’m not high enough on the food chain to sit in on their councils, but whenever I ran into one of them in the house, they were nothing but polite and professional. I don’t feel safe with men as a rule, but at least I didn’t feel the need to run the other way or hide when I sawone of them coming. Considering how I foolishly tried to make myself an enemy of their boss’s sister, they’d be well within their rights to treat me with suspicion and contempt. But Thomas had told them to reserve their judgments about me until I’d either proven myself or failed, and they respect his decision making as much as he respects theirs.

Fantasia, for her part, seems happy to have surrounded herself with the beefiest thugs I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something when I came from the streets and my father was the meanest brute you can imagine.

I wonder if she actually has control over these men. It’s shocking enough that a woman is the head of a mafia family, butthisis her support structure? These are the people she trusts to follow her orders?

No, I realize with a jolt as the table makes another noisy toast around me that I don’t hear. Achilles was the one she sent overseas. Achilles is the one she speaks to in the dark hours of the morning when the rest of the house is asleep.

These men look the part of mafia enforcers. But Achilles might just be the juggler keeping this entire circus up in the air.

“One last warm welcome, gentlemen, for our pretty little Mrs. Ashwood,” Fantasia says, and another round of shouting goes up around the table. She wears red lipstick as well as Morticia Addams, and when she smiles she looks just as crafty. “We’re all thrilled to have you here, darling.”

Mrs… Ashwood. Until now I had completely forgotten what my new surname was going to be. Achilles Ashwood. Emma Ashwood-

No,RaleighAshwood. None of this is happening to me, it’s happening to a woman who doesn’t even exist. I have to remember that, no matter what comes.

I’m not sure whether I should pretend to be pleased or melt into oblivion. I find a safe middle ground and try to focus onholding my utensils properly and eating the bloody steak in front of me- even though I’ve never been less hungry in my life.

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