Page 49 of Twins for the Mafia Heir

Every word out of her mouth is worse than the last one. “I’m not doing that,” I say flatly.

Fantasia blinks at me. “Oh come now, Achilles. You said it yourself, you killed three men yesterday. Are you refusing because she’s a woman?”

“I’m refusing,” I say, incredulous, “because if you wanted to keep murdering her as an option, you shouldn’t have forced me to make her mywife.”

Fantasia looks genuinely confused by this logic. “You didn’t even want to marry her,” she says.

I can’t believe I’m hearing this. “But Idid, Fantasia! I’m not going to- The whole point of marrying her was to have a legal claim on her money. You’d give that up just to sleight Thomas for making you wait? He doesn’t even have to pay our tithe anymore. You realize that, don’t you? We already solved that problem! He’s stalling, yes, but has he stopped Raleigh from being able to access her own money? All we do now is convince Raleigh to start funneling her money to us. Killing her would not only lose us any leverage we have, but it would lose us our only legal connection to these people in the first place!”

Her obsession with being validated by everyone around her is going to be the death of Fantasia, I’m sure of it. She wants Thomas to acknowledge her power over him, and she’d shoot herself in the foot to make it happen.

No- she’ll getmeto shootRaleighto make it happen.

Except she won’t. Because I refuse to entertain this barbaric insanity. I try to ignore the guilt I feel at demanding that Raleigh give her money up for the sake of a woman who’s responsible for her ongoing capture, but she wouldn’t need to worry for a single one of her needs. She’s my wife, and I won’t hesitate to provide for her.

“But whose money would that be, Achilles?” Fantasia demands. “Mine? Or yours?”

The accusation in those questions stops me cold. “Excuse me?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she spits. “Grandpa locked me out of the inheritance with enough red tape to wrap an elephant. Why should I believe you’ll give this up to me now? Especially now that you’ve decided to completely betray me?!”

Her voice is rising into the realm of a screech. I can’t believe how quickly I forgot her volatility, the cruelty she learned from our mother that I failed to cleanse her of. She stands, but so do I, and my greater height lets me loom over her.

“I don’t want Raleigh’s money, Fantasia,” I growl. “I never did. How much do I have to give you before you realize that-” I shake my head. No, I gave up my birthright to her so she could fulfill what she believed was her destiny. I gave up my comfortable home to be her trustworthy henchman. I’d give up my fortune too if she weren’t so neatly excised from our grandfather’s will.

If she hasn’t realized by now all that I’ve sacrificed for her, then she never will. I’m the one refusing to learn that lesson now.

“Fine,” Fantasia suddenly snaps. “Fine. You don’t have to kill her. It was stupid of me to tell you to, considering you’ve stopped caring about what I want.” I open my mouth to shout that down, but she goes on. “I’ll kill her myself. Return her to my custody-I’ll have the marriage license torn up and thrown in the Thames if you like- and I’ll do what needs to be done if it comes down to-”

“No!”

Fantasia flinches, shrinking before my eyes at the thunder in my voice. I’m trembling with rage, my fists so tight my nails are punching into my flesh. I point one finger at her.

“Listen to me, Fantasia,” I snarl. “No matter what you think, I have not betrayed you. But if you try to take Raleigh from me, there will be war between us. Do you understand me?”

My sister’s face has lost all color. She nods, silent and shaking.

“Do. You. Understand?”

“Yes,” she gasps. “I understand.”

“Good.” I step around her coffee table and head toward the door. “I’ll be moving our things out of Wesley Hall over the next few days. If you need anything, call-”

“Achilles!”

I turn at the desperation and terror in Fantasia’s voice. Her hands are clutched in front of her, like she’s in the middle of a prayer.

“Please don’t leave me,” she begs. “Please, Achilles. I need you.”

I keep my jaw set firmly. “Don’t cross that line, Fantasia, and I won’t have to.”

Chapter 26

Emma

Iwake up the next morning determined to tell Achilles the truth and beg him for forgiveness- only to find him missing from his side of the bed. I panic for a moment before spotting the note left on my nightstand. According to it, Achilles left first thing this morning to lay down some ground rules with Fantasia about our new living arrangement.

My heart clenches. Those rules would be different, surely, if he knew exactly who he was sheltering in his home and bed. But I’m too late to do anything about it now.

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