Page 7 of Twins for the Mafia Heir

“If you try to seduce her too, it will go worse than it did with me,” I warn.

Raleigh flushes all the way down to her neck. It’s easy to make her blush, I’m noticing. I shouldn’t notice.

“I’ll be quiet,” she promises tightly.

I hesitate at the door to the drawing room a moment longer and wait until Raleigh meets my eyes. “Not. One. Word,” I press.

Raleigh frowns up at me. “Not a word,” she agrees.

I can’t stay out here forever in this hallway with her. With a sigh of resignation, I push open the drawing room door and enter with Raleigh in my shadow.

There are no lights on in the long room. The only illumination comes from the enormous crackling fireplace, where three plush armchairs are huddled. Fantasia’s willowy frame is folded into the one closest to the flames.

She must see me enter from the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t bother to look away from the dancing fire. I wonder what she sees in it that keeps her staring for hours.

“Fantasia,” I call from the doorway. Thanks to the darkness of the room and Raleigh’s petite size, she’s practically invisible from her place at my shoulder. My sister hasn’t noticed her yet.

What will happen when she does?

Fantasia blinks for the first time since we entered, as if coming back from a place in her mind very far away. She turns in my direction, but of course she’s completely nightblind and can’t see where I am. “About time you got back,” she says bitterly. “I was beginning to think you forgot about me.”

If I really did leave her behind, does she honestly think I’d abandon Sidony too? I let out a short sigh. This isn’t the first time she’s made fatalistic comments about being abandoned by me, and every time she does I get a little closer to properly strangling her.

“Thomas was not on the estate when I arrived, so I spoke with his aide,” I say, ignoring her dramatics. “We came to a different arrangement.”

That gets her attention. “Are you telling me no one signed the papers?” she demands, finally sitting up in her chair.

“Thomas’s signature is secured,” I tell her. “It’s just delayed.”

“What does that mean, Achilles?” Fantasia hisses. She climbs out of her chair and stalks toward me, then freezes in her tracks.

For the first time, she’s noticed our ‘guest.’

Her green eyes narrow, and she bares her teeth in a grimace.

“What the hell did you bring me, Achilles?”

Chapter 4

Emma

From the moment I laid eyes on Fantasia, I knew she was dangerous. Not because she has some hidden martial skill or is dressed in body armor. Actually, I’m pretty sure I could overpower her despite the several inches she has on me. She’s dressed in a slinky, blood red evening gown, but her feet are bare despite the chill and her long black hair is pulled back into a messy bun that belies her status. And there’s a deadness in her heavy-lidded eyes that makes me certain she’ll go to any lengths to get what she wants.

Including killing me because she’s not happy that I’m here.

I’m almost grateful to have Achilles between us, but that might not mean much if the head of his family orders me to die.

“This is Raleigh Warwick,” Achilles says tightly. “She’s Thomas’s younger sister, and she volunteered to be our hostage in exchange for her brother’s signature-”

Fantasia’s eyes flash. “Thisis Thomas’s sister? She’s microscopic! Why the fuck would he bother making a tithe to get her back? I would have drowned her in the river the moment I realized she was a runt.”

I take a step backward, too appalled to hide it. Even Achilles stiffens at the barbaric words.

“Not all of us view our family members as tools that are disposable if they can’t be put to work,” he says with disgust.

Fantasia shoots him a savage look. “You call this an achievement?” she demands. “I told you to make them payin blood. Was a single shot even fired?”

“It was,” I blurt out, “and then I begged him for mercy. And you’re lucky I did, because if I’d let your man blow any more holes in Thomas’s closest advisors, he’d never negotiate with you for anything.”

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