Page 82 of Twins for the Mafia Heir

Once we’re through security, I walk her to the gate, my throat tightening with every step. This isn’t like the night I bought Emma a plane ticket just to get her out of my sight. This is deliberate and planned out. There’s a house and a modestly full bank account waiting at the end of this flight, and people to make sure she gets where she’s going safely.

Again, as if reading my mind and my own misgivings, Fantasia hesitates outside the gate and turns to me. Her eyes are wide with fear, her voice quivering with desperation. Her knuckles are white as she wrings the straps of her carry on. I know how manipulative she could be at the height of her power- how manipulative Ilether be- but this, at least, is genuine.

“Achilles- I don’t want to go,” she says simply, shattering my heart to pieces.

“I know,” I say around the knot in my throat. “But you have to.”

Her lips press together. She swallows back tears, but some still fall anyway. To her credit, she turns away to hide them rather than using the sight of them to hurt me more. Without another word, she walks through the gate of her own free will, and my men follow in her wake.

And just like that, my baby sister is gone.

Chapter 46

Achilles

Ashwood House is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all week. I’ve been so busy helping Piers get settled in Wesley Hall and monitoring Fantasia’s recovery that I’ve hardly had a chance to be here aside from collapsing into bed every night. Despite how awful it felt to be away, it’s been a comfort knowing Emma and Sidony have been living here in peace, waiting for me.

Now, I can finally call this place my home once again.

When my limo drops me off at the front of the house, Emma is waiting on the porch for me. I take the stairs up to her in one leap. Her arms reach for me, but I’ve already lifted her completely off the ground and spun her into me. She clings to me like she’s never letting go, her fingers buried in my hair, her cheek pressed into my neck, and I breathe her in like I’ve been suffocating without her.

It’s been a week since we reunited in that dingy underground prison, but this… this feels like our true new beginning.

“Are you all right?” Emma asks, her voice muffled against my skin.

“I am now. How are you feeling?”

“A little nauseous, but better now too.”

I feel her smile, and reluctantly set her back on her feet. Before we get too lost in the relief of the moment, there’s something I need to know. We made vague promises the morning after the battle, but I won’t make the mistake of assuming again. I take her hands in mine, my fingers toying with the wedding band she still wears.

“I said we’d come back home to this place, but I didn’t ask if that was what you really wanted,” I say. “You have a life and people you care deeply for in the States. If you aren’t ready to leave them yet, I need you to tell me.”

Emma’s grey eyes search mine, and I wonder if she’s hesitating, second-guessing the wild circumstances that brought our lives together. When she smiles, I feel that weight lift off my chest.

“The first time I was here, I didn’t choose to be. This time, I came back of my own free will because Iwantto be here. Because I belong here, with you and Sidony and… and our babies.” Her cheeks flush, her happiness overwhelming her beyond words. I touch the corner of her smile with my thumb.

“If that’s what you want, then you’ll have it,” I promise. “And I’ll have you.”

I bend to kiss her, and her mouth is already open for me, warm and soft and eager. I sweep her off her feet and carry her over the threshold into the house like a new bride, not bothering to break our kiss until I need to navigate the stairs up to our room.

I’m not setting this woman on her feet for the rest of the day.

With one swift kick, I get our door closed behind us, and Emma laughs against my jaw. Her fingers start to undo the buttons of my shirt while I shake my shoes off onto the floor. I set her down on the edge of the bed, and she immediately buries her face in my torso, her hands still working to get my pantsopen and off. I pull her shirt up over her head, too eager to tease her naked.

We have the rest of our lives to be slow, after all.

With a light shove, I get her lying down on the mattress so I can yank off her pants, and then I climb into the bed with her.

I’m startled by how vivid my memory of her body is, and how quickly I realize the changes she’s already gone through. Her petite breasts are just a bit fuller, and there’s a subtle curve to her stomach and hips that wasn’t there before. I run my hands up her naked body, relearning the shape of her, thrilled that I’ll get to do this every single day as her pregnancy advances. Emma gasps at every little touch, her nerve endings so perfectly attuned to my attention.

“The next time I make you my wife,” I promise her, “our consummation will last all night.” I press my thumb to her bottom lip, and she sucks it into her mouth. I grip her jaw, opening her mouth so I can speak into it.

“I will make you cum on every surface in this room until you’re crying with pure joy. The next morning, I’ll bring you breakfast in bed, and then I’ll turn you over and fuck you all over again. I’ll make you so sex drunk you won’t be able to walk for the rest of the day. I’ll make you forget any bad thing that’s ever happened to you. You’ll know nothing but bliss and the feeling of my cock in your pussy.”

I claim her mouth with mine, and Emma groans with anticipation. When I lose my breath, I break our kiss and slide down her body, worshiping every inch of her. At her belly button I pause to rest my lips just below, still marveling that two children we made together are growing inside.

There are fears and doubts lurking in my memories that I can’t avoid forever. When Madeleine had Sidony, her health was already declining, and she was gone so soon after. But if I let the memory of that loss consume me, I won’t be able to revel in thejoy of this new life. Wordlessly, I vow that with all my strength, I will honor the past while always looking toward the future. To seal that vow, I kiss Emma’s growing belly one more time, then pull her up into my lap.

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