Page 112 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to be forced to choose between the options that are least favorable to me.

I want to live my own life.

For me.

Sobs rock me, and I clutch myself, holding my knees closer.

I want Dino. I know that I do. But I don’t think that Dino is the path to the life I want, either. He said that he wants us to get to know each other, so that I would choose him.

But he said it like it was inevitable.

I misjudged Andrei.

Maybe I’ve misjudged Dino too.

I wake the next morning feeling drained. My heart aches and I want to talk to my kids, and I want to talk to my mom.

And the rain is still coming down.

The compound is somewhat up on a hill, but there is still even more hillside above it, covered in jungle. I’m sure that the jungle can absorb a lot of water, so I shouldn’t be too concerned but…

It feels like a lot of rain.

More than that, I feel doomed. Like there’s something hanging over me, and a pervasive feeling of something bad happening.

And happening soon.

It’s just the challenge, I tell myself as I glide out of my room, wearing more practical jeans and sneakers today. I know that my father is going to have a meltdown that I’m not wearing a dress, but I want to be comfortable and warm today.

Sneakers it is.

My father’s challenge, to interrogate the traitors in his ranks, is brutal. It’s just like him. Last night I know that Volkov had his turn with them, and this coming day it will be someone else.

I don’t want to see what happens to them. I don’t want to know.

And I don’t want to see what happens when Dino gets to them.

If I do…

It would ruin the image that I have of him in my mind even more.

I don’t want Dino to be as brutal as my father. I don’t want him to be as cold and reptilian as Andrei can be.

I want him to be different.

He isn’t, Marisol. Stop being a silly little girl and grow up.

“Marisol,” Andrei says, greeting me with a chilly tone.

I steel myself.

Andrei is a crucial piece in my happiness right now. I need to keep him happy in order to keep him away from Dino.

So I smile at him, pretending to soften. “Good morning, Andrei,” I say, intentionally lowering my voice. “I slept so well,” I purr.

His eyes flash, and I see lust in their dark depths.

Good.

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