Page 63 of And Twice as Twisted
“Do you hate me?”
“Yes.” It was the truth. “You’ve always been a pestiferous little girl, nipping at my heels for attention. You should be proud, seeing as you finally got it. In full force.”
She swiped at her tears, her tone now as steeled as her spine. “I left to protect him from us both. From who we are—who we become—when we’re together. And to heal so that I could be better.” She didn’t wait for the responseI didn’t haveas she stalked farther into the garden, putting as much distance between us as she could, but not before she threw one last parting shot over her shoulder. “And I’d fucking do it again. Anything formyson.”
She’d protected him. Like no one had done for me. And I had no doubt this woman would jump in front of a bullet for our boy. Would watch the world burn to see him rise from the ashes. It was the purest form of her willingness to self-sacrifice I’d ever witnessed firsthand. Sienna Agostino had always been destructive in nature. But this was something different. This was unconditional love, an emotion I never thought I’d recognize, let alone understand. And, fuck, if that didn’t make the insidious organ inside my chest beat faster. Harder.
After giving Sienna a few moments to come to terms with what was inevitable, I sought her out. We each remained lost to our own thoughts as we wandered Isabella’s gardens. We were together, yet so far apart at the same time.
“Sienna? You okay?” Alexei’s voice filtered through the air, causing my lip to curl in irritation and the muscles in my hands to flex and tense.
Sienna tried to grab my arm, but her brief moment of hesitation was to the Russian’s detriment. My fist made precisecontact with his nasal cavity. The posterior dilator naris muscle twisted with the severed bone, which allowed for an audible crack, as the lower lateral cartilage took the impact. I watched as his blood vessels erupted, sidestepping the tidal wave of bodily fluids, as I brushed the red now staining my hand across the front of his jacket.
“Thatwas warranted.”
He didn’t respond, his silent acceptance melting between us. Sienna tapped me on the shoulder, and I stood frozen to the spot as she cocked back her fist and slammed it into my nose, the force behind the blow enough to induce bleeding without fracturing bone.
“It wasn’t, butthatcertainly was,” she gloated. “I’m fine, Alexei. Head inside. Bella can patch you up.”
“Right…” The Russian bastard disappeared without another word, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose and his head tilted back to hinder the flow.
I closed the distance between us, tugging Sienna to my chest as drops of red rained down on her flawless skin. “You know, studies show that the propensity for violence is an inherited trait…”
“Then I fear anyone who dares to cross my son’s path.” She ground her teeth with each word, her obstinance taking the reins and refusing to relent.
“Our son,” I corrected her.
“I don’t need you, Apollo.” She leaned forward, pressing her lips to my ear before adding, “The girl I used to be, the girl you thought you knew… she’s gone. Want to know how I know?”
My skin pebbled, my every nerve ending responding to her pheromones as my fingers itched to touch her. She was tempting me, and I forced a nod to keep her from pulling away.
It was the response she wanted.
Sienna smirked, her hand tracing down the length of my torso before suddenly grabbing my dick, her tight grip forcing my jaw to clench. “She’s gone because I buried the bitch.” Then she placed a chaste kiss to my lips, squeezing once more before letting go, so that she could pivot on her heel and turn her back on me.
Fuck. Me. She’d just tempted the beast, tugged at his leash just to force him to sit at attention at her feet. And the bastard longed for her next command.
“You can’t fix me, you know. Any more than you can fix yourself. We are two fucked-up pieces of the same goddamn puzzle. We shouldn’t work, shouldn’t fit, but we do.”
This had her pausing midstep, spinning back around, and stomping in my direction again. Good. I needed her fight. Her rage. Her retaliation.
“I was never supposed to feel anything, but every day with you was the purest form of agony, Sienna. And I need the pain. Because without it, I feel nothing.”
“Am I supposed to empathize with that? Should I apologize for loving you to the point it almost killed me? Is that what you want? Will it make you feel better, Apollo?” Her anger was radiating off her in waves of toxic energy. I could almost taste it in the air.
“I’m the last person who would ever try to advise you on how to regulate your emotions, Sienna. However, that’s not really what you want from me, is it?” My tongue traced along her ear, down her jaw, until my breath brushed across her lips. “No, what you want has nothing to do with what makes me feel better and has everything to do with what makesyoufeel better. You’re the same spoiled princess I’ve always known you to be, no matter what you try to tell yourself. You like the power you have over me, the control. You get off on the fact that you tamed the onebeast no one else could. That you and you alone can send me spiraling. Don’t you, Sienna?”
I didn’t give her the opportunity to answer, exploring her mouth while her unique flavor exploded on my tongue. The receptor proteins along my taste buds throttled my nervous system, sending satisfying impulses directly to my brain.
“You may think that girl is dead and buried. But I think she’s been reborn.” I rested my forehead against hers. “I can’t love you the way you want. But we can hate each other until our dying breaths.”
I felt her sharp intake of air, the sudden rise and fall of her chest, before I heard her audible gasp. My eyes searched hers but Sienna wasn’t looking at me. Her gaze was focused on something over my shoulder as her hand fumbled along my waistband, her fingers reaching for my gun. I shoved her back, catching her wrist, but it was too late. She fired. Two shots. Right next to my ear as I dodged to the side, my senses scrambled amidst the chaos.
A high-pitched sound over 120 decibels could puncture the eardrum. A gunshot ranged anywhere from 140-175. Loud enough to not only disorient you and delay your body’s reaction time, but also cause permanent damage.
Fortunately, I was keen enough to intercept when I saw the fucker behind me go down. The gun dropped to Sienna’s side. I stepped into her space and took hold of her wrist. She ignored me, grabbing the gun that was just out of reach of her latest victim.
“Who the fuck sent you?” Sienna questioned, kicking him once for good measure. “Your boss is dead. I killed him.” She raised the barrel and took aim. “And you can fucking join him.”
