Page 60 of And Twice as Twisted
I wish I may, I wish I might… Please, please keep Apollo from freaking the fuck out tonight…
“I’m only his favorite when my breast is out.” Bella giggled at my back.
“Sienna.” Alexei approached a moment later. “My uncle’s returned with our… belongings.”
The man in question walked in the room with Adrian—his right hand—at his side and a veil of dark hair behind him. Nikolai shook my father’s hand and thanked him again for his hospitality. Adrian nodded and then ordered their men to patrol.
“This is my niece, Mila.”
The Russian doll, often compared to Snow White, stepped forward. With her black hair and light eyes, her porcelain skin fit the bill. She was both beautiful andsweet, according to Alexei. Which was a rarity for someone in her position.
“Hello.” Mila’s saccharine voice was laced with a thick Russian accent as she spoke in broken English. “Thank you… having me.”
Everyone took in the petite girl, their eyes landing on the bundle she was cradling against her chest. However, I was frozen in place as my mind was throttled back to a particular night atDanza.
“You do realize you don’t always have to be a dick, right?” I watched Natalia storm out of the room after having been dismissed from her duties.
“I sent her home to avoid potential concerns for the fetus’s health,” Apollo stated, his nonchalance further demonstrating just how clueless the man was.
“Baby. Normal people call it a baby.” I sipped my drink before turning my glare on him. “And the reasoning was sweet but the delivery was… dickish.”
I didn’t even know what I was doing here. What I was expecting from a man whose sense of compassion was as foreign to him as a mother’s love. How could I ever hope that he could understand, accept me and my choices, when he didn’t know what it meant to empathize. There was no future for us. I should have seen it that night at the club, when Natalia’s child was nothing more to him than a medical term.
A condition, a concern, an ailment…
I was snapped back to the present when a shrill cry filled the foyer. Mila looked at me, her eyes wide and pleading for help. The sound was as unmistakable as my looming betrayal. And I only prayed they didn’t kill me as each lie was unraveled in front of us. I didn’t have to say anything as Mila lifted the now-awake baby towards me. His honey-brown eyes were an exact replica of his father’s.
“This is my son. Salvatore.” I straightened my spine and faced the awaiting onslaught.
The room erupted with commentary, but it all melted into the background. My head was filled with a crackling static as Apollo approached, reaching a tender finger out to his son. Sal was quick, latching on to it with his chubby hands and bringing it to his mouth. My son was also big for his age—a sure sign that he’d rival his father in height and width.
“Salvatore means savior in Greek.” Apollo refused to look at me, his usually locked-down expression a myriad of contradictions as he stared at our son. However, there was one emotion I recognized and it was the pain I saw in his eyes.
“He was my savior in my darkest times.” I smiled down at my precious boy, the light of my life. When I peered up again, I noticed that Apollo was finally looking in my direction.
His gaze dropped back to Salvatore when he spoke. “And now that responsibility will fall to me.” When I didn’t seem to immediately grasp his meaning, Apollo added, “I will be the one to save you when you feel lost amidst our shared darkness. I will protect you both. You’re mine.”
I faltered when those honey-brown eyes that matched my son’s pinned me in place. There was a fire flickering beneath the surface, but every time I took comfort in its warmth, I was left to burn…
So, instead of surrendering to his pull, I squared my jaw. “What you’d label a fetus, see as a burden… I call a child, a gift.Ibelong to no one andhe’s mine.”
Chapter 20
ROMANO BIANCHI
She was back in New York.
I had eyes on everyone who came and went from the compound. It had been months of nothing. Myalliancewith Mario was pushing the envelope and I could tell both of his daughters’ disappearances were weighing on him.
Good. He deserved to suffer.
“Mario,” I greeted as I held the phone to my ear, the noise drifting into the background as the sound of a door clicking in place filled the receiver.
“What is it, Romano?” he demanded on the other end of the line. The bastard was barely paying attention.
“We had a deal. I know she’s back, so when are you handing her over?”
The man had dug himself into a very deep hole, one he couldn’t climb out of alone. He knew I wasn’t going to back off. He had used my men to protect Sienna after Octavia was taken. He used my resources to handle a few side issues that were threatening his family and his city. He owed me.
