There’s no rational explanation for my behaviour in Vanessa’s office, or an answer to Anastasia’s question. If I turn and face her, she’ll spot the truth for herself, and maybe that’s necessary. If someone’s aware, they’ll understand whycontaining myself during the wedding I vowed would never happen will be unbearable.
Serafina will be marrying another man while I watch. It’s like those stupid, dramatic reality shows she enjoys. Except this will bemyreality. Cold, hard, and shitty.
My sister’s hand rests on my shoulder. She pushes down, silently asking me to turn. “I told myself I was delusional. That you wouldn’t do that. But I saw it. This whole time, Isawit. In my gut, I knew. You don’t believe in twin bonds, but Lev, I fuckingknew.”
As exhausting as it is to still lie about this, I mumble. “What are you talking about?”
“You care about her.”
“Of course. She’s my job. She’s Vanessa’s?—”
“Nyet.”Her sneakers scrape over the gravel as she rounds me, forcing me to face her. “No, youcarefor her. You were different returning from Italy. For the first time in a long time—maybe ever—there was life in your eyes. I nearly didn’t recognize you, my own brother, but damn, I’ve never been happier to see a stranger. When did it start?”
“I didn’t touch her in Rome, if that’s what you were asking.”
“There was something about you both. Tonight, the way you looked at her…and Serafina—she gravitates to you. You realize you’ll have to tell Zeno and Vanessa?”
“They’ve likely figured it out by now.” Which means the feeling of dying if Serafina walks that aisle may be my impending reality when they take their shot at me.
Yet, it was all worth it to have her, even for a short time.
Her lips purse with consideration. She finally drops her hand from my shoulder and leans back on the garage’s siding with a deep sigh. “You’ll have to let her do this.”
“Never.”
“I hate it too. There’s so much that could go wrong, but Zeno’s tried everything, and short of murdering him outright, the Mancinis have to play this smart. If she thinks she can kill him and end this, it’s not our place to forbid her. Notyourplace. She’s Cosa Nostra, for better or for worse.”
“She’s part-Bratva,” I snap, knowing my argument is weak at best.
“Which means she can succeed,” she counters, her voice soft. She reaches for my face, tipping my head down, a touch she would never have dared before today, and I don’t have the energy to brush her off. “She’s strong, Lev. You won’t let anything happen to her.”
I already have.If I paid better attention, he wouldn’t have gotten to her—twice.
“If something does? If he realizes her plan too soon? He’llkillher. He’ll—” Numerous images bombard me at once, choking me up, the static returning tenfold.
Serafina on the bed, throat sliced, blood staining the white sheets.
Serafina, her lifeless eyes forever directed at the ceiling, his handprint bruising her throat.
Or worse: Serafina being kept alive, forced to endure the madman who’ll spend their entire marriage taking her any way he demands.
“He won’t. She’ll stop him before then. You think any of us will let it get that far?”
More steps approach behind us, the gravel being kicked out of the way. Like I assumed it was my sister earlier, I know who’s nearing without checking. It’s in her slow and cautious tread, uncertain what she’s walking into. Then, there’s the energy emitting from her and the way my bodyknows. How my head instantly quiets.
Anastasia drops her hands with a final look and walks away. She murmurs something I don’t catch, leaving me alone with the woman who’s destroyed me numerous ways in this single night.
“Lev—”
I don’t recall moving, but suddenly, she’s crushed in my arms, my mouth on hers, the fact that Vanessa’s office window overlooks this part of the property not even the slightest consideration as I back her into the garage’s wall.
This is fixation. When my head won’t focus on anything else, she consumes my every thought, awake and asleep. Obsession, right here in my arms.
And she’s threatening to take it all away.
Almost immediately, she breaks from my kiss with a sound of impatience. “Lev.”
The last time she talked, she ripped out my heart. Who knows what she’ll take this time? I won’t survive another round.
