Twins for the Mafia Heir (The Warwicks #3)

21. Achilles

Chapter 21

Achilles

I hear nothing but roaring as I stare down at the man at my feet. I see nothing but the blood I’m going to make bloom over his body before he dies. I settle my finger over the trigger, but a voice breaks through the cacophony in my head and stops me from pulling.

“Achilles.”

I tear my eyes off of the man. Raleigh stands to the side with Sidony still tucked behind her. She’s calm, or making a good show of it, just like she was in the hedge maze. Her jaw is set and steady, her eyes dry. The only sign of her anger is the pale touch to her cheeks- marred by the red welt blooming under her left eye.

Even if they hadn’t touched her, these men would die today. But now that they have…

“Take Sidony inside, please,” I tell her, my voice trembling with restrained fury.

Raleigh nods once and pulls Sidony up into her arms. She keeps her hand on the back of Sidony’s head, guiding my daughter to lean on her shoulder instead of look at the man on the bench and the gun in my hand. Her priority is the same as mine in this moment- to get Sidony to a safe and quiet place. Still, Raleigh maintains her composure. She doesn’t run, just walks purposefully toward the door into the house, and doesn’t look back before she slips inside, trusting me to resolve the situation for her.

I could love her for that alone.

I turn back to my two victims, the one still standing like a gaping seal before me and the one holding himself still at my feet. It’s not Varley and MacDonald with an accomplice, like I originally assumed when I spotted them from the second-floor window. No, it’s three more of Fantasia’s generals. Keegan, Rolf, and Davies.

“Were you put up to this?” I ask, voice low and soft. “Or did you decide on your own that harassing my family was a good idea?”

Rolf, the one I clubbed with the butt of my gun, is trying to pull himself to his feet despite the minor concussion I just gave him. “We- we thought she was tryin’ to escape, Achilles,” he argues.

“Yeah, and taking the kid with her!” Davies chimes in. He’s keeping his eye on my gun and taking microscopic steps away from me, hoping I won’t notice.

No matter what amount of space he puts between us, it won’t save him.

I see the nervous glance he shoots to Keegan, a silent plea for backup. Keegan seems to be weighing his options, his fingers twitching near his own weapon.

Two weeks ago, they might’ve sown a doubt in my heart. I once accused Raleigh of trying to make my daughter a hostage after all. But despite the distance I’ve kept between myself and Raleigh these past couple weeks, I’ve always been watching. My office has a perfect view of the back terrace, the hedge maze, the fountain, and the lawns and paths at the back of the house. Every day Sidony has pulled Raleigh out into the cold to play with her, I’ve been looking out for them.

And at no point during the last two weeks has Raleigh made a move to escape, with or without Sidony.

“You’re lying to me,” I say coldly. “But it doesn’t matter. Seems Varley and MacDonald failed to pass on my warning. Again, doesn’t matter.”

Before any of the men can speak, I put a bullet in Rolf’s forehead. The gunshot rings across the grounds like a crack of thunder. Davies and Keegan shout, but I’m already turning. Keegan, face twisted in fury and desperation, sees his opening and draws his gun, leveling it at me in a final attempt to gain the upper hand.

I step into his space before he can squeeze the trigger, grabbing his gun arm and shoving it aside. His eyes go wide with the realization of his mistake a I press my gun beneath his jaw and pull the trigger. Blood and bone splatter across my face.

And Davies- stupid fucking Davies- is halfway across the terrace. He made a run for it after all.

I pull my throwing knife out of a holster on my belt and send it singing through the air. It buries itself in the back of his neck, severing his spine. Like a puppet with its strings cut, he collapses to the ground.

I wish I could’ve taken my time with them. I would’ve carried out the threat I made to Varley and MacDonald, shooting their bones to pieces while they screamed. But Sidony would’ve heard it, and the gunshots will have shaken her enough.

I retrieve my knife from Davies’s spine and wipe the blood off on a handkerchief before stowing it again. After a moment’s pause, I do what I can to wipe off my face too. Another good dress shirt ruined by blood, goddamnit. I’ll have to take it off before I find Raleigh and Sidony-

“What the fuck just happened?!”

The sound of my sister’s shriek wakes me from my red haze. I turn to see Fantasia frozen on the opposite end of the terrace, her face white with rage. She has two of her bodyguards at her back.

I’m half tempted to shoot them too, just to thin out the gene pool a little bit more.

Fantasia’s too-wide eyes go to the bodies and the pools of blood spreading over the marble terrace. “Achilles- what have you done?”

“Your dogs were threatening my family, Fantasia,” I snarl. “So I put them down.”

“You had no right-”

“WRONG.” My voice rings out over the grounds, silencing even the wind. Fantasia flinches, taking a step back from me. “ You have no right to demand that I bring my family to live in this house for your convenience, and then surround them with vultures and thugs that I have to defend them from. You have no right to be so fucking careless with the people you employ and then expect things not to go tits up the second you turn your back. THIS?!” I gesture to the bodies. “This is on you, Fantasia. Don’t you dare blame me for having to protect my wife and daughter from you .”

Fantasia is so pale her skin has practically turned translucent. I can see her heart pounding in her throat. Her mouth opens and closes, but I don’t care to hear what comes out of it now.

“I’m going back to the Ashwood House,” I declare, and again, my sister flinches. “Sidony is coming with me. And so is Raleigh.”

Fantasia shakes her head, finally regaining her voice. “I forbid it- Achilles I forbid you! You can’t leave me-”

“If you wanted me to stay, you should have listened to me when I said this was going to blow up in your face,” I snap. “You should have been building your network of supporters instead of telling me to kill anyone who looked at you sideways. You should have hired the people I suggested instead of outsourcing these goons.” The men on either side of her frown at that, but I ignore them. “You turned Wesley Hall into a pit, Fantasia, all because you were so paranoid at losing Piers you thought everyone who ever talked to him would turn against you. Now you’re left with me and fifty mercenaries who hold no loyalty to you or this house. And I am leaving.”

Fantasia is trembling so hard I can see it from feet away. “You can’t do this, Achilles. You can’t! I trust you more than anyone!”

Oh, Fantasia… If only that were true. Or, put another way, if only she didn’t mistrust everyone else so much that trusting me the most isn’t even a compliment.

“I’m leaving, Fantasia,” I tell her again. “I’ll still be at your beck and call, don’t worry. But I refuse to keep my family in this place.”

And, frankly, I’ve been wanting to escape since I filled its halls with blood.

“No. You’re not leaving,” Fantasia declares, stepping forward like her wispy body can hold me back on its own. She opens her mouth to do more useless pleading, but one of her bodyguards steps forward too.

“Should we detain him, ma’am?” he asks, his eyes on my hands.

For a fraction of a second, I see a spark of something in Fantasia’s eyes that I like less than her desperation and sorrow. It’s recognition, recognition that if she ordered it, her people could be on me before I make it back to my own room. She can force me to stay, if she really wants to. Hopefully she understands that if she does that, it will destroy my use to her.

I support her because she’s my little sister, and I love her like my own heart.

But she’s used and abused that love so many times over the last few years that it’s begun to feel like a burden rather than a source of strength. If she pushes just a little harder, she’ll lose me forever. Luckily for both of us, it seems like she knows it.

Fantasia steps away from me. She says nothing, neither trying to get me to stay or giving me permission to leave. I say nothing either as I storm past her into the house, because words have long since become useless between us.

I’m getting my family out of here, now .