Twins for the Mafia Heir (The Warwicks #3)

34. Achilles

Chapter 34

Achilles

W hen I return to the safe house, it’s dark and locked up, but Piers answers my code knock. He must see something in my expression, because when he looks over my shoulder and sees that ‘Raleigh’ isn’t with me, his face goes pale.

“What happened, Achilles?! Were you attacked? Where’s-”

“Gone,” I say, too sharply. “She’s gone, Piers.”

Before he can ask more, I push past him into the house. I want to collapse in the armchair in the living room and at least pretend to sleep, but my old friend won’t leave me alone so easily.

“Gone- Achilles, what the hell are you talking about? Did Fantasia find you?”

No, no, no . Every word is another knife twisting in my gut. “I’m not talking about this right now, Piers,” I snap. “Just let me-”

“No, you’re not doing that with me,” Piers persists, stepping in front of me so suddenly I almost slam into him. “You’ve had the entire world on your shoulders since before we even met. Now you’re showing up on my doorstep telling me you’ve got a new bride- and losing her hours later?!”

“I didn’t lose her,” I snap, desperately trying not to wake up the entire house with my rage. “I put her on a plane and sent her back to her people!”

Piers stares at me through the darkness, his brows lowering as I watch. “I see,” he says.

It’s not the reaction I expected, and that only makes me angrier. “What exactly do you see ?” I demand.

“You clearly thought that was best,” Piers says. “It would keep her out of Fantasia’s clutches, and that’s probably safest. But did Raleigh think so? Did she even want to leave?”

Raleigh doesn’t even exist, not like either of us know her. Or thought we knew her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Leave it, Piers,” I say, trying to brush past him again. He grabs my arm and I swing around, ready to throw him to the ground. He braces against me, keeping us both upright. I have height on him, but he’s stouter than I am. I snarl, but he doesn’t flinch.

“It doesn’t matter what she wanted,” I snap, “because she lied, Piers. She fucking lied to me. She wasn’t who she said she was. Our marriage was a fucking sham, and she never should’ve been here anyway. I’m not going to play goddamn pretend anymore.”

Piers releases me, his brows furrowed more in confusion than anger. “Who-”

“It doesn’t matter who she actually was,” I say, almost more to myself than to him. “It only matters that she should never have been here, and now she’s going back where she belongs.”

My friend cocks his head at me, and my irritation flairs. It’s not for him to believe or not believe me. I’m doing what’s best for my family.

I storm past him and tuck Sidony’s presents into the corner of the living room. The sight of them sitting against the wall sends a whole new jolt through my chest, but I ignore that too.

Sidony has been asleep for several hours in the den, on a bed that’s actually made up with blankets and pillows. I should join her in there, but I know already that I’m not sleeping tonight. For a long moment, I stand in place in the living room and look around. Piers comes to my side again, and at least this time he seems to be thinking before he speaks.

“You can’t… go after her?”

“Why would I want to do that?” I snap.

Piers shakes his head. “It wouldn’t hurt you to want things, you know.”

What a stupid thing to say. Of course it does.

It already has.

Piers goes to bed for the few remaining hours of darkness, leaving me alone at the dining room table. As the sun is rising and he re-emerges from his room, he notes that I haven’t moved and brews us coffee without asking if I want any. Still, the first touch of scalding black coffee against my tongue feels like a crutch I’m going to be clinging to for the rest of the day.

Sidony comes out of the den later that morning, probably roused by the smell of breakfast Piers is making now. She holds Lilac in one arm and rubs sleep out of her eyes with the other. “Morning, daddy,” she says, but doesn’t stop at my side. At first I think she’s wandering around the corner to the bathroom, but then I realize with a sinking stomach that she’s looking through the house for ‘Raleigh’. When she comes back to the dining room, she still doesn’t look too alarmed. “Daddy, I can’t find Raleigh anywhere. Is she going potty?”

Lacking sleep is bad. Missing a woman I shouldn’t miss, like I’ve lost one of my own lungs, is worse. But having to explain the disappearance of another person from her life to my four year old daughter…

This is the part I’ve been dreading since I left Emma at the airport.

Piers peeks out of the kitchen and over at me, but I ignore his gaze. As someone who grew up an unwanted orphan, he doesn’t believe in softening truths for young people, and that’s all well and good. He can use that ideal when he’s dealing with his own future children. As for me…

“Em- Raleigh had to go back home for Christmas,” I tell Sidony. “She’s missed her brother and her people a lot over the last month, and she wanted to spend some time with them for the holidays. It was a last minute decision and she… she was very upset she didn’t get to say goodbye to you.”

I hate that last part, and not because it’s a lie, but because I know for certain that it is true. Whatever Emma’s lies, I don’t believe she could’ve feigned how much she brightened up around Sidony. Even during their first meeting, Emma’s priority was Sidony’s safety and happiness.

Sidony’s face falls, her grip on Lilac tightening. “Raleigh left us?”

I swallow, guilt twisting at my heart. She didn’t, not really. I sent her away. But I did it for everyone’s good, Emma’s included. She never should’ve been here to begin with. Her lies were products of her own captivity and determination to survive, and everyone’s feelings being confused by them was just a very unfortunate side-effect.

“She… didn’t want to,” I say, and am torn between relief that I’m not lying and the sickening memory of Emma’s tears.

“But… But will she be back in time for Christmas?” Sidony asks. Her eyes are starting to get too wide, and I pull her up into my lap, both to soothe her and to keep from having to look her in the face as I keep delivering bad news.

“No, little princess. She won’t be here for Christmas. She… she might be gone for a while.”

Why the fuck is this starting to feel like a mistake? Why do I feel like the bad guy, when Emma was a liar and possibly a manipulator, and Fantasia orchestrated all of this?

And why the fuck does my daughter have to be the victim of all our sins at the end of the day?

Sidony sniffles against my neck. “When will she come back?”

Never. She’s never coming back, and the best thing for all of us now is to forget she was ever here.

“I…” I feel Piers’s gaze harden on me, and glare back at him over Sidony’s head. “I don’t know, dove. But she did leave you some Christmas presents she picked out.”

Sidony perks up a little, pulling back to look me in the face. “Presents?”

I nod, combing her hair with my fingers. I feel sick with guilt, but it’s too late now. Emma is gone, and my family needs to move on. “You can open them tomorrow, all right?”

“Can I shake them?”

“No, dove, no shaking or weighing them. You’ll leave them alone until tomorrow, all right?”

Sidony nods, disappointed. But at least she doesn’t look completely bereft anymore. It will get harder to explain ‘Raleigh’s’ continued absence, but eventually, I hope she’ll forget her and move on.

I know I never will, but a delusional part of my mind hopes the same for me too.