Reign of a Billionaire : A Dark Mafia Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

I met Kingston’s gaze over Lara’s head. We’d talked about my twin a lot since he’d rescued me. He told me about the finger he’d received, the DNA matching my sister’s. There was no guarantee what shape we’d find her in, but we wouldn’t give up.

Not until we found her.

“We will,” I said, my voice shaking.

“Do… Do you still want me to stay?” Lara blurted.

“Look at me, Lara,” Kingston ordered. She lifted her head, her pretty eyes locking with ours. “We want you to stay with us forever. You leave when you’re ready to leave.”

I smiled softly. “And when that happens, we’ll ensure you’re independent but also safe. You’re part of our circle now.”

“The Ashford circle.”

I chuckled. “I was thinking more of Kingston and Lou’s circle, but the Ashford circle sounds even better. It’s bigger.”

“Now let’s go inside. I don’t know about you two, but I could sleep the winter away.”

Lara giggled as we made our way inside our home.

The threads of mystery surrounding my sister weighed heavily on our minds, but we’d solve it.

Together.

The steady rush of water should have calmed me.

Yet a storm brewed inside my chest as I stood in the luxurious bathroom fit for a queen, staring at the tub slowly filling with water.

The events of the past few days finally caught up and my biceps started to tremble. My twin was alive, somewhere on this earth.

How could our mother be so evil to bring us to this point? She had destroyed so many lives, including our own, and she felt zero remorse about it.

Wearing nothing but a T-shirt that reached my knees, I watched the steam gather over the tub. I caught my blurry reflection in the mirror, and my breaths turned shallow and harsh. A ball lodged itself in my throat, suffocating me.

Mother hated us so much that she condemned us to death. Kingston saved me. Who was saving Liana? I had to find her. For the past eight years, I’d come to terms with living without my twin, even though it left a gaping hole in my chest. But now that I knew she could be alive, that hole started to fill with hopes and dreams, and that scared me more.

A set of strong, inked arms wrapped around me, and it was only then that I realized how badly I was shaking.

“Hold on to me.” His strong, warm voice cocooned me as he scooped me into his arms and stepped us into the hot bathtub, my shirt clinging to my body. “We’ll find her.”

I buried my face in his neck as I desperately gulped for air, inhaling his scent into my lungs.

“If she…” My mouth trembled. “I can’t lose her again.”

His strong hand gripped my nape and he squeezed, turning my head to look at him.

Our eyes locked, my heart thundering in my chest. “We’ll find her,” he told me, his voice leaving no room for doubt. “Together. We’ll scout every inch of this earth if we have to, but I promise you, we’ll find her. You know why?”

His eyes burned with so much love it made my heart flutter, like new wings on a butterfly. Or a bird about to take its first flight. Except, we’d been here before, and I knew for a fact he was the reason I was born.

To be his.

“Because you’re mine. My woman. Because your heart beats in my chest, and mine in yours. We’re one and the same, Lou. And now that you’re back in my life, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make you happy.”

I hugged him tightly, like I’d die without him. Because I would.

“You… You, Kingston, make me happy.”

Chapter 64Louisa

Two weeks had gone by since Kingston came to Russia and rescued me.

I observed the Nikolaevs and the Ashfords seated around the table, Kingston’s grave expression marring his features. He hadn’t shaved since we’d been back, and I couldn’t help but notice that the scruff suited him. Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, he looked a little intimidating and a lot hot.

We hadn’t made a lot of headway on locating my sister. Nico Morrelli had offered to help us track down every Marabella Agreement ever made, and knowing his skillset, I took him up on it. My sister wasn’t the only victim of Perez’s and my mother’s schemes. There were many innocent boys and girls who needed to be found and saved.

“Kingston said he’s taking you out on a date,” Lara whispered, smiling smugly. The two of us sat on the carpet, our backs against the couch as we watched the living room at the Nikolaevs’ Lisbon home buzz with life. Kids found their cliques and played without paying any mind to the adults while the two of us observed it all. “And that it’s something neither one of you has ever done.”

My lips curved up, happy to see Lara slowly but surely coming into her own. We still had a very long road ahead of us, but together, we’d get through it.

“Can you give me a hint?” I whispered back. “Just so I know what to wear.”

She smiled. “Wear something nice.”

I scoffed. “That’s not telling me much.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Aurora asked from the other side of the room, drawing everyone’s attention our way.

“Nothing,” we answered at the same time, our cheeks flushing with the obvious lie.