Sin and Deception (Sin and Lies #2)

Chapter 11

Eleven

T HEO

“Shhh!” I warned Xander as his foot struck the leg of a chair tucked in a dark corner of Nerine’s bedroom.

He shot me the glare he reserved for scaring the hell out of idiots who interfered with our business. However, whenever he applied that tactic to me, I raised an eyebrow, silently telling him to back off.

“Then shine a damn light over here so I don’t knock anything over and wake Nerine up,” he hissed.

I glanced in her direction, tucked under a thick blanket and lost in deep sleep. The dark smudges under her eyes hinted at her exhaustion but couldn’t diminish her beauty. Even the silly disguise she thought could hide her identity failed to mask the fact that she was a stunning woman. I’d love nothing more than to crawl back into bed with her and pry the answers I wanted out of her in more self-serving ways.

Plus, the intense fucking Xander and I had given her added to her need for sleep. It would surprise me if she could walk later tonight.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t wake until Xander and I thoroughly swept the apartment. We needed every piece of information possible to understand what had happened with Nerine and how to protect her.

Enemies were closing in, and unless we got ahead of them, there was no way to keep Nerine safe.

“No light. She’ll only get in the way if we wake her,” I said.

Xander sighed and nodded, accepting the truth of my words.

Xander and I searched through Nerine’s apartment for the next half hour. It was small yet cozy, adorned with luxurious blankets, pillows, and furnishings. Beautiful artwork decorated the walls, many created by local Boston artists. Outside the large windows was a clear view of the neon lights dotted the strip.

“I want to hate this place,” I whispered to Xander. “But it’s nice.”

“I wish it were ugly,” he agreed. “Even so, I can’t understand why Nerine chose this damn city.”

“None of this makes any sense.”

It seemed so out of character for Nerine to live here, not just in this apartment but in this god-forsaken city that appeared not to have any natural trees or greenery occurring anywhere within its limits.

Nerine was a city girl, but she also loved being surrounded by nature, especially the parks and recreational areas around Boston.

Nerine’s influence was why lush greenery surrounded the Angelos estate. Peter Angelos wanted his eldest child to enjoy her home and created a space for her to do so.

This view—Las Vegas itself, a city of glass, neon, smoke, and mirrors, filled with mindless zombies shoving their money into flashing machines—wasn’t where I ever expected our Angel to find refuge.

Perhaps that’s why she’d chosen it. Nobody would have expected a woman like Nerine to hide in an unwelcoming environment.

Despite the coziness of the small space, the most advanced security systems protected every corner of the apartment. Nerine, or whoever had brought her here, spared no expense on cameras, locks, and alarms to ensure her safety.

This was something I couldn’t criticize.

However, this level of security made it painfully clear that she lived in fear.

I glanced at her sleeping figure, and the shield I had built around my heart began to crack. No matter how hard I tried, this woman had a way of infiltrating the smallest cracks and breaking through my defenses.

I wanted answers and intended to find them, but the deep-seated need to keep her safe overshadowed everything.

My anger no longer seemed important. I wouldn’t lie to myself and say it wouldn’t resurface in the future, but it wasn’t a priority for now.

It was clear she hadn’t left because she didn’t love us.

Xander continued to inspect shelves and drawers. His face revealed nothing but intense concentration, making me wonder if he felt the same chaotic emotions swirling inside me.

“Look at this,” Xander whispered, beckoning me to join him near the fireplace.

As I approached, I noticed Xander was staring into a small nook entirely out of view from the central part of the apartment.

I stopped beside him, following his gaze as he examined several framed photos on one of the shelves. I recognized pictures of Nerine’s mother, Theia Delia, and her sisters, Christina, Ariana, and Fiona—each candidly showcasing different looks, from hair to eye color.

In another photo, Nerine sat on a large armchair with two young boys in her lap. She held them close, and the smile on her face radiated complete joy and utter love.

I narrowed my eyes, first focusing on Nerine’s face and then on the boys. My mind practically skipped as I recognized the resemblance. Not only did they look like Nerine, but they also resembled us.

Xander’s voice hissed beside me.

“Are those kids…?” Xander swallowed hard. “Ours?”

“I don’t know, I…” My voice trailed off into the darkness.

“Theo,” Xander whispered, his face losing color .

The room seemed to spin as I struggled to process what I saw.

They couldn’t have been more than two years old. Both bore a striking resemblance to Nerine, but the more I looked at them, the faster my heart raced.

“Theo,” Xander repeated as he grabbed my hand, squeezing it in a rare gesture. Outside of the throes of passion, we rarely touched. But lately, he’d been reaching for me more.

The boy on the left stared back at me with Nerine’s cobalt blue eyes, but his face was a replica of Xander’s. The one on the right took my breath away. It felt like gazing into my soul. Piercing gray eyes emerged from Nerine’s likeness, striking my heart like a bolt of lightning.

I squeezed Xander’s hand tightly, quickly calculating in my head.

“Did this really happen?” I whispered in disbelief.

“It sure fucking looks like it.” His voice sounded as distant and bewildered as I felt.

Maybe this was a dream like I had just stepped into some alternate reality. Perhaps we were still tangled up in bed with Nerine.

But the strength of Xander’s hand gripping mine told me we were fully awake.

“But… how? Twins? Is that even possible?” I asked, my eyes fixed on the photo.

“Damn. I’m not sure. I think it is, but it’s incredibly rare.” Xander shook his head. “We talked about it once when we were teens. She brought it up as if it were a fantasy. I was curious, so I looked into it. It’s only happened a few times in history. But… us? No way.”

I tore my gaze away from the photo and turned to him, my eyes searching his.

“We might be jumping to conclusions,” Xander shook his head and rubbed his neck, reluctant to accept what we had seen.

“Yeah, maybe,” I nodded in agreement.

I turned to look into the bedroom where Nerine slept. My eyes fell on the curve of her hips beneath the blanket.

“Did you notice her hips? They’re fuller.”

Xander nodded. “Her breasts, too. Her nipples are a different color. Darker."

I ran my hand through my hair, continuing to watch her sleep. Her chest rose and fell as she slumbered peacefully, which was ironic. It was as if she hadn’t just rocked our entire world without saying a word.

The anger I thought had calmed only moments earlier surged forward, fierce and uncontrolled.

How could she have hidden something like that from us? Xander reached for my hand again, squeezing it more tightly this time.

“I’m furious,” he growled beside me.

“That’s too tame a word for how I’m feeling,” I said. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“To her?” he asked, scoffing and shaking his head. “I have no damn clue. But whatever we decide, it’ll have to wait until we get answers. We don’t have much time.”

“Right.” I let go of Xander’s hand and turned .

My body shook under the weight of everything pressing down on it. No matter how well I concealed my emotions in response to the challenges life threw my way, in this instance, there was no way to hide anything.

I needed to pull myself together. If we were all going to survive, we had to act fast.

“Let’s clean up before we wake her,” I said, clenching my jaw. “Then we’ll handle our Angel.”

Without another word, we worked as quickly as possible, sweeping the apartment to eliminate traces of Nerine or her family.

Xander pulled several duffel bags from the closet and filled them with her photos, books, clothes, and jewelry. After we packed all the items that traced back to Nerine, we wiped down the entire place to remove any of Nerine’s fingerprints.

Given our time constraints, we couldn’t completely sweep the place but were as thorough as possible. If anyone came after us looking for clear signs of Nerine’s presence here, it would at least slow them down.

Throughout our work, my mind was in overdrive. From all indications, Xander was the same; he hadn’t said a word, only letting the occasional grunt escape his lips.

The weight of the truth pressed down on us like a boulder crushing our future. Xander and I, two reckless and unprepared men, faced the daunting challenge of becoming fathers. And Nerine, the woman we had always known to be strong and capable, was now living a lie under an assumed identity. Could she embrace the role of a mother figure?

Despite all the chaos and uncertainty, I found comfort in knowing the boys seemed happy and well-cared for. I did not doubt that Nerine's mother, the only person she truly trusted, was taking good care of them. Yet, it still didn't feel right. Children deserved to be with their parents, especially their mothers.

This was nothing but a fucked up situation.

Nerine, the Angelos Angel and the Godmother of the Night for one of the most powerful crime syndicates on the East Coast, was hiding and estranged from her family and loved ones. It wasn't fair.

Fuck this.

No matter what it took, I was determined to help Nerine reclaim her rightful place as leader of her family's empire. She had shed blood, sweat, and tears for it, and I wouldn't stop until she got back what was rightfully hers.

"We have to fix this," I told Xander as he finished packing the last duffel bag by the door.

"I know," he replied grimly. "But first, we need answers."

"Right," I nodded in agreement as we headed to see Nerine in the bedroom.

"She's going to be angry," Xander warned.

"Good," I smirked. "We can all be angry together."

He grunted and shook his head disapprovingly.

"But let's try to keep ourselves in check this time," he reminded me.

"You're the one who's already hard." I chuckled as he revealed four silk scarves from Nerine's closet and began to tie her to the bedpost. "Take it slow. We don't want her waking up too soon."

My arousal was growing, and I discreetly adjusted my swelling shaft.

"I've got it handled," Xander assured me with a smirk.

"I can't help but enjoy seeing her like this," I admitted, torn between my anger and desire for her in this vulnerable state.

"I get it." He nodded in understanding.

With skillful movements, he bound Nerine's limbs with the scarves to the bed. As he walked around to face me, I couldn't help but pull him close and kiss him passionately. His hand found its way to my cock, stroking it eagerly.

"Do you want me to handle this before we wake her?" he offered, pulling away from our kiss. "It might help ease your temper."

I firmly shook my head. "No, a little edging won't hurt anyone."

I pulled him into another kiss, feeling my cock swell even more in his hand. When he finally pulled away, he met my gaze steadily.

"We have kids," he said flatly.

"We can't be certain of that," I countered, attempting to hold on to a sense of denial.

But Xander shot me a knowing glance. "Yeah, we do."

"Shit," I muttered under my breath, unable to mask the anxiety churning within me at the idea of becoming a father. "This is happening."

"Yeah," Xander whispered in awe. "A picture speaks a thousand words, right?" "We're fathers," I said, nodding as I tried to grasp the magnitude of it all.

"Fuck me," Xander breathed out. "This is going to change everything."

"I believe it already has," I replied, pulling him into a tight hug as we found solace in each other's embrace. This was our new reality now, whether we liked it or not.