Marked by the Mafia Twins

Losing Our Minds

ABEL’S POV — “Losing My Mind”

I knew the second she walked down those damn stairs that I was screwed.

Aubree Romano wasn’t just beautiful tonight—she was lethal.

White silk hugging every soft curve.

Hair curled down her back like something out of a dream.

And her smile—

God.

I’d taken punches that hurt less than the sight of her smiling at someone else.

When Carter reached for her hand on the dance floor, something inside me snapped. I tried to stay calm—I really did—but watching them together was hell.

His hand on her waist. Her lips parting when he spun her. Her little cute laughs and smile.

That should’ve been me.

By the time I cut in, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I wasn’t thinking at all for that matter.

I just knew one thing:

I’m losing her.

And I can’t. I won’t allow it.

When she ran out, pain stabbed through my chest so hard I almost went after her immediately. But Carter was watching me like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

Like he was daring me to go after her first.

I didn’t give him the chance.

I found her outside at the fountain—our fountain—and she was shaking.

I hated myself instantly.

“Aubree—”

She looked at me with those green eyes and I lost the ability to breathe.

I apologized because I didn’t know what else to do. My voice sounded rough, raw. I probably sounded like I was confessing to murder.

Then Carter showed up.

I swear, something inside me turned to flames.

He stood there calm, composed, like he wasn’t dying inside.

Like he hadn’t looked at her on the dance floor like she was his oxygen.

“You think you’re the only one?” he told me.

That line will haunt me forever.

Because I always knew—deep down—that Carter loved her too.

I just never thought he’d say it.

When Aubree said she didn’t want to hurt us, something cracked open in my chest.

I wanted to grab her and tell her she could never hurt me.

I wanted to pull her against me and keep her there forever.

I wanted to kiss her lips and make her truly mine forever and always.

Instead, all I could say was, “You won’t.”

Even though I knew it wasn’t true.

She could destroy me with one word.

Then Sebastian burst outside and everything shifted into mafia mode.

Threats. Danger. Someone targeting us.

But even as I followed Sebastian inside, all I could think about was her.

Aubree.

Cold garden air on her skin.

Fear in her eyes.

My hands are aching to hold her.

I realized something in that moment.

If someone is hunting the heirs, then they’re hunting her too.

And I would rather die than let anything happen to her.

CARTER’S POV — “The Truth I Never Meant to Say”

She shouldn’t have worn that dress.

God help me—she looked unreal.

Too soft.

Too pure.

Too perfect for the world we were all born into.

When Abel dragged her onto the dance floor, jealousy punched me straight into my gut. I forced myself to stand still. To breathe. To think. Instead of punch.

But watching him hold her?

Watching her blush under his stare?

I was drowning quietly.

When I finally got her in my arms, everything in me… stilled.

The noise of the party faded.

The pressure in my chest loosened.

For one selfish moment, I let myself imagine she was mine.

Just mine.

Her hand in mine.

Her body warm and close.

Her smile—God, her smile.

Then Abel ripped her away.

His hands were too rough on her waist.

His voice was too hungry.

His intentions are too obvious.

And Aubree—she didn’t push him away.

I snapped.

I’ve spent years burying my feelings.

Years convincing myself that Abel loved her first, so I didn’t have the right to.

Years telling myself that wanting her would break the family apart.

But when he put his forehead against hers…

Something inside me shattered.

“You think you’re the only one?”

The words slipped out before I could cage them.

The truth I’d swallowed since we were kids spilled into the open like blood.

I hated myself for saying it.

I hated him for provoking it.

And I hated that she looked at me like she finally saw me—

really saw me.

Then she did the unthinkable and ran.

Abel went after her.

Of course he did.

He’s fire. He moves without thinking.

I… I always think too much. Ever since I was a young boy I did the same thing.

When I found them in the garden, my heart cracked again. Because the pain I didn’t even know I had was there.

Abel was way too close for my liking.

Aubree looked overwhelmed but comfortable.

Me on the other hand I couldn’t breathe.

But then she said she didn’t want to hurt us.

And I knew right there.

We have already been the ones to hurt her.

Sebastian our father coming out with the threat was a relief I didn’t know I needed—

a moment where I could shift back into something I understood:

protection.

plans.

control.

But as we followed him inside, one thought stayed lodged in my mind:

If Aubree is the one in danger…

I will burn down whoever and whatever may touch her even if it’s my own blood my brother.

And even if I have to stand beside that same brother. Abel to do it.