by Bethany-Kris
Kev’s place, however, was gone entirely.
Nothing but a pile left behind.
The workers placed a large tarp along the bit of charred grass, and then began dressing in their safety gear. Apparently, they would place anything they found in the rubble on the tarp for Kev to look over. Anything that might have made it through the blaze.
By the looks of it, nothing did.
All of it was gone.
A few feet away, Kev and Darren hissed between one another. As usual, their conversation was not quiet enough to keep their words just between them. They still didn’t know the meaning of fucking privacy.
Not that she was surprised.
“Look at it,” Kev snarled.
“Well, there’s not really much to look at, Kev,” Darren replied.
“Oh, you got fucking jokes today, huh?”
Darren sighed. “My place is gone, too, man. What do you want me to say? We put a hit out on one of their people, it went through, and then what? You expected them to sit back, and do fuck all about it?”
“Well, no—”
“This is what they did,” Darren interjected, his voice a rough murmur. “Now, we answer back, or figure something else out.”
“Something else, huh?”
“What do you want to do, Kev? Focus on a place that means nothing to you? What did you have in there other than some documents, guns, and clothes? It’s not like you had anything you gave a shit about in there. Rebuild, or go buy somewhere else.”
“That’s not the point!”
“Well, if you want to get into semantics about all of this, and whose fault it really is that our places got burned down, let’s start with you, brother.”
Kev glared. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“Why the fuck me?”
“You were the one who said it would be best if we dropped low for a while after the whole hit thing, you know what I mean? Maybe if we hadn’t ducked out for a week, this wouldn’t have happened. We would have been more present here, and whatever else. Kind of hard to burn a place down when you’ve got someone going in and out of it all the time, or somebody watching it. I mean, you didn’t really do that, and neither did I.”
“There was somebody here—Siena.”
Two gazes drifted in Siena’s direction. She quickly looked away as if to make her brothers think she was not paying any mind to their conversation at all.
She still needed to feed Andino and the rest of the Marcellos whatever information she could, after all. Kev and Darren were constantly predictable in the way they never looked at her—they never even considered she was smart enough, or had enough guts to be the one fucking them over.
Their mistake.
Her gain.
Darren stared hard at the empty space where Kev’s brownstone had once stood tall and proud. A sharp red brick against the brown bricks of the other homes on the block. It was more than just things lost, sure, but Siena wondered if that was only part of her brother’s problem.
Maybe Kev was starting to realize he had bitten off far more than he could chew where the Marcellos were concerned. Or hell, maybe not.
“Maybe we’ve gone about this the wrong way with them,” Darren said.
“Who?”
“The Marcellos—who the fuck else?”
Kev scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “I’m listening.”
“I mean, their control over this city has always been the fact they have connections, and so much territory. Not to mention, men. The largest Cosa Nostra family in North America, right?”
“What’s your fucking point?”
Ouch.
Even she could hear the jealous tone in Kev’s voice.
“Don’t get pissy at me,” Darren said. “I’m just saying. Anyway, we’ve got at them from the front, so to speak. We’ve attacked them, and caused violence on their streets. Brought attention to them, and whatever else. Figured it might make them take a step back, or reconsider their usual way of handling these kinds of issues.”
“And it did none of that,” Kev muttered.
“Nope.”
“So, what is your grand fucking plan now?”
“Well, that wasn’t my plan to begin with. It was yours—it didn’t work really well for us.”
“Keep taking those shots at me, man.”
Darren rolled his eyes. “I mean, let’s go at them from a different direction. From behind, in a way. Make it hard for them to do business. Rough up the streets where their Capos have control. Step in between their contacts keeping things under control.”
For a long while, silence stretched on between the two brothers.
Then, Kev spoke. “I like it.”
“Thought you would.”
“You know, I got word someone saw Johnathan Marcello around here shortly before the fire started,” Kev said.
Darren cleared his throat. Out of the corner of Siena’s eye, she saw Darren look in her direction before going back to the conversation at hand.
“That so?” he asked.
“Apparently.”
“Anything else?”
“So far, the investigator agrees an accelerant was used, and they’ve called it an arson.”
“Just like my place,” Darren muttered.
“But hey, we know who probably did it,” Kev said.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“We’ll get him.”
“Among many,” Darren agreed. “For now, though, where do we live?”
Kev laughed dryly. “Well, Ma wants me over there. You, too.”
“For a while, that’s fine. But you know how it is.”
“That won’t work with Siena, though,” Kev put in. “She’s the one handling Greta and Giulia, you know what I mean?”
“Ma won’t have Dad’s bastards going in and out of her house all the time. She puts on a good show, sure, but—”
“She’ll only take so much.”
“You could just say fuck the girls for now,” Darren offered. “Focus on everything else.”
“I need them compliant, just in case.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Siena’s enforcer said she did well while we were gone—never acted out of line.”
Siena smiled at that—faintly so it couldn’t be seen. All the while, she never looked away from the men cleaning up the mess that was once her brother’s home.
Good things were coming her way.
She could tell.
“She’s still got her apartment, too,” Kev added quietly. “A couple of months there with an enforcer looking after her won’t be a big deal. I even got the guy to check on the building—there’s an apartment available two doors down from hers.”
“You’re going to send her back to her place?” Darren asked, incredulity coloring his tone. “After everything she did with Johnathan, and even after Ginevra?”
“We don’t know that she helped Ginevra—”
“Suspecting is more than enough in this case, Kev! You’re fucking crazy to let her out of your sight, and you know it.”
“I have to,” Kev grumbled, “for now, anyway.”
Siena smiled wider.
That time, she hid it by looking up at the bright sky.
Good things had come for her.
• • •
Siena’s fingers ached from typing all day, and her neck and shoulders felt like rocks from sitting in an uncomfortable computer chair for hours upon hours. The last thing she wanted to do was climb stairs, but freedom was just a few steps away.
Her apartment, that was.
She had been back at her old place for a couple of days. Nothing was better than closing the front door to her apartment, and knowing that her brothers wouldn’t be hanging around a corner or something.
Sure, it left her out of the loop.
She didn’t have information to pass on.
You win some, you lose some.
Siena still kind of considered this winning. At least for her.
>
She ignored the ache in her feet as she climbed the stairwell, and opened the hallway door leading down the row of apartments on her floor. Behind her, the enforcer still tasked with looking after her followed close behind.
He didn’t speak.
He rarely did.
At her door, Siena pulled out her key, and stuck it in the lock. Like always, the enforcer opted to wait behind her until she had opened up the door, and slipped inside the apartment. She caught sight of his nod before he headed further down the hall.
The guy had gotten that extra apartment, after all.
Siena never left her place without the enforcer waiting outside her door. He drove her to and from work, and to wherever else she needed to go.
Now, with her brothers back, the guy didn’t let her have an inch. Likely because he knew Siena would turn around and take a mile back from him.
Smart.
Siena locked the front door behind her, kicked off her heels, and reveled in the cold floors pressing against her aching soles. She dropped her bag in the corner, and picked up the contemporary romance paperback she had left sitting on the stand on her way out that morning
Thumbing through the pages of the book, she went back to the spot she had left her bookmark. The heroine was getting ready for a date with a guy she despised, but felt she had no other choice given her circumstances.
Siena was so focused on her book, that she damn near rammed head-first into the tall form standing in the middle of her living room.
She knew it was him before she looked up.
Before he even spoke, she knew.
“John,” Siena whispered.
Her eyes found his, and John smiled sinfully.
“I see you’re distracted again,” he said.
Familiarity comforted her.
Love wrapped around her.
Hope held her.
Still, Siena’s gaze darted over her shoulder to the door. “How in the hell did you get in here?”
John shrugged. “Used the back door when someone was coming in, and picked your lock. I’m buying you a new one, by the way. No one else has a key, right?”
“The enforcer who watches after me.”
His gaze narrowed. “Yeah, I saw that prick, too. Is he fucking decent to you?”
“He’s okay.”
She wasn’t lying.
John nodded. “Can you change out his key?”
“Probably. Sometimes he’s leaves them sitting in the cup holder when he runs into a place.”
“Good enough for me.”
Siena shook her head. “What are you doing here, John?”
His grin deepened. “Do you not want me here, babe?”
How could he possibly think that?
“Of course, I do, but it’s danger—”
John interrupted her protests by grabbing her wrist, and yanking her in to him. Her book fell to the floor the second his lips crashed against hers. The kiss was enough to quiet her worries, make her wet between her thighs, and remind her of all the reasons why she loved this dark-in-his-soul man.
“They saw you,” she whispered against his lips.
John hummed a low note. “Saw me, what?”
“Around Kev’s place the day it was burned down.”
He stiffened.
Siena shrugged. “Was it you?”
“Yes—someone else, too. But they were there to keep a look out.”
“Because of what they did to Cella’s husband?”
John shook his head, and kissed her lips again. “Nope—maybe partly. But mostly, no.”
“Then, why?”
“Did you think I was just going to wait until I could see you from afar by chance again?” John laughed darkly, and kissed the tip of her nose. His affection was a bright contrast to how cold his voice and words were when he spoke. “No fucking way, bella. I am all in on this. Us, I mean. I tip hands to my favor, not the other way around. I needed a way to get you out from under their thumbs a little bit—now you are. See what I did there?”
Siena blinked.
John grinned.
Well, damn.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I HAVE A surprise for you,” John said.
Siena blinked up at him, happy and sweet in the next breath. “For what?”
“It’s not much.”
“I don’t care. It’s from you. Anything from you is wonderful, John.”
He had no doubt she was telling the truth. He could see it in her eyes, and feel it in the way her fingers curved around his wrists to hold on tight.
John had come to figure out that Siena was somewhat of a cornerstone in his life—long term, and short term. He had regaled himself to the belief that everything he did for them now was so that they could have a future. He also got through the darker moments in his days by thinking about her.
She got him to the next breath. A thought about her smile made him wake up in the morning. Memories of them got him looking forward to the next week.
So, yeah.
Long term.
And short term.
Siena was all of it for John.
“It’s in the kitchen,” he told her.
Siena pressed her palm into John’s, and wrapped their fingers tightly together. With a soft laugh, she pulled him along to the kitchen. She came to a sudden, full stop when the item on the island counter caught her eye.
“You didn’t—”
“Thought I forgot, did you?” he interrupted her.
Grinning, John pressed a kiss to Siena’s temple.
“Never, babe,” he added.
Siena let out a little sigh, and her gaze drifted from him, to the item on the counter. A single cupcake, decorated in white frosting, and sprinkled with edible sparkles. The one candle inserted into the top flickered with a flame—he had lit it when he heard the lock jiggle in the door.
“Did anyone tell you yet today?” he asked.
Siena shook her head, and wetness gathered along her bottom lashes. “No, but I suppose it’s not very important in the grand scheme of things.”
Jesus.
Why would she ever think that?
Or feel that way?
“Siena, everything about you is most important—especially to me, dolcezza. Every part of you will always be important to me. You know that, don’t you?”
Her hand came up to cup his cheek, and her thumb stoked his skin with a soft touch. It was enough to chase away the chaos that had been John’s mind lately. So much had been piling up, and he took just a few minutes away from it all today, so he could be with Siena.
She took the rest away, too.
God, he loved this woman.
“Thank you,” she said.
John slid a hand around the back of Siena’s neck, and pulled her in for another quick, hard kiss. Her grin formed against his mouth, and he whispered, “Happy birthday, my sweet donna. Do you want me to sing it for you, too? I will.”
Her fingertips patted his cheek. “I believe you, but you don’t have to.”
“Blow out your candle, then. Before wax gets all over your cupcake.”
Siena laughed, and John let go of her. She reached for the cupcake, and pulled it from the counter. Holding it in front of her, she eyed him over the flickering flame. He could see the question burning brightly in her blue eyes.
“What, love?”
“So, I guess we’re just going to act like yours doesn’t matter, then.”
John cocked a brow. “My what?”
“Birthday. A couple of days ago, right? Thirty-one.”
“It’s another day, and I spent half of it sitting on a sofa talking to a therapist.”
“I bet your mom made you cake, though.”
John flashed a smile. “She did, too.”
Siena frowned.
He couldn’t have that.
Stepping closer, he slid a hand along the curve of her waist, and pulled her a little bit closer to him. She kept the flickering candle at a safe distance as t
o not burn either of them while she looked up at him.
“What is it?”
“Sorry I missed your birthday,” she said.
John kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s fine—next year.”
“Will we have a next year?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
Siena’s little smile came back. “Will you help me blow out the candle?”
She offered the cupcake between them with a little shake that made the flame flicker dangerously. Like an offer he couldn’t refuse, not that he would refuse her anything.
“Anything you want, babe,” John said. “Do we make a wish, too?”
“Is that too juvenile for you?”
“Not if you want it.”
“A wish, then.” Siena held the cupcake higher. “On three.”
“One, two …”
“Three,” she said.
The two of them blew out the candle together, and John made his wish. He didn’t say it out loud, and he didn’t even think it, really. Looking at Siena, he figured his wish was kind of obvious, anyway.
All he ever wanted now was her.
“This was great,” Siena said as she pulled the paper from the bottom of the cupcake. Setting it and the candle aside, she pulled a chunk out of the cupcake, and offered it to John. He took the bite with a wink. “Thank you, really.”
She swept a dollop of the frosting onto her finger, and sucked it between her lips.
Jesus Christ.
That one action was enough to kill him.
John tried to keep the huskiness out of his tone when he said, “Don’t even mention it. This was so little compared to what I would have done in different circumstances.”
“This was perfect.”
She sucked another dollop of icing off her finger.
“Siena.”
“Hmm?”
She looked up at him.
Innocent and blue-eyed in a blink.
Goddamn her.
“You need to stop sucking on your finger like that, donna.”
“But it’s good frosting.”
She swept her finger through the top of the cupcake again, and offered it to John. Not even thinking about it, he took her finger into his mouth, and let his tongue do the work of cleaning off the digit. He felt the shiver race through Siena as her gaze met his.
“Yeah, okay,” she said. “I get it.”
