SIENA STEPPED out of the cool complex into humid July air. It made the lingering wetness from the quick shower she had taken to get rid of the workout sweat stick to her skin. The smell of chlorine from the complex’s pool vanished with every breath of fresh air she took in.
The day was beautiful, and the streets were quiet. A clear sky, and a bright sun that suggested no rain was on the horizon, despite the humidity. Siena couldn’t complain about that. Nobody wanted rain in the summer.
Then, as quickly as her happiness came, it fled just as easily at the sight of the man waiting for her next to a running Mercedes.
No, not her enforcer.
Her brother.
Darren pulled the aviator sunglasses he wore away from his face as Siena took the steps of the complex slowly. The longer she didn’t have to be in his presence, or talk to him, the better. He gave the simple black dress she wore a curious look, and his gaze narrowed on the bag she carried. She was barely within reach of her brother before he snatched the bag from her shoulder, and opened it up.
What the hell?
“Hey,” Siena snapped. “Give me that back, Darren.”
“In a sec.”
He didn’t even look up at her as he dug through her bag. His hands pulled out her personal effects without any care at all. All that was in there were her workout clothes, a bathing suit if she felt like using the pool when she came to the complex, the cell phone her brothers provided, and her wallet.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Still, he kept looking like he expected to find something.
He wouldn’t.
Siena was not dumb.
“Why are these clothes damp?” Darren asked.
“Because working out makes people sweaty,” Siena said. “Which you know, gets on the fucking clothes you wear while you work out.”
Not that her brother would know anything about exercising. The older Darren got, the rounder he became in his middle. Pear-shaped when it came to his body, while his hair was thinning at the top of his head. Sometimes, if she turned too fast, she was struck by how much he looked like their father.
She figured that was probably a lot of Darren’s problem where his health was concerned. He had been spoiled too long by their father. He had become accustomed to eating whatever he wanted, and never cared for his body. He much preferred to sit behind a desk like their father had taught him to do, and issue orders, instead of doing something himself.
So far, Kev had avoided behaving that way, too. He was still quite a spoiled, demanding man, however.
“That’s disgusting.”
Darren made a face, and handed the bag back to her as though the item had suddenly turned diseased. Screw him. Siena snatched it from his grasp with a dirty look, and slung the bag over her shoulder.
“What in the hell was that all about?” she demanded. “I don’t go through your stuff like I have any business doing so.”
Darren gave the complex a look, and then his sharp gaze cut back to Siena just as fast. She didn’t like the way his eyes glinted with something unknown. She couldn’t trust her brothers with a goddamn inch, to be honest.
“It’s strange—that’s all,” he said. “Every time you come here, your enforcer says you come out wearing the same shit you go in with. Problem is, Kev and I both know you pack clothes to work out in every time you go.”
Siena barely hid her frown.
Her brothers were looking into her business, and that spelled bad news. It made her uncomfortable as hell to think that either one of her brothers were starting to get suspicious about anything she did. Especially if that meant they might take away her one opportunity for her to actually get away from them.
She had to think … and fast.
“Do you want to wear the same clothes you work out in for the rest of the day?” Siena asked. Pulling her bag from her shoulder, she offered it to her brother. “Here, take it again and smell the clothes in there. Do you think sweat smells like fucking roses, or what? Jesus Christ. Get a grip, Darren.”
Darren made that same disgusted face, and refused to take the bag. “I get it, Siena. Chill your hormones out, all right.”
She wasn’t one hundred percent satisfied that she had got her brother to believe that she wasn’t doing anything at the complex but working out. For now, it would have to do. Unless she got another goddamn idea, or they forced her hand.
“Just yoga today?” Darren asked as he opened the door to the car.
Siena passed her brother a look as she slid into the passenger seat. “Today, yeah.”
“You didn’t see anyone you recognized in there, or whatever?”
Jesus.
“No, not today.”
Siena tried to close the car door, but her brother held strong. He leaned down to stare Siena right in the face as he spoke again.
“Have you seen anybody you recognize here since you started coming to the place?”
“Just my enforcers.”
Lies.
Siena had never been much of a liar, but she had become especially good at it over the last few months. Maybe she was just as bad as her family—maybe she owned her last name the same way her brothers did.
The thing was, Siena wasn’t doing it for the Calabrese name. She wasn’t doing anything of this for her brothers, or even for her dead father.
No, she was doing this for someone else entirely.
For her.
For John.
For them.
“You’re sure?” Darren pressed.
Siena tried to find what her brother was reaching for as she searched his eyes, but came up with nothing. For as good as she was with hiding things, so were Darren and Kev. It was a little unsettling when she didn’t know what their game was. Besides, it was far easier for her to beat her brothers at their own game when she knew what was coming.
Even if that meant cheating a little …
Her last meeting with Andino had been the previous week when they visited John at Clearview Oaks. She had barely managed to get back to the complex in time once they left, as she dragged her feet too much while they were there. She hadn’t wanted to leave John when she didn’t know the next time she was going to be able to see him. In fact, she was so late getting back that her enforcer had just entered the building to come search for her as she passed by the receptionist’s desk.
Sure, the guy hadn’t seen her coming in through the back entrances. She had been a little sweaty from running through the back parking lot, and the building to get to the front. Her hair had been mussed, and her face clear of makeup when she scrubbed it all off during the drive back.
Nothing was out of place. Nothing for the enforcer to mention. It had still been a little too close for comfort.
Maybe that’s what had Darren’s suspicions up.
Who fucking knew?
“I’m sure, Darren,” she said. “Now close the damn door. It’s hot outside.”
She barely even got to finish her sentence before her brother did just that. Siena moved her fingers out of the way in the last second to avoid getting them jammed. She shot him a dirty look through the window, but Darren only smiled in response.
Fucking asshole.
All too soon, Darren slipped into the driver’s seat, and without even looking over his shoulder, pulled out onto the road. He kept quiet for a long while, and hell, that only made Siena even more unsettled. Like he was trying to think about what he wanted to say, or something.
Everything about her life, and her brothers, was now a very carefully thought out process. Nothing was said without it meaning something, and they very rarely told her things unless it was to demand something, or announce something.
Shit.
She wished they would talk to her less, actually.
“Someone mentioned they might have seen Andino Marcello around this part of Brooklyn a couple of times,” Darren said. “Kev wanted me to ask if you had seen the fool, too. You know what he drives, right? Black Mercedes, kind of like this one.”
Actually, Andino drove two vehicles. One was a white Porsche, and another was a black Mercedes SUV. And it was nicer than her brother’s.
Siena swallowed hard. “No, I haven’t.”
And by someone, she suspected her brother meant one of her enforcers. She didn’t bother to ask if that was actually the case, though. Too many questions from her, and it would drive Darren’s suspicions even higher. She didn’t need that trouble right now.
Siena kept her gaze on the sidewalks and people they passed by. Many of the shops were taking down their Fourth of July decorations as the holiday had now passed. It gave her a chance to keep her attention on anything but her brother.
Maybe then, he would get the hint.
She wasn’t up to chat.
Darren never did care. “We’ve got to keep a better eye on them, that’s all.”
Well, that piqued her interest.
“The Marcellos?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Darren shrugged. “Things are happening in that family, that’s all. It’s important we keep up with it, and act appropriately to it.”
“Things like what?”
She was pressing too hard.
She seemed too curious.
Darren was too focused on the road to notice, it seemed. That, or whatever he was caught up with regarding the Marcello family had him distracted. “I guess the Marcellos announced Andino’s engagement to some chick—let everybody know at their Fourth of July party. Shit, they’re not even waiting, really.”
“I don’t understand.”
He passed her a look. “To get married, Siena. They’re not waiting to get married since they just announced it and all. Fuck, keep up. You’re not usually this dumb.”
Ouch.
She let that insult roll off her shoulders.
“When are they getting married?”
“On the twentieth.”
Wait …
“Of this month?” she asked.
Darren nodded. “Yep.”
“And they just announced it?”
“Like I said, they’re not waiting. Sounds to me like someone wants to move little Andino up in the family, and he needs to position himself appropriately for it.”
“He’s not really little, is he?”
More like a fucking linebacker.
Darren scoffed. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know what any of that—him getting married, or whatever—has to do with us, though.”
Her brother smiled. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to, Siena. You’re only a woman.”
Only a woman.
That insult was not as easy to ignore, but she forced herself to, anyway. Someday, her brothers would think twice before thinking because she was only a woman, she could not hurt them. Hell, they should have already realized it.
Look what happened to their father. Sure, that hadn’t been her, but she hadn’t stopped John from killing Matteo, either. She didn’t even apologize for not trying to stop him from doing it. She didn’t even cry at Matteo’s funeral.
Her father didn’t need her tears. He wouldn’t want them.
She had always been just a woman to him, too.
Besides, she had something better to consider at the moment. Andino getting married so soon likely meant he had a lot on his plate, and that was probably why he hadn’t shown up to talk with her today at the complex. Sometimes, that happened.
Andino was Johnathan’s best friend, and vice versa. There was no way in hell Andino would get married without John being there, too.
Siena knew, then. She had a date to count down to for when John would finally be out again. They were one step closer to finishing this forever.
Her forever was almost there …
• • •
For the first time in longer than Siena cared to remember, she sat alone in the church pew.
Well, not totally alone.
Just down the way on her right side sat her mother. On her left, a few seats away, sat her enforcer. Her mother’s attention never left the priest speaking at the altar, while the enforcer seemed more interested in the phone in his hands than on the service.
Siena took the few moments she had to check the screen of her phone without the enforcer or her mother looking over her damn shoulder. She didn’t get that chance very often. The date on the home screen stared back at her.
July twentieth.
She had counted down the days. She had paid way too much attention to the calendar on her wall every single day she woke up, and then again before she went to sleep.
The day was finally here.
John was getting out.
Siena only knew for sure that he was getting out today because of a wrong number call from someone. The call came to her cell phone like it always did when Andino sent a message. Some random person asked for the wrong name, Siena would apologize and say it was the wrong number. Then, the person on the other end of the call would quickly deliver whatever message needed to be said before she hung up without a second thought.
That way, should anyone be near her when she picked up the wrong number call, no one would think anything was amiss. And should someone else pick up her phone when the call came in, like Kev had done once, they would only have the person on the other end apologizing for calling the wrong number.
Today, the message had been clear.
Three o’clock. Waldorf, Manhattan. Room 403. Room key will be waiting at the desk.
Siena knew that time coincided with Andino’s wedding. The location for the event hadn’t been given when it was announced in the society rags, but the date and time had been mentioned. Not to mention, Kev and Darren had gotten information, too.
Siena eavesdropped far more than was safe.
She was kind of betting her life on it, at the moment.
This morning, however, no one had been around to hear her wrong number call. No one had been around since the night before when Kev and Darren each packed a bag, and slipped out of the house. They didn’t tell her anything about where they were going except to say they wouldn’t be back until the next day or sometime after, and her enforcer would be close by.
They also made it clear she was to attend church with her mother.
Well …
Siena was here.
So was her mother.
She couldn’t promise to stay, though. Not when she knew John was just within her reach, and so was the taste of freedom. Even if that bit of freedom wouldn’t last for long.
It didn’t matter.
The opportunity was too good to pass up.
Siena passed another look at her enforcer as she slipped the phone back into her purse. The man’s attention was still firmly stuck on the phone in his hand. It looked like he was playing a game of some sort.
She swore she could hear the clock ticking down in the back of her mind. It was getting louder by the second.
Taunting her, even.
Goddamn.
She forced her attention back to the priest. His sermon on faith and love to one’s family was entirely lost on her. Or perhaps, she just didn’t have the right family at the moment to give those things to.
Soon, the service was over. People stood from the pews, and Siena followed suit. She had been at least able to drive herself to church in her Lexus, which was one less thing for her to figure out at the moment.
She only needed to get away …
“You should come over for dinner,” her mother said behind her.
Siena stiffened. “Not tonight, Ma.”
Turning, she faced Coraline. Her mother reached out to fix a stray curl, but Siena quickly stepped out of Coraline’s reach. She was not interested in entertaining the woman’s false affections. Besides, her mother’s love was dependent on how well-behaved and loyal Siena was to their family.
“I do miss spending time with you,” her mother said.
Siena nodded, and smiled. “I’m sure you do, Ma. Tonight, I have other plans.”
“Like what? I know your brothers are out of town. You must be bored in Kev’s brownstone all by yourself. Surely, you’re not entertaining …” Coraline trailed off, and nodded in the direction of the waiting enforcer. “Neither of your brothers need that kind of trouble, Siena.”
God, no.
She didn’t even hide how disgusting the idea made her feel.
“No, not that, Ma,” Siena muttered. “I just meant I wanted a quiet night. Me, my book, and maybe some wine.”
Those were most definitely not her plans, but as long as it got her mother off her back …
Coraline’s bitterness was back in a blink. “Well, don’t say I didn’t try.”
“I would never, Ma.”
Because she didn’t try.
Neither did Siena.
This was just another game.
Siena allowed her mother to kiss her cheeks, and offered the same in return. She watched her mother step out of the pew and into the aisle before she turned to face the waiting enforcer. The man looked like he was ready to leave.
She had news for him.
“I need to speak with my priest for a few minutes,” she told him.
The enforcer—a young twenty-something whose name she hadn’t even been given—scowled. “Didn’t you listen to him enough today?”
“You’re not a very good Catholic, are you?”
“I go to church.”
“Do you make use of confession?”
The man coughed. “Well, no …”
“I do. Excuse me.”
She heard the enforcer’s sigh echo out from behind her, but all she could do was smile. Shooting a look over her shoulder, Siena found the enforcer had sat back down in the pew, and dragged his phone out to look at it once again. He wasn’t even paying any attention to her at all.
Good.
That’s exactly what she wanted.
In their life, very few things were held sacred. And for her, a woman who had disabused her family, and misused their trust, even less things were sacred for her.
Certainly not privacy.
Except, of course, when it came to confession.
Siena would disappear out one of the back doors, and be long gone in her Lexus before the enforcer even realized what was happening. He likely wouldn’t know she was gone until he figured out how long he had been sitting there waiting for her.
Besides, confession could take a long time.
The phone in her pocket burned a hole as she headed past the last few people. A part of her wanted to pull out of the phone, and make one single call. She knew Andino’s number—she could let him know that she would be there today.
The smarter part of her brain knew that probably wasn’t a good idea. Her brothers crawled through her phone history on a regular basis. She couldn’t even delete shit without them finding out. She didn’t need that kind of trouble when they got back.
She left the damn phone where it was.
Their priest didn’t have a particularly large congregation, but it was a decent size. He often allowed confession to be open after every Sunday service, just in case someone in the church wanted to make use of it.
He held confession in the back of the church, behind the altar. A private room set up with rich tapestries, and two chairs facing one another. Sometimes, it made confession a little awkward when a person was forced to look someone in the face when they admitted to some of their deepest, darkest sins.
The comfort of the room often helped, though. It certainly didn’t look like the old confessional booths in movies. Actually, Siena didn’t think she had ever used one of those kinds of confessionals.
None of that mattered.
She wasn’t going to be attending confession at all.
At least, not today.
She was banking on the fact that the enforcer was rather new to watching her, and quite young in the grand scheme of things. She hoped that those facts would keep him from calling her brothers to let them know she had skipped out on him, if only because he was one of the many men in their family who had a healthy fear where Kev and Darren were concerned.
He wouldn’t want to get in trouble.
Not for her.
Siena slipped into the back hallway that led to the offices, and the private room used for confession. The priest was already greeting a man standing outside the private room, and gestured for the man to go in.
He didn’t even see Siena.
He didn’t see her take a sharp right, and head out the exit, either.
Siena glanced down at the peach-colored dress and matching pumps she wore. Even the peach hat on her head was Sunday services appropriate. And wedding appropriate, although she wasn’t sure if she would even be attending the wedding.
That invisible clock in the back of her mind only stopped ticking down when she slipped inside her Lexus, and turned on the ignition. She was no longer counting days or minutes or seconds to when she would see John again.
To when he would be out again.
She was finally in the fucking homestretch. Even just a few days of not seeing him was far too long.
Whatever trouble might find her for this …
So worth it.