Although I could now see how Lykos might have perceived it as excluding him.
I pressed my palms together and closed my eyes. It was so much easier to be a therapist to others than to feel and deal with all these emotions.
A vibration broke through my thoughts. It was my phone and the name on the screen showed Sienna was calling me.
I answered immediately. “Hey there. Are you okay?”
“Of course. Are you?” Sienna said dryly.
I laughed weakly. “Let’s focus on you, Sienna.”
“And she avoids the question.”
“Sienna, you’re notmytherapist. I’m yours. Now, you calledme,which means you need to talk,” I said softly, keeping my tone even.
Sienna exhaled sharply. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“How about you tell me how your plan with the Irish mobster is coming along?”
“It’s going well.” She mumbled something I didn’t quite catch, and she added, “Too well.”
I leaned back against the chair. “But you’re not happy about it.”
“I am,” she replied, although she didn’t sound very convinced. “He’ll probably be arrested soon.”
I frowned. “And you’re okay with that?”
“Of course I am.” Steel sharpened her voice. “Mobsters are involved in arms trafficking, money laundering, and much, much more.”
“And you presented the evidence?”
Silence filled the line.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sienna…”
“Don’t turn into a therapist right now.”
“You called me which tells me you need me to be exactly that. Besides, need I remind you, Iama therapist.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Have you called Sophie?” I asked.
I knew my friend was traveling through the Balkans, trying to find peace herself. It was the reason I wasn’t calling her, but I suspected she’d want to know about this. If not her, then at least her cousin, Kristoff Baldwin, who had legally adopted Sienna when he married Sienna’s mother.
“No, I don’t want to stress her out.” Her tone softened.
“Yet, it seems you’re stressing out,” I pointed out.
“I don’t know why I’m stressing about this. The man is a mobster and belongs in jail. I just need him saying enough on record to bury him permanently.”
My stomach twisted uneasily. “Sienna, have you thought this through?”
“Yes.” She let out another heavy exhale. “It’s guilt that’s killing me.”
“Maybe because you care about him.”
“I. Do. Not.”
