Soon, she was opening the door to the bar area and striding towards them.
Elio was the first to notice her. A smile tugged at his lips. She didn’t bother returning it.
Reaching them, she kissed her brother’s cheeks, flicked her usual nod of acknowledgement at Stefano and pretended not to notice his stare drop to her breasts as it always did. One day, when the time was right, she would get her vengeance.
“Anything important I need to know about before I head off?” she asked, addressing her brother.
Mattia shook his head. “We’ve just been discussing distribution networks.”
She nodded, understanding. It wasn’t just the prevention of war that had convinced the family marriage to Elio was necessary, but the network he’d built right under their noses, crossing the whole of Europe and beyond.
She fixed her coldest stare on the man who was now her husband.
There was speculation in his eyes, but he lifted his glass of whisky, drained the contents with a flourish, and got to his feet.
Chapter Eight
“Tell me,”Elio said as his driver navigated the route back to the villa, “When were you and Stefano a thing?”
Siena’s sharp stare turned to him. “What are you talking about?”
“The way you are with him. It’s like you don’t even see him.” He’d first noticed it when they’d left the meeting he’d demanded Francesca as his bride, and she’d stalked past Stefano as if he were invisible. She’d treated him as if he were invisible at their wedding reception, too. Stefano, who was Mattia’s right-hand man, was the only person Elio had noticed she never addressed directly.
She looked back out of the window with a tight shrug. “He’s staff. How else should I be with him?”
“You’re not aloof with the rest of the staff or anyone else.” Elio himself excepted, of course. “Were you two once a thing?” That she’d been a virgin until barely twenty-four hours ago suggested it couldn’t have been anything serious.
“No, we were never athing,” she said, her voice full of contempt, but also something else he struggled to identify.
“Then what’s your problem with him?”
“That is none of your business.”
“You’re my wife. Everything about you is my business.”
Her gaze shot back to him. “You don’t own me or my thoughts, so go fuck yourself.”
“I’d rather fuck you, my little wildcat.”
Her mouth twisted with distaste before she turned her beautiful face away. “You’re disgusting.”
“And you’re on the defensive. Is it because I’ve hit a nerve about Stefano or because you don’t want to admit how much you want me?”
She pressed herself closer to the door.
“Which is it, princess? My guess is both.”
“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to throw myself out of the car.”
He laughed. “As a threat, that would be more effective if you said you were going to throwmeout of the car.”
“You have no idea how much I hate you.”
“And you have no idea how much I feed on your hate, but your threats are worthless because we’re home.”
As he said that, the car came to a stop. Watching the electric gates slowly open, Siena whispered with all the venom she possessed, “This willneverbe my home.”
His laughter was mocking and made her want to punch his nose hard enough to snap it. The only thing that stopped her from getting out of the car right then and there was fear of his dogs. Since meeting them the first night, she hadn’t seen or heard them at all, but that didn’t stop her from being on her guard for them, and when the driver stopped directly outside the villa’s front door, it didn’t stop her eyes darting around for signs of them when she climbed out.
