Page 139 of Loyalty

Her shout echoed at his back. He found Siena at the front of the mansion. He helped her to slip on her coat.

“John, she meant no harm,” Siena murmured. “She wasn’t saying any of that to hurt you, I swear.”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re all the same.”

Siena frowned up at him. “What?”

“This whole family. They’re all the fucking same. They talk about loyalty, but they don’t know what it means.”

“John.”

Her whisper made him look down at her. Siena kept searching his gaze like she was trying to find something. He didn’t know what.

“They love you, John.”

Do they?

It was hard to tell when he was like this.

• • •

Siena laughed as John pulled her up the steps of a brownstone that was only a few blocks away from Fifth Avenue.

“What are we doing here?”

“Taking a look inside.”

Siena peered up at the black brick of the home. “Who lives here?”

John flipped open a keypad, and punched in the numbers to make the door unlock. “A friend, but he’s out of town. He’s trying to sell the place, and let me know the code to get in, so I could check it out.”

The door pushed open under John’s hand, and he reached back to grab Siena, and pull her inside with him. He shut the door behind them, and Siena’s laughter filled up the front hallway of the brownstone.

“Wait, shouldn’t the realtor be here, then?” she asked.

John shrugged. “Who cares?”

“Because it’s a break and entering charge, John!”

He only chuckled, and pulled her into his side. There, he could kiss her temple, and so he did just that.

She relaxed at the kiss. “At least you’re in a better mood than you were earlier.”

“Yeah, well, getting away from my family has its benefits.”

Siena frowned, but didn’t say more. John slipped his hand in with hers, and pulled her along. The first place he headed was for the stairs.

“I thought we were looking around?” she asked.

The two climbed the stairs to the second level, and then up to the third.

“Actually, there’s only one part of this place I’m interested in,” John said as they reached the top floor. It was an open concept space for what seemed to be an office on one side, and an artist’s studio on the other side. “Look up, babe.”

Siena did, and froze on the spot. “Holy shit.”

John grinned as he looked upward, too. The entire ceiling was actually inverted for an indoor pool that had been built into the roof. The pool was surrounded by heated frosted glass walls that provided privacy from the neighbors. It didn’t matter that it was February because it would feel like August inside the pool’s walls.

“Let’s go try it out,” John said.