Page 148 of Loyalty

Kent handed over the file. “Somebody ran this to me today, and let me know I needed to get it to you as soon as possible.”

John took the file, and tapped it against his palm. “Thanks, man.”

The man nodded. “No problem, John.”

Kent turned on the stoop, and left without another word. John closed the door, and faced Siena.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“An enforcer,” John said, still looking at the file in his hands. “One that works for a Marcello Capo on the other side of the city.”

“He came all the way over here to give you a file?”

“That’s his job. He does what he’s told, not what he wants to do.”

John opened the file as he slid past Siena in the hall. It took all of two seconds for his easy-going posture to change. He went from unbothered and calm, to as stiff as a board just like that.

“John?”

He was silent. His back stayed turned to her. She couldn’t see his eyes, or judge from the expression on his face what was wrong.

So quiet.

Deathly so.

“What the fuck?”

That was all he said.

Siena was frozen to the spot. “What is it?”

“I … don’t know. I mean, I do—fuck.”

His outburst sent a sharp stab of cold dread piercing into her heart. The file went flying from John’s hand, and crashed into a wall in the next second. Papers scattered everywhere. In the next breath, he grabbed the small table that held knickknacks and a decorative glass bowl, and overturned it with just a flick of his wrist.

Glass shattered all over the floor. John’s curses reverberated through the house.

Siena was still frozen in place.

She didn’t know what to do. Move, or stay right where she was. A fear settled deep in her gut. Not a fear of John, but of the unknown. Because she realized in that moment that she didn’t know how to help him.

“John,” Siena said, “are you—”

“Why would they fucking send me that?” John’s fist crashed through the wall, crumbling plaster. He didn’t even flinch. She didn’t think he felt the pain. Turning fast, he faced her with wild eyes and teeth bared. “Like they think I don’t already know what your family did to mine? Like I need a fucking reminder everyday now, or something?”

Siena didn’t understand what he was talking about. She didn’t understand what had set this off.

“John—”

No matter what, this was still John to her. Her John. Even angry, confused, and irrational. He was still her John. She saw his outburst, and faced it head-on.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” she said.

“Fuck.”

One last curse, and one more thrown item to the floor, and John turned his back. As fast as he was in front of her, he was gone. She heard his footsteps echo as he headed up the stairs.

Yet, she was still frozen in place.