Page 181 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Again … so was her life.

But for these two girls?

For her little sisters, so lost without their own big sister to guide them, Siena was present. She forced herself to be present and to do what she needed to do, so they saw a smiling face, and someone they could trust.

Because fuck Kev and Darren.

They would not do to these girls what they had tried to do to their missing sister. Well … to Greta and Giulia, Ginevra was missing. Siena knew the truth—and while right now, the younger Calabrese girls hurt, it would not last forever.

Missing did not mean dead. Someday, they would know that little fact, too.

“Are we all going to linger in the goddamn hallway all day, or have lunch?” Kev asked. “I’m starved.”

Greta and Giulia kept their gazes locked on the floor. Neither of them answered their brother, but frankly, they had learned rather quickly about Kev and Darren. When the two men asked a question, they weren’t actually looking for a response, but rather, an action.

They only wanted well-behaved women.

Very little else.

“Are you hungry?” Siena asked the girls.

“A little,” Greta said.

Giulia dared to look past Siena, and her familiar blue eyes narrowed. “Not particularly.”

Siena let a little smile slip through at the youngest girl’s barely hidden contempt. “I cooked, though.”

The girl’s gaze darted back to Siena in a blink. “Did you?”

“Your favorite.”

“Oh, well … okay.”

“I’m hungry,” Kev repeated.

“Then, go sit down in the damn dining room,” Siena barked over her shoulder.

The warning that flashed in both her brothers’ eyes was enough to tell Siena she was toeing a very thin line with them. Before her father’s death, she used to get away with a hell of a lot more than she did now.

Kev and Darren barely let her breathe. Apparently, even breathing was wrong. Or rather, Siena breathing was wrong.

“Let’s grab some food,” Siena told them.

The girls nodded, and then followed in front of her when she urged the two forward. Greta and Giulia passed by Kev and Darren without saying a word. Siena didn’t miss how the two sisters’ lips curled a bit in their disgust at being close to their brothers.

That could happen when a person was forced to watch brothers you barely knew do things like try and force your older sister into an arranged marriage, not to mention, how they found their mother one morning.

All by Kev and Darren’s hand.

Siena tried her fucking hardest to ignore the awkwardness as the siblings settled into the kitchen together. What else could she do at this point? What else could she possibly do for these two girls—both fighting invisible battles, and confused?

At least, she thought, Greta and Giulia had some freedom even if it was just an illusion. The two lived with an aunt, although the woman was largely paid and happily so by the Calabrese brothers. The sisters weren’t forced to be in Kev and Darren’s presence every single day of their lives. Usually once or twice a week, instead.

Siena, on the other hand …

Well, it all went back to the stifling thing again.

Her brothers were the worst.