Page 306 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Still, she wasn’t there to entertain the Calabrese men, or make nice with any of them, either. She was simply there for John, and so he could make his point clear with these people about where they now stood, where he positioned himself against them, and even Siena’s place in the family.

As his.

All semantics.

Theatrics of the mafia.

It was what it was.

Sitting on a chair that was not pulled into the table, but set far enough back to make it clear Siena was not joining the men, she only took her attention away from their conversations when John came into the room. Despite the room being full of people waiting on him, he only looked at her.

Coming to stand at her side, his fingers drifted through her loose waves, and he quickly dropped a kiss to the top of her head. At home, in private, John dressed for comfort, or whatever he was doing that day.

Tonight, though, he wore one of his black Armani suits—black shirt, black vest, and black tie underneath. Black on black on black. It was quite a striking sight, and she thought he looked most handsome like this.

Sexy, too.

But she would save that for later.

“You good?” he asked her.

Siena nodded. “Of course.”

“Good.”

One more stroke of his fingers along the line of her jaw, and he turned to greet the men in the room. A wave of his hand to them, and their voices hushed.

John took the chair at the head of the table, and sat down. Glanced passes between one another, and Siena saw the arch of John’s brow when he cocked it in challenge.

“You stand when a boss sits unless he has directed you otherwise,” John murmured, “so move your asses.”

It took a beat.

And then another second.

Chairs scraped as the men slowly rose to their feet. A couple of them grumbled under their breath, but didn’t dare voice their complaints much louder than that. Once everyone was standing, John leaned back in the chair, and surveyed the men with his thumb and forefinger resting against his jaw.

“I thought you all might want to see what success in the criminal underworld really looks like,” John said, waving his other hand at the opulence of the dining room.

The chandelier was bigger than a small car.

The table?

Flaked with gold.

“You could all learn a thing or two by accepting your fate of a new boss, and a new path for this family, but I assume there are some of you who plan to make this hard for me. Nonetheless, I brought you all here so you could have your vote. As we all do—we put in nominations for positions, and vote on them. This is no different. So, we will vote on the boss.”

The men’s gazes darted fast to John, and then between one another.

“Vote,” one of the men echoed.

“That is what I said,” John replied calmly.

“Yet, you present yourself as the boss, so where is the vote really?”

John smiled coldly. “I am giving you the illusion of a choice, and then I’m going to make my point very clear.”

He lifted his fingers high, and snapped them twice. Siena stayed put on the chair with her hands folded in her lap, and quiet as could be. She knew what was coming, and it didn’t shock her like it did the rest of the men to watch a good twenty more men file into the dining room.