Page 56 of Between Love & Ruin

“Is that a way to talk to your boss?”

“I am off-duty right now. I can call you a jerk if I want to.”

As if he would hesitate to call me that while he is working.

“Why did you call then?”

“I have a lead about your and Sienna’s past.”

My heart picks up speed. Ever since I got to know that our parents died in a similar way, I have been itching to know if, by some fucked-up way, this was connected.

When my parents died in a car crash, my grandfather suspected it could be the work of some of our rivals but, upon investigation, found nothing.

He would never let me know too much, but he told me one thing—that it was not planned. He would go on to say that maybe they were meant to go like this after living a very fulfilling life in a short amount of time.

Sadly for a child like me, that was too fucked up to digest.

“What is it?”

“I think what we were thinking might be true.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I never knew the universe would work this way in our favor.

“Your parents’ death is connected but not exactly how we thought it would be.”

* * *

There are times I wonder if the universe likes to play with me. Because there is no way that what is happening in my life makes sense right now. I hear people say all the time that God or the universe plans your life before birth. But I don’t think all of what is going on right now can be planned.

Though I have never believed in God, I do think he isn’t so mean as to pull off this move on me.

Because what do you mean that the one time I fall for a woman in the thirty years of my existence on earth, she turns out to be in a relationship?

And what do you mean that both of our parents died in an accident together?

And on God and everything almighty, what do you mean that I will have to break this news to her one day?

I still don’t believe it. Not till I see everything on paper. I need proof. I need something to tell me this isn’t true, which is why I asked Roy to dig deeper and gather as much proof as he can.

I don’t care if he needs to bribe or manipulate. I need everything.

I haven’t been able to sleep since I found out this news. I know I can just keep the truth to myself, but when Sienna told me about her parents, there was a hollowness in her eyes that I could recognize too deeply.

It sucks not knowing what happened to your parents, why it happened to your parents and, especially, not knowing why it happened to you. While I detached myself completely from the idea of parents after they died, I don’t think everyone can do that.

And especially not a person like Sienna who loves too deep and too real.

And because I couldn’t stop thinking about her last night, I woke up too grumpy and have officially pissed off half of my staff at home. Now my cook is pissed with me, and I think I might just have to cook breakfast on my own.

I get downstairs, and the excitement of what’s going to happen today rushes through my body. Apart from my staff and Roy, nobody is allowed to come to my house.

Not even Myra. My house is off-bounds to everyone who knows me because I like to keep my peace and personal space protected.

But Sienna precedes all of it, and I can’t wait for her to come.

I put on the coffee machine for my daily dose of caffeine when the telecom at the front rings, and since all of my staff refuses to be around me at the moment, I have to go and get it.

Roy’s voice cuts through in the morning, all gruff and grumpy. He is so dramatic. When I told him to pick up Sienna in the morning, he said, and I quote, “I am not your chauffeur.”