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“Trust, Sienna,” I hissed. “Trust is all we have.”
She yanked her arm from my grip. “Then we have nothing.”
I watched her walk away for a few seconds, chasing after her just before reaching the door. Stepping in front of her, I forced her to stop. “Listen to me.” My hands gripped her arms.
“Leave me alone, Dante,” she spit back, trying to escape my touch. I wouldn’t let her.
“You can’t leave like this. If you show up to that office too furious to think straight, then everyone will know you’re weak.”
My words jolted her. I could tell. She blinked up at me, at first confused, before finally shooting me a look of resignation. “Fine. I’ll calm down and then leave in ten minutes. But you should go now.” She turned away, taking a seat at the island counter, head in her hands.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I took a seat beside her, body tense in case she was going to run again. “Look, we can come up with some solutions together. Then you can go to Mateo and figure the rest out. We can save your family’s business, Sienna.”
“How?” She sounded bitter. Angry. She refused to look at me.
An idea popped into my head, though I knew she would fucking hate it. Still, I couldn’t see any other way around it. It would solve two problems at once, at least, if only she would see it that way. I realized then that I had to make her see it that way. She needed to understand the bigger picture. Her family’s business was beyond salvage now, but if we worked together, we could slowly piece it back together.
“Listen,” I said slowly, “and I want you to actually listen, Sienna.”
She snorted. “I am. Just spit it out.”
“What if you merged with the Scarano’s?”
“Excuse me?” Her head whipped up, pinning me with an incredulous look. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Just hear me out,” I said quickly. “Right now, you lost all of your customers. Your contacts. Everything. They went to my father. If we do a merger, we can salvage what’s left.”
“And give your father complete control?” she snarled. “Over my dead fucking body.”
“Yeah, well, with everything going on, that might be sooner than you think,” I snapped.
Fire flared in her eyes. “Why the hell would you even suggest that?”
“Because. My father won’t be Don forever. You and I will outlive him. And when I take over, I’ll give you back your half of the business. Completely.”
She stared at me. “This is what you two had planned all along, isn’t it?”
“What?” Did she not hear me? I told her I’d give her back everything once my father was long dead and I was Don.
“I fucking knew it.” She swore. “My father knew it. We all knew it. Sal has wanted our shit since the beginning. He’s constantly been trying to undermine us, to bring us down. And then he sends us his son to become a part of our fucking family. This is exactly the opportunity he was waiting for.”
“Are you insane? How could my father know your warehouse was going to explode and that you’d shut everything down?” I asked, angry. “He’s really not the mastermind you think he is.”
“Maybe he didn’t know exactly. Or maybe he did.” She sneers. “How do I know your father isn’t the Snake, Dante? How do I know this hasn’t been some huge ruse to force us to fall? It’s been too convenient for you and Sal. Way too fucking convenient.”
Cold threaded through my veins. “My mother’s dead,” I told her, repeating the words I’d said in the bedroom. “My father wouldn’t have killed her just for the sake of taking your fucking money.”
“How do you know?” She leaned forward, gripping my knee. “How well do you know your father? You’ve been gone for so long, moved from boarding school to boarding school, tucked away in a neat little corner your whole life. How well do you know him?”
“Better than you,” I bit out.
“Are you sure about that?” One eyebrow rose. “Because I know Sal pretty fucking well. He’s cold. He’s heartless. Just like every damn Scarano he commands. You people aren’t known for having hearts.”
“You people?” I lean back, dumbfounded. “If I didn’t care about you, Sienna, I wouldn’t be here trying to help you.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” she demanded. “Helping? Your solution is to give up my entire business and just hand it over to your father in a pretty little bow. How is that helping?”
“Because you’d get it back eventually! And, not only would you get it back, but it would be stronger than before!” I couldn’t help my voice rising in anger. She just couldn’t fucking see it, could she? “Together, we’d be able to take over this entire city. Your shit is my shit, and mine is yours. Whatever I have, Sienna, it belongs to you. And whatever you have—”
