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1
SIENNA
He was gone. He’d left me. It has been a week, and I still couldn’t get that day out of my head. I’d woken up, reaching for him on the other side of the bed. But I’d felt nothing. There was nothing but empty sheets that felt too cold. My eyes had blearily opened, and I’d been confused for a few minutes before sitting up. The room was empty, and our door shut tight. Looking around, I caught sight of his phone atop the mattress.
There was a sense of dread, as if I already knew why it was there. Swiping the screen on, I found it already open to a note, perfectly typed out. My eyes scanned the screen once, then twice, my stomach dropping. Jumping from the bed, I yanked on the same clothes from last night. There wasn’t time to change. Ripping the door open, I fled out into the hall.
Mateo was waiting for me in the living room as if he’d expected this. His eyes told me everything I needed to know, my questions dying on my lips.
He was gone.
I couldn’t call him. Had no way to reach him. And I knew that, wherever he’d gone, I wouldn’t be able to find him again unless he wanted me to. Which I knew he didn’t.
He’d left me.
I slumped into the chair, staring down at the phone in my hand. I remember watching the small red battery icon tick down to two percent. I remember Mateo sighing, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s what he wants.”
I shook my head. “It shouldn’t be like this.”
“But it is. And we have to continue forward without him.” His hand slipped away, and I was left alone.
That had been a week ago. Now, I was in my father’s office, going over some reports that Mateo had dropped off earlier that morning. Sighing, I let the papers fall to the desk. I couldn’t focus today. Or any day. My thoughts constantly strayed back to him, wondering where he was, what he was doing. My phone was always by my side, always turned on with the volume up on the ringer. I didn’t want to miss his call…if he did call.
Leaning my elbows on the desk, I let my head fall into my hands. It had been a long week, but it had been a week of silence. No attacks. No rumors. No Dante. This week had nearly driven me insane. I’d gone out every night since he left, searching for him. I’d sat my ass down at The Salamander, waiting for him to show up or hear some whisper of where he was.
But the Devil had gone completely underground.
It wasn’t until last night that I’d finally heard something. I was at The Salamander, moping at the bar and ignoring the Arco brothers when I’d overheard two men discussing a raid the previous night. Apparently, some dark vigilante had stopped them, gunning down half their men and scoured the cargo in search of any hint of the Snake. There’d been nothing, of course. The Snake seemed to disappear entirely after kidnapping me.
But at least I knew he was still alive.
A knock sounded on the office door. Mateo strode in the moment I called out for him to enter. There was a manila folder in his hands, with a shit ton of paperwork nearly slipping out of it. I eyed it warily, wondering what more I needed to do for the day. I was about done with trying to save the business. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed and never leave my room.
“This came for you,” Mateo grunted, handing the file over.
I opened it warily, flipping through the contents. Paused. And then flipped through them again. My eyes snapped up to Mateo. “This has to be some sort of mistake.”
He glowered. “Trust me, I went over it three times hoping it was.”
“But this declares me as the Don of the Scaranos.” I flipped back another few pages, scanning them quickly. “And gives me full power over their businesses and assets.”
“Yes.” He didn’t sound pleased.
“Dante signed it.”
“So he did.”
I snapped the file shut. “This can’t be happening.”
Mateo cleared his throat, taking a seat. “I hate to say this, but it might actually be a good thing. He left you everything. The house. The businesses. The money. Now we can rebuild after the decision to shut down operations.”
“This is anything but a good thing,” I snapped. His eyebrows shot up. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. “This means that he’s not coming back. Or, at least he’s not planning to.”
Mateo’s cold eyes glittered. “Maybe that’s for the best.”
I stilled, the file balanced between my hands. Right then, it felt heavy. Too heavy. I laid it flat on the desk, trying not to look at it. I knew what Mateo meant. With Dante out of the way, and these papers, I could finally fulfill my father’s wish of destroying the Scaranos and taking their shit for ourselves. At one point, that’s what I wanted. But now? Now, all these papers did was leave me with a feeling of loss.
