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“Why are you so—”
“Can we please try to keep this civil?” David interrupted. We both glared at him. “Look, Sienna wouldn’t do anything without you. So we came looking for you. If you don’t want to be a part of this, then fine. Continue living in your…whatever this is.” His nose wrinkled, making me want to punch it right off his face. “If you do help us, I can get you a full pardon for assisting me.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You must be pretty high up the food chain if you can promise that without speaking to any supervisors. Who are you?”
“I’m who Mrs. Rosania said I was.”
Sienna sighed. “We came looking for you because I want you to come back home. Right now, I need you to come back. I can’t do this alone.”
Shame washed over me. I looked away, jaw clenched. “You don’t want me to help. You’re not going to like how I do things.”
“Then don’t do it that way.”
“It’s not that simple, Sienna. And you know it.”
“Just come listen to what David has to say. That’s it. Then you can decide if you want to stay or leave again.” She tried to hide the hurt in her voice, but I heard it anyway.
My fingers tapped against the table, the few loose bullets rolling across the flat surface. “Fine. But I don’t trust this guy.”
“Noted,” David muttered.
Sienna rolled her eyes. “Get whatever you need to. I’m not allowing you to stay here. We’ll go back to my family’s apartments.”
“This man isn’t taking one fucking step into your apartment,” I growled.
She chewed her bottom lip. “There’s one more place we could go.”
“Fine.” I stood, the chair screeching back against the kitchen tiles. “I’ll grab a bag. Wait here.”
“I’ll grab us a cab.” David started towards the door, Sienna following him.
I moved to step in front of her. She glared at me, hands twitching at her sides as if she’d like to shove me away, but she didn’t move. David paused at the door. I could feel his eyes on us.
“Go ahead, David. We’ll be down in a minute,” Sienna said.
I didn’t move until I heard the door click shut behind me. Without saying a word, I brushed past her, heading towards the bedroom. David might only be here to help us catch the Snake, but that didn’t mean he needed to be alone with my wife. And, if we were going to work together, then I was going to make sure he fucking knew that.
8
SIENNA
The car ride to the small house I owned out in the suburbs was tense. I’d bought the house right after turning eighteen in a desperate attempt to feel like an adult. I’d never used it, only on the rare occasions I needed to have a short vacation away from everything. It was a bit of a drive through the city to reach it, but with David in the back and Dante taking over the passenger seat, it seemed longer. We’d stopped by David’s hotel room so he could grab a few things before heading back on the road, my own bags and Dante’s tossed into the back.
Finally, when I thought I couldn’t take the silence any longer, I pulled up to the curb just outside of the house. It was a small two-story, with a short front lawn and stone steps leading to the front door. It wasn’t as nice as the Scarano’s estate, but I didn’t buy it to flash money around. I bought it for myself. Everything from the white-washed exterior to the red staccato roof was my vision, my dream home. I had a gardener come out every other week to tend to the rose bushes out front and mow the lawn, with a maid coming in every two weeks to deep clean the house even when I wasn’t there.
Leading the boys up the steps, I unlocked the front door. Stepping through, I took a deep breath, allowing some of the stress from the past few hours to untangle. The inside was similar to my apartments back in the city, but with more plants and open space. The small kitchen was barely used, seeing as how I rarely spent time here. The living room had only a single couch, television, and bookshelves lining the walls with a soft gray rug in the center. There were three bedrooms upstairs, one I’d used as a reading room. It wasn’t what Dante and I were used to in terms of comfort, but it would be suitable enough to have a safer place to plan. One I was sure wasn’t bugged or being watched.
At least, I hoped it wasn’t.
“You own this?” Dante asked, stepping through the door. He looked a bit put out that I hadn’t told him about it.
“It wasn’t like you asked me for a list of assets when we married,” I replied.
David shut the door behind him. “And you’re sure this is a safe place to talk?” he asked, glancing around.
“No one knows I own this. The name on the deed is faked, and it’s not even one of the identities I’ve used before. My parents didn’t even know I bought this,” I told him. “It’s safe. As safe as it could be, at least.”
David nodded slightly. “Well, then I guess we’ll be here for a few days.”
