Sienna
I step downstairs and hear a murmur of voices, including those of children. “The Dragon Queen herself,” comes the voice of Nico, who shoots me a grin as I stride into the lounge area. I offer him a smile then walk over to Sylvana, struggling to reign in her two boys, Lukas and Marcus.
Ever since I took matters into my own hands and gradually restored our name into the underworld, things have been strained between Nico and me. That fierce loyalty he had towards me when Dante was still alive has all but disappeared. I know that he thinks I stole his mantle, but he would be standing where I am right now if he had been man enough.
I glance towards Sylvana, who offers me an apologetic look. “They get like this whenever I mention that we would visit Zia Enna and Daniella,” she says, tugging on their arms and passing them death glares. Well, Lukas is the out of control one; Marcus just goes along with whatever his brother tells him to do.
“Ah, that’s okay, Vana. They can shoot upstairs to Daniella’s room; she should be in bed by now. Although I think Donato brought up that they would have a sleepover tonight?” I say, alluding to Dario and Serena’s son. The two boys get excited when I mention their sleepover, and Sylvana eventually lets them go, watching them rush upstairs to their cousins. I breathe out a sigh as I watch them go, beaming at their cheerful faces. At least we kept our children safe through all of this; that’s the most important thing.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Serena and Dario approach us, and I turn towards them. They have truly been my pillars through everything, Serena especially. She taught me how to be ruthless while remaining calm, and Dario showed me how to be deadly with a knife. There’s a lot you can do with only a plain old kitchen knife, a lot more than I cared to do, anyway.
Serena kisses my cheeks. “I’ll be back tomorrow without Dario; there are a few things I have discovered about those close to us,” she whispers so low that I barely hear her. But I tilt my head in a show of confirmation and give her a smile before doing the same to Dario.
“What are we expecting from this tonight?” Sylvana asks, straightening her dress and sauntering over to Nico.
I cross my arms and lean against the fireplace. “The Cirillo family wishes to be more involved with our routes and trades. Christian has an arrangement drawn up courtesy of Marla Cirillo,” I say, and my eyes go to Nico for some reason. He rolls his eyes. “Of course he does, and I am sure you will accept the agreement,” he says sharply, causing me to blanch. I know Nico dislikes Christian, but not because of who he was.
“Is there something on your mind, Nico? Please do share,” I say, already realizing what he was thinking, but he was too chickenshit to say it out loud.
He shrugs, then scowls at me. “All I am suggesting is to maintain an open mind; don’t blindly move with whatever Drakos suggests.” He says, breaking eye contact with me by glancing over at Dario.
“Excuse me? When do I just blindly go with whatever he offers? Have I not come to you guys with everything before I make a decision? Or is this about something else?” I demand. Nico chuckles then looks at me again. “Not in his bed, Sienna-”
Before I could even think, I had stepped over to Domenico and slapped him. I felt everyone’s eyes on me while I solely had this glare set aside for him. Sylvana will hate me, and I am okay with that, but no one will call me a whore in my own home.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I say in a low voice, struggling and failing to mask my rage. Domenico scoffs and shakes his head, knowing that he had better choose his following words carefully.
A silence settles over all of us; then, it is broken when Dario claps his palms together. “Well, let’s get this started then, shall we? The ancient ones are waiting downstairs,” He declares, walking towards the basement meeting chamber with Serena in tow.
I feel annoyed every time I face the three families and our Greek companions, even more now that I have had a fight with Domenico. I should count myself lucky to be on their good side, considering how bloodthirsty the Greek mafia are. They kill first without even bothering to ask questions. Before Dante, I wasn’t even aware of any mafia dealings in Greece, but their leader reached out to me a few years ago, and we’ve had a partnership since then.
I take a deep breath and glance at my family before leading them to what I hope would be a better meeting amongst the houses.
SiennaWell, that went down as smoothly as a razor on dry skin. As usual, these surly old men cannot get it through their heads that I am the leader of my family and would only speak to Nico. My brother-in-law made them listen to me and I am eternally thankful for it, but I know that he loved doing it. I trust Nico as far as I can throw him, and that is not very far.This is like a knife twisting in my side, knowing that these men would rather listen to someone like Nico instead of me. After our argument before the meeting, I didn’t expect Nico to jump to my defence, but I am sure there was a reason for his help.Damn it, can’t I just catch a break?“Honey,” I hear the familiar voice of my friend, Bamba. She’s Daniella’s minder who has come to be a close confidante of mine, it helps that she’s not a part of this life. She knows what I do, though, and will give me the honest truth when I need it an
SiennaWith bodyguards on either side of us, I watch as Christian walks ahead hand in hand with a bundled up Daniella. She’s taken such a shine to him already; I suppose that it will happen since he’s been a constant in her life over the last two years. She still asks about her real father; and I can’t do much but tell her that he’s gone forever. I contemplated telling Christian to leave my side last night and knowing it would not only break Daniella’s heart, but mine as well; I relented.Besides, who would wait around for a woman they haven’t even kissed yet?“Mama! Come!” Daniella calls as they walk through the market on the Pavillion. This was her favourite thing to do with Christian; buying sweets at the market even if the weather was chilly. He treats her to everything her heart desires, and she feels like a right princess.Breathing out a content sigh, I walk over to them and see that
SiennaAfter Serena calms herself down, I call Dario to come and collect her. I wasn’t certain whether or not she told him about her discoveries, but I resolved to keep it to myself for now. There is no way for us to know what Sylvana’s true intentions are by her encounter with someone linked to our greatest enemy. All I know is that it can’t be a good thing.I lean back in my chair and breathe out a frustrated sigh; is there anyone worth trusting nowadays?A knock on the office door snaps me out of my thoughts and a smile crosses my lips when I see who it is. “Done for the day?” I ask Christian as he strides towards my desk and he replies with a terse nod. “Finally, yes. But it resumes tomorrow,” he says, taking the seat where Serena had been in a few hours ago.I offer him a strained smile and look down. “Mine never ends,” I murmur, hating the fact that I sounded so vulnerable and in
SiennaChristian walks with me to Nico and Sylvana’s villa, which is on the same estate as this. I start telling him about Serena’s discovery, and when I conclude my story, he has an impassive look on his face.“Allessio fucking Speranzini,” he says with disgust in his voice.“I guess you know him, then?” I say sarcastically, knowing the reputation that bastard has and how they compare me to him in mafia circles.“Know him? If I knew what the fucker did to you and your family back in New York, I would not have an accord with him right now.” He says.I stop walking and look up at him. “You have an accord with my greatest enemy?”He looks at me. “As I said, Sienna, if I knew he was the reason he caused you pain, I would not have met with him a year ago. You play your cards close to your chest; how was I supposed to know what you two meant to one another? I didn&
SiennaI wake up the following morning with a body pressed up against me, and when I open my eyes, I see Daniella’s sleepy face. Smiling, I decided to savour the moment instead of sprinting out of bed like I usually do.Christian’s words about making myself happy first are still ringing in my head. I don’t know the first thing about keeping myself happy, much less keeping this family happy. But if they are continually looking to me for guidance and support, should I really continue as I have? God knows that I’ve had enough of stewing in this pit of despair, and ten years is a long time…Even though Dante’s body was not recovered in the flames, I never gave up on finding him. Everyone thought I was crazy, following up on leads when someone would spot a person bearing his resemblance, but I loved him so much that I would have moved mountains to see him again.It is only recently I am realising that he mi
Sienna“Not even a clue?” I ask, seeing nothing but darkness and hearing Christian chuckle.“Sienna, this is supposed to be a surprise. Stop asking questions, or I’ll turn this SUV around right now.”“You sound like a parent,” I say, almost rolling my eyes, but it was difficult with a blindfold on. “Ha! Does that mean I get to reprimand you with my belt?”I shake my head. “I can’t deal with you, I really can’t,” I say, tutting at the fact that he turns everything into a dirty joke.We’ve been driving for about ten minutes, Christian blindfolded me as soon as I got into the car, and I am only realising now how my guard had dropped. He can literally do whatever he pleases with me, even take me to Allessio, and it will be all my fault.With my heart in my throat, it occurs to me that I’m vulnerable right now. Fuck!“We’r
SiennaI pick up the sunflower with trembling fingers, too terrified to even open the door and see who threw this here. Only my family and Christian knew that these were my favourite, so who the hell was that and what could this mean?Hearing footfalls on the gravel again, I shove the flower into my handbag and point the Beretta towards the door when it opens.“Easy, there, it’s only me!” Christian says with wide eyes and his hands up in surrender.I lower the weapon and put it back in my bag, noting Christian’s pale face and laboured breathing. For a split second, I forgot that he took a hit before he went searching for the assailant. “We need to get you to a hospital!” I exclaim and move closer to him, ripping open his leather jacket.There’s a lot more blood than I expected.“I’m fine-”“You are obviously not fine!” I exclaim, gesturing for a b
Sienna/“I hope one day… you’ll love me as much… as you love Dante’s ghost….”/These words echo in my mind as I approach my villa, and the guilt gnaws away at my insides. I don’t know how I am going to make this up to Christian, but I think he deserves a lot more than just one kiss after two years of courting.I don’t see Dario and Serena’s cars outside the villa; however, I do see Nico standing by his car and watching the driveway. He kills the cigarette in his hand when he sees me and waves at me before walking over.“Hey, Nico,” I greet him as I get out. He sees the blood on my dress and frowns.“What the fuck happened? Are you okay?” He asks. I don’t have time for fake concern, so I nod and continue on my way.Nico runs up behind me and pulls me by the wrist. “There’s something you should know about Drakos,&r