Act 1: Queen's Rook - Chapter 2

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.