All Chapters of The Deal With The Devil: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60
127 Chapters
Warm, Sunny Air
SiennaI don't run into Giovanni on the way back upstairs and don't see him anywhere in the house. Declan lends me a jacket which is about five sizes too big. When I slip my arms into it, I realize it's his from the scent of aftershave clinging to it. I find myself glancing back to be sure Giovanni isn't coming around a corner because if he was angry about me talking to Declan yesterday, he'll flip when he sees me wearing his jacket.We climb into Declan's older model Range Rover and head into town."This bridge scares me," I say as we cross it.Declan smiles wide, glancing over at me. I see two dimples beneath the scruff along his sharp jaw. His dark hair is messy, and he looks like he hasn't shaved in two days. He's wearing a Barbour jacket that looks well broken in and all I can think is how opposite he looks to Giovanni right now. How this is the side of himself that Giovanni hides beneath his expensive suits."Bridge is fine. It'll be here long after we're gone. Don't fret, Sienn
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Territorial Monster
SiennaDeclan places a hand at my lower back, and we walk to a table. I hear Giovanni's warning of last night. That I don't know what his brother is capable of. But when I look at Declan, it's not danger I sense. Actually, it's a similar sadness to what I see in Giovanni.They're more alike than Giovanni realizes."Declan, can I ask you something?""Of course.""When you said Giovanni was changing things, did you mean you and James won't be able to live at the house anymore?"He nods and I see the worry in his eyes when his gaze shifts momentarily to his son."Does he know you want to stay? He won't kick you out. Why would he?""You don't understand our past, Sienna.""When he goes back to Las Vegas—""Do you think he'll go back?" Declan asks it like it's a question, but I think he's trying to tell me Giovanni will be staying.I look at him. I just assumed..."This is home to him. To all of us. Being a Highlander, you're tied to this land. This wild, unforgiving country. No place is h
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Broken Bridges Can Be Fixed
Giovanni"Why did you bring me here?" she asks when we're in the car. "I thought you needed me, but you just seem really pissed off with me every time you see me.""I'm not pissed off with you. Being back here is harder than I thought it would be. That's all.""Then let me help you."I turn to her. "Stay away from my brother. That'll help me.""You're wrong about him. He's really just being nice.""What did he tell you about me?"She looks straight ahead as we drive. "He told me about your parents and Ann."I snort. "What did he say? Paint her to be a saint?""No, actually, he didn't. He told me about the affair and finding out he was your brother by blood. And he told me how much influence his mother had over your father. He gave the impression she was unfaithful, and you tried to protect your father and that it backfired."I'm silent for a moment because it's the truth. And I guess I didn't expect Declan to tell the truth. Or maybe that his version would be different than mine.That
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Grieving Highlander
SiennaMy knees give out and he holds me up as he slides out of me. He pulls up his jeans first, then tugs mine up because I can't seem to move. He's rougher than he needs to be, and I feel his breath at my cheek.I turn to look at him and I think about what he said. About being his. Belonging to him. And it feels like this is different than our strange arrangement."When I went to my father with my allegations against Ann, I was naïve," he starts, surprising me with this.He walks away, sits on a stone.I remain where I am and watch him even though he keeps his gaze outside."I should have waited to have solid proof although who knows what he'd have done even with that. He was so completely in love with her and she just had him wrapped around her manipulative little finger. She made him choose. Me or her. It couldn't be both. And my father chose. And then I chose. I don't think he expected me to leave."He's quiet, but he's not finished."I vowed vengeance. It was all I could think o
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Cards All Out On The Table
SiennaThere's so much stuff in the drawer that I have to tug it to get it out and when I do, something slips out and falls to the floor.I look down and it takes me a moment to process what it is.An American passport.I pick it up, open it and see the photo of me taken hastily in one of those booths at the mall. I remember Giovanni hadn't given it back to me after our flight. I open the folder wondering if his is in there too. Maybe for safe keeping? Makes no sense though.But when I open the top flap to see what's underneath, the air in the room suddenly becomes thinner.My missing flash drive, I'd forgotten about it. So much has happened that the last few days feel like months.But this, what I'm looking at, it reminds me. Abruptly and absolutely, it reminds me.And it's not the flash drive.This is worse.It's what's on the drive. It's all those files printed out. The police reports. The photographs. Everything.I think I would be sick if I had any food in my stomach.I'm unprepa
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No Time To Die
SiennaMy phone comes to life, startling me.I catch my breath, put the sheet of paper down.Taking my phone, I absently enter my password and look at all the missed calls.I listen to the first from Deirdre telling me she'd work extra hours until I got back, then another from Jim at the garage telling me about a newer model Ford Escort that he just took in to sell and would I be interested? He says it's a good car without too many miles and makes a crack about my duct tape fender.The next two are disconnects. Probably wrong numbers.I think the one after those must be a wrong number too because it's silent at first but there's something different about this silence. It's not empty. I can hear whoever is on the line breathing.And when the caller clicks his tongue, I feel myself go rigid, feel myself grow cold as every hair on my body stands on end.How can a sound, the simple clicking of a tongue, have that kind of power over someone?How can it just erase years?Because it does jus
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Back With A Vengeance
SiennaI find the number of the Brewster Clinic and dial. Someone answers there. I assume they have someone on twenty-four hours a day."Hello, I'm looking for a patient, Ciara Williams.""Ms. Williams is no longer a patient here, ma'am.""You mean she was released?""I'm afraid I can't give out personal information.""Do you have contact information for her?" I ask."Ma'am that is all confidential. We take care to protect our—"I disconnect, frustrated, then remember the other messages.One more of those is disconnected right away, but the next one, it's from Deirdre and it takes her minute a speak like she doesn't realize it's time to."Hey hun, I was hoping to catch you. I have something here for you. That man from the other day was back. Honestly, he was more than a little upset when he heard you weren't here again. Left something for you. An envelope addressed strangely to L. B. W." I can almost hear her shaking her head. "Just a sec, dear." I hear her say something to someone an
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Go Get The Girl
GiovanniI'm walking back to the house from the cliffs beneath a heavy sky. The air is cool and damp. How I'd forgotten this. Vegas couldn't be more different and every moment I pass here the farther my life there feels. The emptier.At that, I think of Sienna.She's become important to me. A part of me. And it has nothing to do with our arrangement.My brother signed all the papers last night.I got everything I wanted.The house is mine as it should always have been. But even the text from Axel telling me they've finally picked up Williams doesn't help.I'm not in the mood for celebrating.A sound breaks into the perfect silence. I stop, turn my face to the wind and listen. It's coming from some distance, but it's there. And I know where it's coming from.Without consciously deciding, I begin to walk toward the source of the noise.The music grows louder and mixed in with it is the sound of a hammer pounding against wood.As I near the peak of the hill, the broken-down mews comes in
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Levi's Jeans
SiennaMy phone keeps losing reception and I'm lost. It doesn't help that the rain's picked up again and it's cold enough that the roads are slippery.It's been ages since I've driven a stick shift and never with my left hand.The gears scream as I shift to drive up the next hill, trying to load the map on my phone again, my attention split.It happens so fast, the turn coming out of nowhere, the rain at its heaviest, the boulder on the side of the road. I look up and it's too late, I know it even as my foot instinctively slams the brakes.The tires screech, the car slips and swerves.I scream, clutching the steering wheel, realizing I'd never put on my seatbelt as the SUV collides with the boulder, the sound of metal crushing and my own screaming all I hear as something pops and my forehead collides against the windshield, the pain sharp and instant just before I lose consciousness.-------GiovanniThe car's stopped moving.She's not much farther, but I'm stuck, cursing as I wait fo
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Tethering Propositions
GiovanniI give her that night and the next few days to rest. And all I can think about any time I look at her is what I'd thought, what I'd felt, when I'd seen her slumped over the steering wheel.It's five days later when I decide it's time we had this talk."How long have you known what's on that drive," she asks when I enter the bedroom.She's sitting up and Alice has just cleared the tray of food she'd brought up. Sienna's on bedrest. My orders."Long enough. You shouldn't have left like you did. You should have waited for me. Talked to me.""I thought Deirdre was in trouble. I thought—""You should have talked to me!" I slam my fist into one of the bedposts.Sienna jumps.I hold up my hand, mutter a curse under my breath. I don't mean to frighten her, but I do because she gets that look in her eyes, that one from the first night."I don't want to talk about it. Ever. I don't want to think about it. You can't understand what...I just...I wish I could forget. Why can't I forget?"
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