SiennaThe silence in the cramped, grimy motel room was so thick and heavy it felt like it was pressing the oxygen out of my lungs. I stood frozen, my fingers still wrapped tightly around the cold metal of the deadbolt. The key card was still gripped in my other palm, its plastic edges biting into my skin, but I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything except the violent roaring of my own blood in my ears.In the shadowed corner of the room, Marcello sat in the single, peeling vinyl armchair. He looked… different. The pristine, untouchable Don of the Vitale family was gone. His collar was unbuttoned, and his dark hair—usually parked in that sleek man bun—was wild and disheveled, falling over his shoulder in messy strands. His jaw was dark with a heavy shadow of stubble, and when his eyes met mine, the crushing weight of his gaze almost made my knees buckle.Those eyes. Those dark, endless, bottomless orbs that had haunted my dreams for weeks. They were bloodshot, rimmed with a
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