Page 215 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

“Who else knows?” I ask gruffly, taking a long drag on my cigarette.

“Jayce, Sienna, Heaven, Ahren, Ares, Liam, Leo, Azura and Royce – he won’t tell Skyla; he’s leaving that to you. None of us is telling anyone, not until you do so yourself, so take all the time you need.”

I nod curtly. I don’t have that much time, because Sky will fucking realise Royce is hiding some shit. Kiara just lost her fucking powers, and now I’m going to give her this shit to deal with.

Raihana pats my shoulder before she stands, as if knowing I need to be alone. “Well, I’m going to head out. I need to get home.”

I stand, and she gives me a hug, one I return, although my mind is a storm that I’m unable to calm. It’s taking all my strength to hold my shit together, and I watch as she leaves. The moment she’s gone, I wait, even as fur begins to sprout from every part of my body, my fangs coming out, my eyes burning red, and I cut back on the roar that wants to tear from my throat.

I listen – waiting for her footsteps to leave. I hear her faintly reaching the entrance, exchanging a word with Kiara, but I can’t wait anymore. I go to the doors that lead to the garden, throw them open and race outside, a blur as I head towards the woods, needing to let out the emotions that are suffocating me.

Only when I’m deep within the forest do I smash my fists into the nearest tree, then another, and another.

Wood splinters beneath every blow, trunks cracking under the force until trees topple one after another, the sound echoing through the forest. I barely register it. Every strike is another thought I can’t silence, another impossible truth crashing through my mind until breathing itself becomes a struggle.

Vincenzo.

He’s…

My son.

The words refuse to fit together.

I stagger backwards, dragging a hand over my face before another surge of emotion tears through me and I drive my fist into another tree. It explodes beneath the impact, fragments scattering across the ground, but it does nothing to ease the pressure crushing my chest.

How?

How the fuck could I have a son I never knew existed?

The mother never told me, never fucking approached me. Did she even try? I fucking doubt it.

The thought keeps repeating itself.

Over and over.

Who knows what he was told? Did he grow up believing I’d abandoned him?

I sink to my knees, the wreckage of trees surrounding me in every direction.

What kind of upbringing did he have to become the person he is today?

Who put these fucking thoughts in his head?

Who poisoned his mind?

My hands curl into fists.

If I were there… present, would things have been different? I never even got the chance to teach him fuck all.

Someone else raised him, someone else filled every place where I should have been.

And now, now the only version of my son I’ll ever know is the one standing on the opposite side of a battlefield.

The man who has murdered thousands.

The man who looked Sienna in the eyes and tried to enslave her, knowing she was his niece.

The man who is willing to burn the world to the ground if it means reaching the throne he’s convinced belongs to him.