Page 34 of Loyalty

“What the fuck is it any of your business?”

He moved closer—just an inch.

It was enough to make Siena take a step back.

“It’s my business because I look out for John. I’ve had his back since we were kids. He doesn’t have very many people thinking about his interests, so I make sure to be one of them. Got it?”

Siena swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. “Okay, I got it.”

“What else was there?”

“Nothing. We had a walk, chatted a bit, and he asked me to go for coffee once, but we didn’t. Seems like he’s always running off and leaving me hanging, you know?”

Andino simply stared at her for a long while before he finally said, “And no one has said anything to you about John, or the Marcellos?”

“No.” Siena’s gaze narrowed as she added, “You heard my brothers—I ask anything, and I get told to mind my fucking business. I just wanted to make sure John was doing okay. Friends can ask after friends.”

“You don’t know my cousin from a fucking hole in the ground, girl. How can you be his friend?”

“Maybe I would like to be,” she shot back.

Andino tipped his chin up, and continued eyeing her in that intense way of his. It made her want to move back again, or fidget. Something.

“He keeps running off, you said?” Andino asked.

Siena shrugged. “Kind of. I don’t think he means to. I’ve never even gotten his number, or whatever.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to give it to you, then. Ever consider that?”

Ouch.

She ignored that jibe.

“I did only want to check up on him,” she said. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

Andino cleared his throat, and took a step back. It was enough to let the office feel like the large space it was when his imposing presence wasn’t taking up a lot of her fucking air. Christ, the man was something else.

And for Siena?

That was not a good thing.

“How about I help you out?” Andino asked.

“How?”

The man grinned. “John works out of a club every other weekend. For specific people, it’s just easier to find him there than to make him run for them. Not a lot of people know that he’s been using that spot to do his business occasionally. His next weekend working at the club should be in a couple of weeks, if you’re curious.”

“And what does that mean for me?”

“You show up—only you, girl—and maybe you’ll get more than five minutes with him.”

“Just me.”

“I don’t trust your family. No Marcello does.”

Siena pursed her lips in an effort to hide her frown. “Not even me?”

“Not while you still have that last name, anyway.”