Page 154 of Duty

“Well—”

“I don’t have time for this,” Siena snapped, moving for the stairs. “John is in trouble.”

“John?”

Siena hesitated in her next step, and looked back at Haven. “Yeah, John.”

Haven could tell just by the way the woman said John’s name, and the thick panic in her eyes that she loved the man. She was terrified, for reasons Haven didn’t know, but she could see the love.

And Andino …

Well, he cared a lot about John, too.

“Andino is a couple of blocks away,” Haven said. “I guess John’s father called. He took off.”

That panic in Siena’s eyes only increased, a lot like the shrillness in her tone when she asked, “John did?”

“Yeah. Earlier.”

Siena spun around to face Haven. “Please, tell them John is at my father’s home.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, Andino will never forgive you when they finally get John’s body back from my family.”

Siena spoke the words so surely that there was no question whether or not she was lying. Haven turned into a statue of ice right there on the stairs. A heavy realization slammed down on her, and while she had known, this made it all the more real.

Here was Andino’s life.

Criminals.

Fear.

Bad people.

Siena took the stairs two at a time, and called over her shoulder at the same time. “I can’t chase them. I have to help John instead.”

Oh, God.

“Don’t make me regret this, okay?” Haven called back.

Siena only laughed.

Bleak, and bitter.

Haven knew the feeling well.

TWENTY-ONE

“Fuck,” Lucian snarled harshly.

The man was two seconds away from smashing his phone against the steering wheel of the car—Andino could tell. That might not end well for them, especially if John ended up deciding it was his father that he wanted to call.

Slim chance, given John took off on his father earlier, but still. It wasn’t a risk Andino was willing to take, either.

“Try not to break the phone,” Andino muttered.

His uncle shot him a look that burned. He didn’t blame Lucian for his mood, or attitude. This whole day—maybe even the week, frankly—had just gone to shit with one thing after another. John’s mania spiraled until it was too late to bring him out of it, and now bad things were fucking happening. As they usually did.