Page 152 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“Back when I went after my sister, I was without my meds for a little while,” he continued, shaking his head with a bitter laugh. “It’s strange how your own head fucks with you—makes you think you’re okay without the meds because you feel better for a split second. I got back after going after Lucia, and I wasn’t in a fog. So, I started dropping the cocktail of meds the bitch kept feeding me.”

“John,” she said, “please let me help you. I love you. You know that, don’t you? You have to know I love you.”

John’s hazel gaze drifted to her. “Do you?”

“You think that I can’t?”

“I think that maybe you shouldn’t.”

“I do.”

John reached for her then, and his arms wrapped around her. He dragged her close. There, in his embrace, she was happy again. They were fine again.

It would only last a moment.

It would never last forever.

It couldn’t.

“I love you,” he murmured against her forehead.

That was enough for Siena.

That was all she needed.

It made everything else worth it.

John kept Siena close to his side as they headed in a restaurant that looked to be in the midst of renovations. She didn’t recognize the business, and since she was always aware of when her father or brothers bought a new business, she knew this one didn’t belong to the Calabrese.

“Neutral grounds,” John said, as though he could read her mind. “This belongs to a Donati man. They agreed to allow the Marcello and Calabrese families to gather here for this meeting. That way, no one is stepping on anyone else’s toes here, so to speak.”

Siena nodded. “Makes sense.”

Inside the restaurant, she found more people than she expected waiting. She recognized almost all of them. Men from her father’s family, and several people from John’s side.

At the head of the room, her father and Dante Marcello stood toe-to-toe. The two men looked as though they were ready to brawl. She took that as a bad fucking sign.

At Siena and John’s presence, the two men finally looked away from one another. She wasn’t sure that she particularly like their attention on them, either.

“John, move to anywhere except where you currently are,” Dante said.

John didn’t move an inch. “No, I don’t think I will.”

Matteo look at Siena. “I’ve called you five times this morning.”

Her gaze drifted between her father, and her brothers standing with the other men of the Calabrese family. She could feel their judgment, and their silent opinions searing into her skin. She didn’t need to hear them say it, not when she could feel it.

“Busy,” she said.

Matteo coughed as his gaze cut to John. “I bet.”

“Why would you bring a woman here?” Dante asked.

“I brought her here because she asked to come.”

Siena’s fingers tighten around John’s. She no longer wanted to let him go. Something felt like a thorn pricking at her heart. Her worst fear was that someone would take John away from her—because of this, or something else.

It didn’t matter, because the end result would be the same.