Page 199 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“He’s not really little, is he?”

More like a fucking linebacker.

Darren scoffed. “You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know what any of that—him getting married, or whatever—has to do with us, though.”

Her brother smiled. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to, Siena. You’re only a woman.”

Only a woman.

That insult was not as easy to ignore, but she forced herself to, anyway. Someday, her brothers would think twice before thinking because she was only a woman, she could not hurt them. Hell, they should have already realized it.

Look what happened to their father. Sure, that hadn’t been her, but she hadn’t stopped John from killing Matteo, either. She didn’t even apologize for not trying to stop him from doing it. She didn’t even cry at Matteo’s funeral.

Her father didn’t need her tears. He wouldn’t want them.

She had always been just a woman to him, too.

Besides, she had something better to consider at the moment. Andino getting married so soon likely meant he had a lot on his plate, and that was probably why he hadn’t shown up to talk with her today at the complex. Sometimes, that happened.

Andino was Johnathan’s best friend, and vice versa. There was no way in hell Andino would get married without John being there, too.

Siena knew, then. She had a date to count down to for when John would finally be out again. They were one step closer to finishing this forever.

Her forever was almost there …

For the first time in longer than Siena cared to remember, she sat alone in the church pew.

Well, not totally alone.

Just down the way on her right side sat her mother. On her left, a few seats away, sat her enforcer. Her mother’s attention never left the priest speaking at the altar, while the enforcer seemed more interested in the phone in his hands than on the service.

Siena took the few moments she had to check the screen of her phone without the enforcer or her mother looking over her damn shoulder. She didn’t get that chance very often. The date on the home screen stared back at her.

July twentieth.

She had counted down the days. She had paid way too much attention to the calendar on her wall every single day she woke up, and then again before she went to sleep.

The day was finally here.

John was getting out.

Siena only knew for sure that he was getting out today because of a wrong number call from someone. The call came to her cell phone like it always did when Andino sent a message. Some random person asked for the wrong name, Siena would apologize and say it was the wrong number. Then, the person on the other end of the call would quickly deliver whatever message needed to be said before she hung up without a second thought.

That way, should anyone be near her when she picked up the wrong number call, no one would think anything was amiss. And should someone else pick up her phone when the call came in, like Kev had done once, they would only have the person on the other end apologizing for calling the wrong number.

Today, the message had been clear.

Three o’clock. Waldorf, Manhattan. Room 403. Room key will be waiting at the desk.

Siena knew that time coincided with Andino’s wedding. The location for the event hadn’t been given when it was announced in the society rags, but the date and time had been mentioned. Not to mention, Kev and Darren had gotten information, too.

Siena eavesdropped far more than was safe.

She was kind of betting her life on it, at the moment.

This morning, however, no one had been around to hear her wrong number call. No one had been around since the night before when Kev and Darren each packed a bag, and slipped out of the house. They didn’t tell her anything about where they were going except to say they wouldn’t be back until the next day or sometime after, and her enforcer would be close by.