Page 201 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

She had news for him.

“I need to speak with my priest for a few minutes,” she told him.

The enforcer—a young twenty-something whose name she hadn’t even been given—scowled. “Didn’t you listen to him enough today?”

“You’re not a very good Catholic, are you?”

“I go to church.”

“Do you make use of confession?”

The man coughed. “Well, no …”

“I do. Excuse me.”

She heard the enforcer’s sigh echo out from behind her, but all she could do was smile. Shooting a look over her shoulder, Siena found the enforcer had sat back down in the pew, and dragged his phone out to look at it once again. He wasn’t even paying any attention to her at all.

Good.

That’s exactly what she wanted.

In their life, very few things were held sacred. And for her, a woman who had disabused her family, and misused their trust, even less things were sacred for her.

Certainly not privacy.

Except, of course, when it came to confession.

Siena would disappear out one of the back doors, and be long gone in her Lexus before the enforcer even realized what was happening. He likely wouldn’t know she was gone until he figured out how long he had been sitting there waiting for her.

Besides, confession could take a long time.

The phone in her pocket burned a hole as she headed past the last few people. A part of her wanted to pull out of the phone, and make one single call. She knew Andino’s number—she could let him know that she would be there today.

The smarter part of her brain knew that probably wasn’t a good idea. Her brothers crawled through her phone history on a regular basis. She couldn’t even delete shit without them finding out. She didn’t need that kind of trouble when they got back.

She left the damn phone where it was.

Their priest didn’t have a particularly large congregation, but it was a decent size. He often allowed confession to be open after every Sunday service, just in case someone in the church wanted to make use of it.

He held confession in the back of the church, behind the altar. A private room set up with rich tapestries, and two chairs facing one another. Sometimes, it made confession a little awkward when a person was forced to look someone in the face when they admitted to some of their deepest, darkest sins.

The comfort of the room often helped, though. It certainly didn’t look like the old confessional booths in movies. Actually, Siena didn’t think she had ever used one of those kinds of confessionals.

None of that mattered.

She wasn’t going to be attending confession at all.

At least, not today.

She was banking on the fact that the enforcer was rather new to watching her, and quite young in the grand scheme of things. She hoped that those facts would keep him from calling her brothers to let them know she had skipped out on him, if only because he was one of the many men in their family who had a healthy fear where Kev and Darren were concerned.

He wouldn’t want to get in trouble.

Not for her.

Siena slipped into the back hallway that led to the offices, and the private room used for confession. The priest was already greeting a man standing outside the private room, and gestured for the man to go in.

He didn’t even see Siena.

He didn’t see her take a sharp right, and head out the exit, either.

Siena glanced down at the peach-colored dress and matching pumps she wore. Even the peach hat on her head was Sunday services appropriate. And wedding appropriate, although she wasn’t sure if she would even be attending the wedding.

That invisible clock in the back of her mind only stopped ticking down when she slipped inside her Lexus, and turned on the ignition. She was no longer counting days or minutes or seconds to when she would see John again.

To when he would be out again.

She was finally in the fucking homestretch. Even just a few days of not seeing him was far too long.

Whatever trouble might find her for this …

So worth it.