Page 210 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Lucian shrugged. “For you, it is. At least, down there.”

“What?”

His father didn’t answer. A floor later, and Lucian handed over a room key. It matched the number on the door that the two stood in front of.

“What, are you putting me to bed like a fucking kid, or something?”

Lucian smirked. “Or something.”

“I should be downstairs with Andino.”

“Sure, but we all kind of pulled some strings hoping this would work out for you today, and it was just our luck that it did.” Then, his father reached out and smacked John’s cheek lightly. “Or shit, maybe it was your luck, huh?”

“I thought they used to call you Lucky.”

“It’s been passed down,” Lucian replied. “From me, to you. And you’ll pass it on, too.”

Well, John didn’t know about that. He wasn’t sure if he was every going to pass anything on to children from his blood, but this wasn’t the time for that discussion, either.

Lucian tipped his head toward the door. “Go ahead. We’ll all be here tomorrow. Breakfast with your mother and sisters. They’ll like that.”

He didn’t know about his sisters, really. His mother would like it, for sure.

“You really fucking took me from the party to put me to bed, didn’t you?”

Lucian only grinned. “Just open the fucking door.”

John gave his father a look, but did as he was told. He slid the keycard through the slot, heard the lock beep, and then the tumblers roll. Pulling the handle down, the door opened easily under his hand.

He expected the room to be dark.

It was lit up.

He expected the room to be empty.

She stood there waiting.

Siena.

“John,” Siena greeted with one of her sweet smiles.

He was just … stuck.

Speechless.

Stupid.

Happy.

Awed.

All day, he had listened to whispers from his family about the Calabrese family, and the war raging between their organizations in the city. He heard them call them snakes, and untrustworthy. He listened as they made more plans to get rid of them entirely. There was no love lost between the Marcellos, and the Calabrese organization.

This war was apparently one of the bloodiest, and messiest the city had seen in a long while. There was not one person in John’s family who had any issue with saying openly and proudly how wonderful it would be once the Calabrese legacy was gone forever. Not to mention, how great it would be for the Marcellos to be the ones to do it.

Poetic justice after all the history, and bad blood.

And yet …