Page 32 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

All of these rules suffocated her.

It never ended.

Siena moved to the side of the doorway as her brothers moved past her to leave the office. Andino followed behind them. He gave her a tight smile, but nothing else.

She wasn’t sure why, but her mouth decided to open up and ask something she had no business knowing. Andino was a Marcello, after all. He would have to know Johnathan. Cousins, or something.

It had been two weeks since she last saw Johnathan on the busy Brooklyn street. She had been so busy that when he got another phone call, she didn’t mind letting him rush off even it was the second time he left her hanging.

Sort of …

“How’s John, Andino?” Siena asked.

The man’s steps halted instantly.

So did her brothers’ in the hallway.

“Pardon?” Andino asked.

“Johnathan. He’s like a cousin of yours, right?”

Andino nodded. “He is, yeah.”

“How is he?”

“Busy,” Andino said, chuckling. “I didn’t know you knew him.”

She could plainly see the way he probed for information without outright asking her, but she didn’t mind indulging him. If only because she was hoping to get a little bit of her own information, too.

“We’ve run in to each other a couple of times, I guess. Talked a bit.”

Andino stuffed his hands in his pockets, and glanced at her brothers who had come closer to them again. Despite how the Marcello man was built, like a linebacker ready to tackle someone, he seemed uncomfortable discussing his family.

Or maybe it was just because her family was there. The Marcello and the Calabrese families never did mingle beyond business.

Bad blood.

That shit didn’t wash out.

“The last time we talked, he had to run off,” Siena said, shrugging. “I just wanted to make sure he was okay.”

Andino cleared his throat, and smiled again. “He’s good, Siena. Thanks for asking.”

“Siena, get to work, huh?” Kev clapped Andino on the shoulder, and directed him past Siena. “And mind your damn business, donna.”

She heard her brother’s warning loud and clear, and chose for now, to heed it.

What else could she do?

Once all the men had disappeared down the hallway, Siena headed into the office. She closed the door behind her, and locked it seeing as how she didn’t need or want her brothers interrupting her.

She was a good thirty minutes in to reworking accounts for the restaurant’s books, and the numbers were already starting to bleed together. A knock on the office door made her pop her head up from the PC screen for the first time.

Thankful for the break it would take to get up and unlock the door, Siena shook her wrists and cracked her neck as she stood. She figured it would be one of her brothers on the other side of the door, but it wasn’t.

Andino Marcello stood there.

Hands shoved in his pockets.