Page 76 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“Someone tailed me?”

“John,” Andino said, pushing off the edge of the desk. “He thought it would be best considering how the Calabrese are sometimes.”

John’s vision blackened.

His lungs ached with every breath.

All over again, he was left feeling like he did when he was first released from prison. Like a fucking wild animal that nobody trusted. Like he couldn’t do his damn job because someone always had to be looking over his shoulder.

“Because I can’t look out for myself or be trusted, right?” John asked. “That’s funny, boss, considering the Calabrese didn’t make any effort to hide fuck all about their intentions when they invited me to dinner. Except my own family does exactly that instead of just fucking asking me. But they’re the ones I have to watch out for, huh?”

John let out a bitter laugh.

“It’s not a big deal,” Dante said, “and it’s not like you’re making it out to be, John.”

“Or is it exactly that, boss?” he asked. “Have you gotten someone to follow me before this time, too?”

No one answered.

John didn’t need them to at that point.

“Why?” he asked.

At least, his family was honest.

Brutally so.

“Andi mentioned you had an interest in the Calabrese girl,” Dante said.

John’s gaze flew to his cousin—bitter and full of anger. “What, you ran to tattle on me like a fucking baby, or something?”

“No, I—”

“Screw you, Andino.”

Andino stepped forward, but John pointed at his best friend to keep the new little underboss back a step. A silent warning that Andino knew all too well.

John’s father, on the other hand, had never cared. Lucian came closer, and John’s jaw clenched so hard his molars might have cracked.

“John, they cannot be trusted, and you know that,” Lucian said. “Not the men, and certainly not one of their women. No matter who she is.”

That probably stung the worst.

They didn’t even know Siena.

It was just her last name that colored her bad.

Like his disorder left them assuming shit about him.

It was all the same.

“Fuck you all.”

The three words slipped out of John’s mouth easier than he expected them to, and he let them escape before he really thought it over.

Dante stood from his chair.

Lucian came one step closer.

Giovanni didn’t move.

Andino just frowned.

John shook his head, and turned for the door. He was done with whatever this was. He was done with them for today.

“Yeah, fuck every single one of you.”