4. Riley
I’ve been staringup at the textured bumps on the ceiling of the windowless room West Point stashed me in for who knows how long. I made some noise a while ago, enough to get one of McKenna’s men to come and untie me so I could pee, but other than that they’ve left me completely alone.
I have no idea if it’s day or night. I don’t even know if I’m actually tired or if I’ve just been stuck in here with nothing but my own thoughts for so long that they’ve exhausted me; thoughts that keep cycling through fear, anger, and despair until it feels like my head is spinning and my heart is completely wrung out.
Still, I’d rather die in here alone than ever see my husband again… but unfortunately, that’s not up to me.
I tense when the door finally opens again, expecting it to be him.
It’s not. It’s the last person I’d ever expect to seek me out here.
It’s Maddoc’s ex. The one who betrayed him with Austin McKenna.
It’s Sienna.
I’ve got no idea why she’s here—whether Austin sent her or she just wants to fuck with me—but I’ve got no intention of showing any weakness in front of her.
I get to my feet and take a page from Logan’s book, putting on a stoic face that’s as blank of my true emotions as I can manage.
She’s standing in the doorway, just staring at me, and I lift my chin defiantly and tell myself I’ll wait her out.
It’s a lie.
“What the hell do you want?” I finally ask, crossing my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?”
Sienna smirks and steps into the room, closing the door behind her and leaning back against it. “What’s going on is Austin taking all your money.”
My inheritance. Money I never expected to have, that forced me to leave the only place I’ve ever felt safe. Money that almost got the people I care most about killed.
For a moment, I almost hate my… William Sutherland for leaving it to me.
But I still don’t want Austin to get his hands on it. Not when I know what it will mean for the Reapers.
Sienna wants me to react. I can see it in her face. I won’t give her the satisfaction, though. Besides, I signed up for this. I offered it to him. And I’d do it again, because it saved my sister and my men.
“It might take a while for him to access everything,” Sienna says, her voice getting sharper. “You should get comfortable.”
I file that fact away. I don’t have a plan yet. I’ve got no idea what Austin intends to do with me—not my money, but me—and I’ve got no intention of making whatever he comes up with easy on him. But all I can do for now is collect all the information I can and hope it gives me an advantage in the future.
And Sienna still hasn’t answered my first question. “What are you doing here, Sienna?”
She gives me a long, silent look full of pure venom. “I always thought it would be me he married,” she finally spits out when I don’t react.
I’m not sure why it catches me off guard when her gloating mask drops to show the fury underneath. Maybe because, to me, marrying Austin is a punishment worthy of the dankest hell, and yet here she is pissed off about it… or maybe it’s because I’m not blind. She’s not just pissed off. Under that, she’s jealous, and a little hurt.
I’ve got no sympathy.
She doesn’t deserve it.
Not after what she did to Maddoc.
But… maybe I do have a little bit of involuntary empathy.
Sienna isn’t the first woman to want more from her man than she was ever going to get, or feel betrayed by him when he shows her he cares about something else more than her.
Before I met the Reapers, I thought that was the only kind of man that existed. But I was wrong.
Sienna could have figured that out too, if she hadn’t been a shitty person who betrayed my men.
Remembering how vulnerable Maddoc was when he finally opened up to me about what happened between the two of them kills the brief moment of empathy I just had. Instead, I pull on the armor I’ve worn for years and lash out at her with a saccharine smile, flipping my hair. “Austin’s type is obviously women who inherit a ton of money. Maybe you should have tried that if you wanted him to put a ring on it.”
Sienna’s eyes flash. “I am his type. Austin fucking loves me! He doesn’t give a shit about you, or your money.”
I raise an eyebrow, calling her on that steaming piece of bullshit with a single look.
“He only cares about it for the good of West Point,” she snaps, stalking toward me until she’s right up in my face. “It’s not about you. He would want to marry me if he hadn’t gotten wind of that stupid Sutherland inheritance. Do you know how much time he put into tracking you down? How many of West Point’s assets went into chasing after you?”
She’s about an inch taller than me, and I lift my chin to hold her gaze without flinching. “Too much.”
She narrows her eyes, and for a moment, I think she’s going to slap me. Then she backs off a little and smirks. “That’s right. Too much. You’re not worth it.”
“I’m pretty sure he decided you weren’t worth it. Austin wanted my inheritance more than he wanted to give you that ring.”
“I told you,” Sienna hisses. “He only wants it for West Point.”
And Maddoc originally wanted it for the Reapers. When he thought Chloe was the heiress, he was going to use her exactly the way Austin is planning to use me. The difference is that Maddoc changed his mind. He decided not to go through with it even before he knew the money was actually mine, because he cared… about me.
And even once I signed all the paperwork, he was going to let me go.
He put me ahead of his gang and ahead of his own self-interest. That, more than anything else, changed the way I saw him. It helped me believe that what’s been growing between us is actually something real.
“Selfish people always come up with an excuse to act the way they do,” I murmur, not even all that focused on her as I think back on all the men who’ve screwed me over in the past.
And the three who never would.
“What do you know?” Sienna lashes out, snapping my attention back to the here and now.
“I know that men like that will tell you whatever they’re doing is necessary,” I answer her honestly, “even when it hurts you. They’ll justify that it’s for the best, but what they really mean is that it’s best for them.”
Sienna’s face hardens. She thinks I’m trying to hurt her, but I’m just telling her the truth. I have no idea why she decided to betray Maddoc, or if she actually has the feelings for Austin that she claims to. I just know that the way Austin’s treating her isn’t love… and even if she believes it actually is, is that really what she wants? A man who’d marry a woman he doesn’t give a shit about just for money, rather than do what’s right for the woman he’s supposed to love?
“You just don’t understand him,” Sienna sneers, reminding me that I actually don’t give a shit what she feels or why she feels it. “This isn’t your world, and you’re either stupid or naive if you think you know anything about what men like Austin and Maddoc actually care about. Once all your money is in Austin’s hands, things will be different. He’ll finally be able to do whatever he wants. He’ll be able to have whoever he wants, and trust me, it won’t be you.” She smirks again, backing toward the door without taking her eyes off me. “He won’t have any use for you at all. At that point, you’ll just be a liability.”
My gut twists. She obviously just came in here to try to make herself feel better by tearing me down, but I’ve got plenty of practice letting shit like that roll off my back. The only people whose opinions matter to me aren’t in this room, so she shouldn’t have been able to get under my skin.
But as she stomps out and leaves me on my own again, I can’t deny that she did.
Not with her jealousy… but with the reminder that Austin only has one use for me.
“Shit,” I whisper, my heart pounding and my hands getting sweaty.
I wipe them on my pants, but my knees betray me, giving out and depositing my ass on the edge of the narrow bed.
I’d give up a lot to keep the people who matter to me safe. Hell, I already did. But… I don’t want to die. And the way Sienna was talking, it sounds a hell of a lot like once Austin doesn’t need me anymore, he plans on getting rid of me.
Permanently.