20. Siena
Siena
I don’t know why I said that. The whole fucking point was to find whatever evidence I could to put Matti behind bars. If he did this.
With a jolt, I suddenly realize that part of me desperately wants to believe that Matti did kill Emily, wants to believe his confession, to believe Aurelio and Franco. Because if he didn’t do it, I have no idea who did, and not knowing is so much worse than thinking the man I love—
Fuck me. Not ‘love.’
But I also know that Aurelio and Franco are both liars, and Matti? He told me he didn’t do it, but then he also told me he did. Didn’t he? I try to replay his exact words the night he threw me out, but it’s all a blur.
“You’ll show me everything?” Matti asks, trying to cover his surprise. “What if you find something that is, as you say, incriminating? What then?”
I reach into my pocket and pull out the broken watch band and take his hand, placing it in his palm.
Touching him sends shivers down my spine and makes my nipples hard.
Because he’s so close to me, I can feel his cock move through his jeans, and it gives me a little bit of satisfaction to know that even if he doesn’t want me, his body still does.
“I found this in the things I took from the plane crash.”
Matti steps back, furrowing his brow, and shoves the rest of the pancake in his mouth so he can use both hands to flatten out the watch band. Turning it over, he holds it up to the light so that he can better see the engraving on it. “What’s this?”
“It’s the Bellamorte family crest. See? You can see the B there.” I stand behind him on my tiptoes to point it out to him, my breasts brushing up against his back, still damp from the shower.
I look down to see if I got my sweater wet and notice that stupid coffee stain.
Quickly, I slide it off and toss it on the back of the breakfast cart.
I suddenly regret leaving the house looking like a hot mess and immediately wish more than anything that I didn’t give a fuck about that and could stay focused.
“What’s the date?” he asks, looking back at me over his shoulder. Something in his eyes darkens, and I suddenly feel nervous and move away from him, deeper into the living space.
“My parents’ anniversary.”
“So, this was your father’s?” Matti asks, following me.
I continue backing away until I run into one of the couches, then sit down, perching on the edge carefully, and nod.
He frowns. “Your father has been gone awhile. So it was given to Emily when he died?”
“My mother kept it,” I say, my throat feeling like it’s about to close up entirely. “I’m hoping there are some texts on the phone that tell me when it was given to her. Because she never told me.”
Matti’s face drains of color as I’m speaking, and his expression hardens. He places the watch band carefully in my palm, holding my hand longer than he has to. So long that I look up to see him watching me.
“I’m sorry,” he says softly.
“For what?” I snatch my hand away and put the watchband back in my bag.
I feel sick, and I don’t know if it’s the hangover or Matti’s close proximity, the way he’s looking at me, the heat emanating off his body.
“Is it your fault that Aurelio hates my family? That he killed my father? You didn’t know me when Aurelio ordered you to kill Mikey and Emily.
And I still have my mother and my brother.
My mother is an emotionless tyrant, and my brother is a fucking moron, but I still have people, so. I’m lucky? Right?”
What started out as a sarcastic rant morphs into a desperate plea.
I don’t know what to believe about Matti’s involvement in Emily’s death, but whether he knew me then or not, whether it was an order from Aurelio or his decision, he’s a part of the Demonio family and his connection to the people who took my sister from me is something I can’t forgive.
Just being here suddenly feels like a betrayal to Emily’s memory, my father’s memory. I’m overwhelmed by the hope that I do throw up all over his thick, beautiful carpets.
Matti’s voice is hoarse when he speaks. “You do hate me for what happened to your sister.”
I bite the inside of my lip to keep from vomiting and force a bright fake smile on my face as I look up at him. “No. No more than Liana blames you for what you did to her, I’m sure. ”
“What the fuck did you just say?” His voice is low, and his jaw tics as he hulks toward me. I scramble back into the cushions of the couch until he’s towering over me, everything about him seething with menace. I can see the monster inside of Matti, barely restrained.
Terror seeps into my skin, immediately followed by regret.
“You heard me.” I can barely hear my own voice, but I put as much force behind it as I can. “Just another truth bomb dropped on me, courtesy of Aurelio.”
“What did he say?” Matti’s lips curl over his teeth, like a wolf ready to attack. He practically pins me to the couch with one hand planted on either side of my head on the back cushions.
My resolve begins to crumble, and my voice croaks. “He told me to ask you about her.”
Matti just stares down at me, and I remain frozen, motionless, trapped in his gaze. He drags a fingertip along my jawline down to the hollow of my throat and pauses where my pulse is going haywire beneath the skin.
Pressing the palm of his hand to that spot, he visibly relaxes, his shoulders lowering and his eyes closing briefly. When he opens them, the animalistic rage is replaced by a cold, blank expression. I stare at him, torn between grounding myself in his arms as he just did with me and running away.
He slams the heel of his hand into a button on the wall, and I flinch.
“Yes, sir?” Eleanor’s voice comes through the speaker.
“Did Valentina leave the building?” Matti asks.
“No, sir. She’s in the lobby, sitting on one of the couches.” Eleanor clears her throat. “In front of your private elevator, sir.”
“Good. Send someone up to get the package in front of my door and bring it to her. Take her to an empty suite and make sure she doesn’t leave until she has downloaded every file, every photo, every text, every Google search off of it.
If she needs anything to complete that task, make sure she has it. ”
“Yes, sir.”
My eyes widen as I realize what he’s saying. “Matti, no!”
Ignoring me, he walks over to a desk on the other side of the dining room table, retrieving a manila envelope, then stalks back to me. He holds out his hand without saying a word.
My whole body starts to shake, and I jump up from the couch. “Matti, I’m sorry. Please don’t do this.”
“Isn’t that what you came here for? To get Valentina’s help?” His voice is cold, but the fire in his eyes burns hotly as he stares at me.
“I don’t trust her to just take it. What if there’s something that incriminates Emily or Mikey?
What if she shares that information with the wrong people?
What if there is something that leads back to you?
” I flush when I see interest flicker across his face, noticing my slip, the implication that I might care what happens to him.
I hastily add, “Or one of your friends?”
As much as I want justice for my sister, the idea of someone vindictive, like Valentina getting hold of information that could hurt Matti, feels like a different kind of betrayal.
He narrows his eyes at me. “If she finds anything like that and shares it with anyone, she’s signing her own death warrant. She knows that better than anyone.”
I blink at that, confused, and stiffen. “Why does she know that better than anyone?”
Matti impatiently lifts his hand higher. “Don’t make me take it from you, Siena. You think this phone holds the information you need to prove my role in your sister’s death? Let’s find out. Unless you don’t really want to know.”
Without dropping eye contact, I reach into my bag and pull out her phone, only glancing down to double check that I picked up hers and not mine as I hand it to him.
Matti says nothing, putting the phone in the envelope, then walking it outside the front door.
When the door clicks shut behind him, I suddenly panic.
Panic that I’m locked in, that my sister’s phone, one of my last pieces of her, is outside that door and about to go into the hands of someone who hates me.
All our texts, our pictures, our shared notes.
I bolt toward the door, wanting—no, needing—to have it back in my hands.
“This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come here. ”
Matti steps in front of me, blocking me with his body.
“Yes, it was,” he says darkly, forcing me backward with each word.
“It was a mistake coming here. It was a mistake coming anywhere near me. It was a mistake ever letting me touch you, letting me come inside you, a mistake for you to come on my cock while you screamed my name. I’m the worst mistake you’ve ever made, Siena. ”
I beat my fists against his chest, but he doesn’t budge. “Let me go, Matti! Let me fucking go right now! I don’t want this! I don’t want you!”
Before I can think, he wraps his arms around me tightly and picks me up, hugging me to his warm bare chest. I struggle against him as he carries me back to the living room.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, kitten, but I’m never letting you go.”