32. Siena
Siena
P inned underneath Matti, I watch as Vin bursts through the glass doors from the parking garage and tackles Franco.
Before the door even swings shut behind him, Aurelio is rushed out by his men, and into a black sedan that screeches away, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.
Vin knocks the gun out of Franco’s hand and slams him into the ground over and over.
Tommy appears from behind us, one arm bleeding and hanging limply at his side, his sleeve torn and hanging off him. With his good arm, he drags Valentina out of the fray. When he returns, he trains his gun on Franco, yelling something at us that I can’t hear.
Pain lances through my spine as Matti’s weight crushes down on me. I tap his side, and he lifts off me slowly. Tommy bends over us, still yelling.
Matti looks down. I follow his gaze.
Shock ricochets through me as I realize that Matti’s crisp white shirt is blooming red, the stain darkening as it spreads across his torso. There is terror in his eyes, and when I follow his sightline to my chest, I see that my shirt is a damp, dark crimson as well.
Matti rips open my shirt, his hands skimming over my chest and stomach, searching desperately for the source of the blood.
But it’s not my blood.
Matti blanches, his face stark white, and his eyes start to roll back in his head. Tommy lunges, catching him before he falls, and pulls him off of me.
The last thing I remember is the sound of me screaming his name.
**
“Looks like she’s coming back to us.”
The voice is familiar. My vision sharpens, and I see Tommy crouched in front of me, a gentle, pinched smile on his face.
A blanket is wrapped around me. I shift in the chair and clutch it tightly, looking around.
The room we’re in is small, stark white, with a door at one end across from a wall full of cabinets over a counter. Chairs line the other two walls, and I’m seated in one one of them. Tommy moves to sit next to me while Vin leans against the counter.
Tommy is wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and he has stitches across the top of his arm. He sees me checking out his wound and pats my hand. “The shot grazed me just deep enough to require stitches. It’s not bad. Dr. Rossi stitched me up. He’s in with Matti right now.”
Vin crosses his arms over his chest. “We’re at the Edge and have been for about an hour. You checked out for a bit, but you’re fine.” His voice is laced with irritation, the last words almost mocking.
“Yes,” Tommy agrees. “You went into shock, but Doc will make sure everything’s okay when he’s done treating Matti.”
My jaw feels heavy, my tongue thick. As if he can read my thoughts, Tommy pushes a bottle of water into my hands. I take a drink and clear my throat. “Matti?”
“Matti got shot, Siena,” he says gently.
“Is he going to be okay?” My voice is hoarse, cracked. I barely recognize it.
A shadow flits across Tommy’s face. “He should be fine,” he says.
His voice sends a shiver through my already cold body. I’m still wearing the blood-soaked clothes, my stockings are ripped beyond what Matti did to them in the vault, and my shoes are off.
“Don’t lie to her,” Vin says, his piercing stare pinning me in place.
“Vin.” Tommy’s tone is sharp.
“What? She needs to know.” Vin uncrosses his arms and pushes off the wall, stalking toward me. “He took a bullet saving your life, because your fuckhead brother tried to take you out. And do you know why he had to do that?”
Tommy stands up straight and puts a hand on his chest. “Ease off. Now’s not the time.”
Vin throws himself down in the chair next to me. “Because you fucking took his gun away from him.”
His words hit me like a gut punch, and I feel like I can’t breathe. I did take his gun from him. I took his gun and shot Franco. I left him defenseless.
Tommy glares at Vin, and touches my chin, turning me to look at him. “Actually, you gave him a fighting chance, Siena. When you shot Franco, you hit him in the arm and it caused him to miss the first time when he was aiming at Matti.”
Vin scoffs. “But when he shot the second time and aimed at you, Matti couldn’t do shit to defend you other than get in front of the bullet because you fucking took his gun!”
Fuck. I double over, my arms around my stomach, trying to suck in deep breaths as my vision starts to go fuzzy. Did I get Matti killed? I stand quickly, too fast, and reach for the wall. I can’t fucking handle this.
Tommy scowls at Vin and rises with me. “Siena, you were protecting Matti. Anyone with a brain in their head can see that. You saw that Franco was going to shoot before Matti did, or Matti would have pulled his gun before you had a chance to take it. You also saved his life when you shot at Franco from the ground. Do not blame yourself—”
“She could have fucking gotten him killed!”
“Not NOW, Vin,” Tommy snaps, yanking him up by his shirt.
“Fuck OFF,” Vin grunts, shoving him. They hit the floor, grappling, slamming into the metal chairs beside me.
That’s enough to fully snap me out of this. I’m really cold, and I can’t be around these assholes another minute. I have to clear my head.
“I have to go get…” I mutter, but they aren’t listening.
I slip out the door and head down the hall, my head spinning as I try to replay what I can remember, from the vault all the way to the vestibule when I grabbed Matti’s gun and shot Franco.
He got shot when he pushed me to the ground?
He was hurt the whole time he was on top of me, protecting me?
Did I even hit Franco the second time I shot at him ?
Shame washes over me as I weave through the hallways, struggling to find my way back to the room I stayed in before.
Every twist and turn mirrors the storm of mixed emotions brewing inside me—regret for disarming Matti and missing my shot, pain knowing he’s hurt because of it, and hope that he’ll somehow be okay.
Walking through the door of my old room, I’m overwhelmed by a cold stab of anxiety that slices through the practically catatonic state I’ve been in since Tommy first spoke to me.
I stare at the bed. It’s made up with fresh sheets and a simple spread, but I can only see the rumpled mess of blankets and pillows where Matti fucked me. Where I first saw him smile, really smile. Where he kissed me the first time.
The far wall still has the shackles and chains hanging from the wall rings where Matti introduced me to a whole new version of myself. Sadly, the chair where he began that journey with me is gone.
Sliding open the top drawer of the dresser, I half expect to see my underwear and socks as I left them, but then I see the clothes Olivia got me neatly folded in a pile on the small table by the bed.
Mixed in with my clothes is the white t-shirt that Matti wore under his button-up shirt the day he fucked me. I pull it out and hold it to my cheek. It’s so soft. Snatching a pair of sleep shorts and a bra out of the pile, I head into the bathroom.
Letting the water run until it’s hot, I peel off my blood-soaked clothes and step under the spray. With eyes closed, I relive, moment by moment, my first time in this shower with Matti. His penetrating stare, the feel of his body close to me, the way his lips brushed mine .
Wrapping my arms around myself, I shiver, overwhelmed with regret. Regret that I said ‘no’ that day, that I let him send me home after I was attacked, that I didn’t contact him for all those weeks that I was gone. That I lost all those chances to be with him, to touch and be touched by him.
I dry off and dress quickly, leaving my ruined clothes in a heap, and retrace my steps. My wet hair hangs in heavy locks down my back, as I pad barefoot down the halls until I’m back to where I started.
The door to the room the three of us were in is empty. I turn, scanning the closed doors around me. Behind one of them is Matti.
Turning the knob of the door closest to me, I peek inside. There is someone in a hospital bed under the sheets, but it’s not Matti.
“You here to gloat?” snaps Valentina.
I roll my eyes, and start to shut the door.
“Wait.”
Steeling myself, I open the door again but stay in the doorway. “Do you need something?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Bitch, I’m on really good drugs right now. There is nothing you can give me that I want.”
“Great.” I start to step back out.
“I like you for him.”
I freeze. She couldn’t have possibly meant that the way it sounded. Confused, I raise my gaze back to hers.
“Yeah, I said that,” she scoffs. She shifts, propping herself up on the pillows. “He’s a dick.”
I scowl at her and open my mouth to retort, but she raises her hand to stop me.
“He’s a dick, but he’s a fucking great guy. And he is really fucking in love with you.”
She says it without malice, without irony. I squint at her. Am I really talking to Valentina?
“Okay,” I say, not sure how to handle this version of her.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad. I still don’t like you.” She snuggles down into the blankets. “But don’t take it personally. I don’t like anyone. Especially females.”
“Why’s that?” Her insults feel more honest than her compliments, so I relax and lean up against the door frame.
“I don’t know.” She waves a hand lazily in the air. “They always hate me because their men want to fuck me, so I just hate them first.”
“And then try to fuck their men?”
“And then try to fuck their men.” Valentina bursts out laughing, and I can’t help but smile. She’s a crazy bitch, and I can’t decide if this side of her is endearing or terrifying.
She sighs. “But I’m not trying to fuck Matti, just so you know.”
I raise my eyebrows. “That wasn’t the vibe I was getting.”
“Don’t get me wrong. That man is hot as fuck and if he wanted to dick me down, I wouldn’t say ‘no.’ But I fuck with him only to fuck with Vin. Vincenzo. Vinny Vin Vin.”
Wow, she is so fucking high right now.
“Okay,” I say slowly. I can’t get mad at her for that sentiment. It’s honest. Matti is hot as fuck. “You’re into Vin?”