Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SIENNA
By the time I finish taking a long, scalding shower to wash off the sweat from the padel court, eat a light lunch, and spend an hour on the phone catching up with my sisters, a strange quiet has settled over the house.
I look at the clock and realize I haven’t seen Alessandro since the moment we got home.
Before he vanished, he only mentioned he was having a quick meeting with Valerio. But to be honest, I don’t trust his intentions—not after what we found out about Nino on that drive home.
The look in Alessandro's eyes when he read Luca's reply wasn't just angry; it was calculated. Cold. Lethal. He claimed he wasn't sure what his next move would be, but I know him. A man like him doesn't just sit on a smoking gun and wait for the smoke to clear.
He’s up to something right now. I know it down to my bones.
I set my phone down on the bed, the pleasant distraction of my sisters' laughter fading instantly as reality sets back in.
Standing up, I decide to go hunt down Valerio or check Alessandro's study.
If he thinks he can leave me in the dark after I did the heavy lifting to get that traitor's phone, he has another thing coming.
I leave the bedroom and head toward the study, my feet thudding purposefully against the marble floor.
I round the bend to the main hallway just in time to see the heavy oak doors open.
Valerio and Alessandro come storming out of his office, their expressions grim and their strides urgent as they head right toward the front exit.
"Alessandro," I call out, stepping directly into their path and crossing my arms. "What is going on? What exactly are you up to?"
Alessandro stops short, his dark eyes locking onto mine. There's a manic, victorious energy rolling off him that wasn't there an hour ago. "Valerio and the men are ready," he says flatly. "We’re making final preparations to go to Luca's hideout."
My heart does a quick, tight flip. "I'm coming with you. I insist on being there."
Alessandro’s face instantly darkens, the brief spark of a good mood vanishing into pure fury. He steps closer, completely crowding my space as he blows up. "Are you out of your goddamn mind, Sienna? No. Absolutely not."
"I did the heavy lifting to get you that phone!" I fire back, refusing to take step down as we launch into an immediate, heated argument. "You don't get to leave me behind like a piece of decorative furniture!"
"This isn't a padel match, Sienna! It’s a raid!
" he roars, his chest heaving as his voice echoes through the grand hallway.
Valerio politely takes a step back, looking highly uncomfortable.
"You have no idea what we're walking into. Luca is desperate, he’s armed, and he’s a rabid dog.
I am not putting you in the line of fire just to satisfy your curiosity! "
"I'm your wife, Alessandro, not your prisoner!" I snap, matching his volume. "Stop treating me like something that's going to break the second things get dangerous!"
"I treat you like my wife, which means keeping you alive!" he bellows back, his towering frame casting that familiar, suffocating shadow over me. "You are not going, Sienna. That is my final word on the matter. You will stay right here in this house where it is safe."
I stare at him, my blood boiling at his stubbornness. If he thinks he can just lock me away whenever the real world gets ugly, he has another thing coming. I drop my voice, letting the heat fall out of it until it’s entirely ice-cold and dead serious.
"If you leave me behind right now, Alessandro, I mean it—I will never forgive you. And I will never speak another word to you again."
Alessandro blinks, momentarily stunned by the sheer defiance before a harsh, incredulous laugh breaks from his lips. "What, are you five years old? You’re going to give me the silent treatment over a mafia raid?"
"Try me," I hiss.
I whirl on my heel, turning my back on him as I start to storm right back up the hallway toward the stairs. I don't even make it three steps before his hand shoots out, grabbing my upper arm and holding me back with an unyielding grip.
"Sienna, stop," he growls.
I don't turn around, keeping my posture rigid. A heavy, suffocating silence fills the foyer. I can hear him behind me, his chest heaving as he battles with his own furious protective instincts and the sudden realization that I am entirely serious.
Finally, a long, defeated groan escapes him, followed by a massive, frustrated sigh that rattles his entire chest.
"Fine," he spits out. I turn around slowly, raising an eyebrow.
"You can come," he concedes, his dark eyes narrowing into dangerous slits as he steps into my space to point a stern finger in my face.
"But under one strict, non-negotiable condition: when we arrive at that address, you stay in the fucking car.
You do not roll down the windows, you do not open the doors, and you do not step a single foot onto that property. Do we have a deal?"
A triumphant smirk threatens to break across my face, but I keep it tightly controlled. I nod firmly. "Deal. I'll stay in the car."
Alessandro lets out one last irritated huff, his grip on my arm loosening but his eyes remaining intensely serious.
"Good. Because if anything happens to you out there, Sienna, I’m the one who will never speak a single word to you ever again.
Mainly because I'll be too busy killing everyone responsible. "
By nine thirty p.m., the night has swallowed the countryside, leaving us in a tense, suffocating darkness. Our small, unmarked convoy pulls up and kills the headlights a discreet distance away from Luca's location.
The hideout is a bleak, heavily fortified safe house disguised as an abandoned agricultural warehouse.
It sits isolated, surrounded by overgrown weeds and rusted chain-link fencing.
Tiny, iron-barred windows leak faint, paranoid slivers of yellowish light into the gravel yard. It screams desperation.
Inside our lead SUV, Alessandro checks the slide on his tactical pistol, the heavy metallic clack echoing in the cramped space. He turns his head toward the front passenger seat.
"Valerio," Alessandro commands, his voice dropping into full Don mode. "I’m going in with the strike team. I want to talk to Luca first before we initiate any gunfight. I'm positive he was working with others in the organization besides Nino, and I want those names out of his mouth before he dies."
He shifts his dark gaze to me in the backseat, a warning flashing in his eyes. "You stay in the car with Sienna. Secure the perimeter from here. Keep her safe."
Valerio nods instantly, his hand resting on his own weapon. "Understood, boss."
I shift restlessly against the leather seat, my chest tightening as Alessandro and his heavily armed men slip out of the vehicles. They move with lethal, synchronized precision, melting into the shadows as they advance toward the warehouse's rusted side entrance.
The silence inside the SUV is deafening. I lean forward, gripping the back of Valerio's seat as I watch the empty dark where my husband just was.
"Valerio... will he be okay?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper, the weight of the danger finally pressing down on me.
Valerio doesn't look back, his eyes scanning the dark perimeter through the tinted windshield. "Alessandro is the Don. He can take care of himself. He’s survived far worse than a cornered—"
Before he can even finish the sentence, the night air violently shatters.
A heavy, deafening barrage of automatic gunshots erupts from inside the warehouse, the flashes of muzzle fire strobing wildly against the barred windows.
Valerio’s head snaps toward the building, his instincts instantly taking over.
"Stay here!" he barks at me, unholstering his weapon and throwing his door open. He hits the ground running, rushing toward the rusted side entrance where Alessandro and the strike team just disappeared.
The car door clicks shut, but the promise I made to stay inside evaporates into thin air.
Pure, unadulterated terror for Alessandro overrides every single logical thought in my brain.
My hands are shaking, my chest heaving as I grab the door handle, pop it open, and sprint into the darkness after Valerio.
When I slip through the side door into the warehouse, the sheer violence of the scene hits me like a physical blow.
The gunfight is frantic and utterly tense.
Bullets ring out everywhere, pinging off metal beams and shattering concrete columns into clouds of choking dust. The metallic tang of gunpowder and copper fills the air.
Blood is splattered across the peeling walls, and dead bodies are scattered all over the concrete floor.
I drop behind a stack of wooden crates, my body shaking violently as a wave of absolute panic rocks me. I look around desperately, my eyes scanning the chaos, praying for a glimpse of Alessandro's tall silhouette.
In the midst of the deafening gunfire and the very real threat of death, a sudden, blinding clarity crashes through my mind. Confronted by the terrifying possibility of his demise, the truth rips through my defenses.
I’m in love with him.
It isn't just a marriage of convenience anymore, and it isn't just an intoxicating game of control. I love him. The thought of losing him right now, of his dark eyes going empty, makes my heart physically ache.
If I lose him tonight, I’ll never be able to live with myself.