Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
SIENNA
"You've been away since morning," I scold him softly, keeping my arms looped around his neck as he holds me. "I was starting to think you forgot about me."
“Never.” He lets out a low rumble of a laugh. "The elders threw me a mini party. I couldn't exactly walk out the second they handed me the crown."
My brows furrow, and I pull back just enough to look at his face. "So you're all best friends now?"
He laughs again, a triumphant, wicked spark dancing in his dark eyes. "They've officially accepted my rule. They finally see how cunning Luca really was, and more importantly, how I dealt with him. No one in that room wants to risk being on my bad side anymore."
A genuine laugh escapes me. I lean in and kiss him, pouring all my relief and affection into it. He responds instantly, his grip tightening on my waist as he deepens the kiss, pulling me flush against his chest.
We are just about to lose ourselves in each other when a sharp, hesitant knock rattles the bedroom door.
We pull apart, Alessandro’s jaw tightening in immediate annoyance as the door cracks open to reveal one of the house maids. She keeps her eyes lowered, clearing her throat nervously.
"Forgive the interruption, sir," she says quickly. "But Mr. Caruso has just arrived. He is waiting downstairs in the main parlor."
A heavy groan escapes my lips, the blissful bubble we were just in popping instantly.
Alessandro looks down at me, his thumb tracing my jaw. "You don't have to be in this meeting, Sienna. Stay up here and rest."
"I want to," I say firmly, shifting my weight. There is no way I am letting him face my father alone after everything that happened today. I know he can, but I won’t let him.
Alessandro rolls his eyes, a dark, frustrated hunger flaring in his gaze. "Your father can completely fuck off. I want you so bad right now."
A bright laugh bursts from me as he lunges in to kiss me again, his lips fierce and demanding against mine. I manage to pull back just an inch, breathless. "Alessandro, come on. Let’s just get this over with."
He lets out a dramatic groan of his own, running a hand through his hair. "Fine."
When we finally walk down the grand staircase and enter the main parlor, Alessandro and I are holding hands, our fingers tightly intertwined.
My father is already settled, sitting rigidly on a single leather couch.
His silver-topped cane is gripped firmly in his hand, and a stoic guard stands like a statue directly behind him.
The moment we step into the room, his cold gaze drops instantly to our joined hands. For a split second, a flicker of something dark crosses his face, but he masks his expression seamlessly, returning to his usual detached, unreadable self.
Alessandro steers me toward the sofa directly across from him, and we sit down together, presenting a united front.
My father clears his throat, a stiff, formal sound that does nothing to warm the chilly room. He turns his cold gaze to me, his eyes sweeping over the visible bandages on my skin. "How are you, Sienna?"
"I’m fine," I reply, my voice clipped and flat, mirroring his own detached energy.
He nods once, dismissively, before turning his attention entirely toward my husband. "You’ll have to excuse us, Sienna. This meeting is no place for a woman."
Alessandro lets out a sharp, mocking scoff that echoes loudly against the high ceilings. "She’s my equal and my wife," he states, his voice dripping with absolute authority. "There is no meeting with me where she doesn’t have a place."
My father’s brows furrow deeply, his knuckles whitening around the handle of his cane. "She is a woman," he says, his tone laced with old-world disdain. "What use are they in a meeting like this?"
Beside me, I can feel the dangerous heat of Alessandro’s anger flaring up, his entire frame tensing as if he's about to vault across the coffee table. I immediately tighten my grip on his hand, anchoring him to the sofa.
Alessandro doesn't shout. Instead, his voice drops to a lethal, quiet whisper that is infinitely more terrifying. "Speak, Massimo. Or get the fuck out of my house."
My father scoffs, leaning back against his chair, though a flicker of caution finally passes through his eyes.
"I am glad to see that your marriage is going so well," he says, his voice smoothing out into a practiced, diplomatic tone. He rests his hands on the head of his cane, adjusting his posture. "I am here today with my requests. As your father-in-law, and as an ally."
Alessandro doesn't shift an inch. His expression remains carved from ice. "What do you want?"
My father leans forward slightly, attempting to turn the momentum of the conversation—and my survival—entirely to his advantage. The mask of the grieving, worried parent evaporates completely, replaced by the calculating gaze of a businessman.
"With Luca and the Kuznetsovs taken care of, the territory is shifting," Massimo says smoothly, his eyes locked onto Alessandro's.
"The Caruso family needs to fortify its borders to ensure the transition remains stable.
I want more weapons, Alessandro. I want you to increase our supply shipment by forty percent, starting this week. "
Alessandro scoffs, a dark, humorless sound.
He leans back, looking down at my father as if he were a beggar on the street.
"I already gave you weapons when I married Sienna.
More than you deserve. And because of Sienna, I increased your supply shipment to thirty percent all the way from fifteen.
Are you trying to tell me that isn't enough? "
Massimo’s frown deepens, his jaw hardening as he tries to twist the knife. "Are you saying Sienna isn’t worth that?"
I let out a sharp scoff of my own. The sheer nerve of this man. Alessandro was willing to let go of his entire empire this morning just to keep me safe. I will never forget that.
"Massimo, Sienna is worth so much more than you will ever understand," Alessandro says, his voice dangerously low, "but you are not going to benefit from it. You’ve never treated her like a daughter, so why the hell should you enjoy the benefits of being her father?"
My father’s cold gaze snaps over to me, burning with accusation. "Is that what you told him? That I wasn’t a good father to you?"
A volatile cocktail of anger and old pain explodes in my chest, but I force my voice to remain dead calm. I look him straight in the eye. "I’ve never lied about you, Father. I just told him exactly what living with you was like and I let him judge for himself."
My father let out a low, venomous growl, his grip tightening on his cane. "Did you tell him you ran away with that boy, Domenico, and whored yourself out? Did you tell him I had to save your reputation from being a slut?"
The words strike like a physical blow, a familiar, suffocating shame trying to claw its way back into my throat.
But before the pain can sink its teeth into me, Alessandro rises to his feet, pulling me up seamlessly with him. He steps slightly in front of me, shielding me from my father’s toxic gaze.
"I know the story, Massimo," Alessandro rumbles, his entire frame radiating a terrifying, lethal aura.
"She ran away with Domenico not because she’s a slut, but because a life out there on the streets was a hundred times better than a life as your daughter.
That should tell you everything you need to know. What kind of a fucking father are you?"
He growls at us, a low, animalistic sound of pure fury trapped inside an old man’s breaking pride. He opens his mouth to speak, but Alessandro doesn't give him the chance.
"I’m not going to punish you for how you treated her, simply because you are her father," Alessandro states, his voice ringing with a finality that seals the room like a tomb. "But you are not going to benefit from her existence from today henceforth. See yourself out."
Without waiting for Massimo to reply, Alessandro turns on his heel and walks away, his hand firmly holding mine as he leads me right back up the grand staircase.
The moment we cross the threshold of our bedroom, the door clicks shut behind us and the rest of the world completely disappears.
I don't give him a second to breathe. I am on him instantly, my lips crashing into his, my hands frantically sliding under the hem of his shirt to feel the warm, solid skin of his back.
A startled, husky laugh escapes him against my mouth. "Whoa," he breathes, his hands coming up to gently catch my wrists.
"That was so hot, Alessandro," I pant against his lips, trying to pull him back down to me.
He smiles, a soft, incredibly tender expression I've rarely seen on him, and firmly holds me at arm's length.
I pout, my brows furrowing as I look up at him. "You don't want me?"
"I want you so fucking bad, Sienna," he says, his voice thick and rough with desire. "But I have something to say first."
I still, my heart skipping a beat at the sudden shift in the air. "Say it."
He nods, taking a deep, heavy breath. Looking at him, my breath catches—I have never seen Alessandro look so incredibly nervous. The fearsome Don who just brought an empire to its knees is suddenly looking at me as if I hold his entire life in my hands.
He lets go of my wrists, his fingers traveling up to gently cup my face, his thumbs wiping across my cheekbones.
"When Pietro took you... everything went black," he confesses, his voice cracking slightly.
"I didn't care about the territory, the Gallo name, or the elders.
I realized right then that none of it matters if you aren't here with me.
I've spent my whole life fighting for power, Sienna, but you are the only thing I cannot live without. "
He looks deeply into my eyes, his chest heaving as he swallows hard, laying his soul completely bare. "I love you, Sienna. I love you so much it terrifies me."
Tears prick my eyes, blurring the sight of the fierce, unyielding man who has completely softened just for me.
"I never thought a life could feel complete just because one person is in it," he continues, his voice soft and vulnerable.
He leans down, resting his forehead gently against mine, his breath warm on my skin.
"I want to spend every single day making up for the pain your father caused you.
I want to build a world where you never have to doubt your worth, where you feel safe, and where you are cherished the way you deserve. You're my home, Sienna."
A sob breaks from my throat, the sheer emotion of his words crashing over me.
Alessandro’s expression instantly shifts to pure panic. "Sienna? Did I hurt you? Are you okay? Did I—?"
"No, silly," I say through my tears, a breathy laugh escaping me as I reach up to cup his jaw. "Your words... they're the sweetest things I've ever heard. And I love you too, Alessandro. So much. Beyond words. I never, ever knew I could love you like this."
His dark eyes widen, a look of sheer, stunned disbelief crossing his rugged face. "You... you love me?"
I laugh, wiping a tear from my cheek. "Yes, I love you."
A massive, breathtaking smile breaks across his face. He lets out a loud, triumphant whoop, instantly hooking his arms under my thighs and lifting me right off the floor, twirling me around the bedroom as if we were the only two people left in the world.
When he finally slows down and puts me back on my feet, his hands linger snugly on my hips, his gaze burning with a completely different kind of fire.
I look up at him, my heart full to bursting, and slide my hands back up his chest. "Now make love to me, Alessandro."
A wicked, devoted smirk returns to his lips. He playfully snaps two fingers to his brow in a salute. "Yes, ma'am."