7. Matti
Matti
I grind my teeth, staring at my phone as texts between Siena and Olivia light up the screen through one of my tracking apps. Fucking Olivia. Why would she give Vin’s number to Siena? Why not just tell her to call me?
Because Olivia knows I’ll never let Siena near Valentina, no matter what the reason.
The sleet makes a soft tapping sound on the hood and windshield of Vin’s car. Even though she wouldn’t know one of my cars if she saw it, I borrowed this just to make sure she doesn’t see the same car too often. It’s also one more layer of protection, in case anyone is following me to find her.
I come here every night after she gets home from work, but I usually leave once her house goes dark and watch her from my penthouse through the cameras once she’s in bed.
Not tonight. Her lights stayed on, and I’ve been glued to the app, tracking her movements, watching her sleep on the floor of her living room for hours.
I shouldn’t be here, but I’m calmer when I’m close to her.
The urge to protect her outweighs the rational voice in my head telling me I’m spiraling.
She’s been going through the items she salvaged from the wreckage, and it’s gut-wrenching to watch. Her face betrays nothing—no tears, no visible grief—just that fierce determination she always wears like armor.
I zoom in when she pulls out a small object—a piece of jewelry? No, it’s bulkier than that. A keychain? A bracelet?
No. A watch, a broken men’s watch.
I zoom in further and note the signature ‘P’ in an oval on the face. It’s a Parmigiani, though I don’t recognize the model. She’s staring at the back like it’s a snake, but I can’t see what she’s looking at.
When she looks out her living room window, my pulse hammers in my ears.
I know she can’t see me thanks to the darkness and the tinting on the car windows, but it’s the second time today that I’ve been this close to getting caught.
I swear I felt her looking right at me when I was across the street from the Victim Advocacy Center today.
I’m guessing by the way she was staring at the phone she found in the plastic bags from the plane crash that that’s what she needs tech help with. I saw her throw it against the wall earlier tonight, too. I doubt that helped the problem.
And now she’s trying to bring Valentina into this mess.
Fuck, I need to keep Valentina away from her. God knows what venom that woman would spill, poisoning Siena against me even more.
And Vin? He wouldn’t betray me, but if Siena decides she wants to get back at me by fucking him, I don’t know if he’ll be able to resist.
My dick gets hard remembering how difficult it was to keep my hands off her in the shower. And how fucking hard she made me come when I finally did put my hands on her.
I curse under my breath, squeezing my cock through my pants to try to relieve the discomfort.
Spending weeks watching her in the skimpy clothes she wears at home, touching herself, those deep V-neck shirts she wears to work that show off her round tits—I jack off multiple times a day to her, but it’s never enough. I need to be inside her.
The fact that she’s less than twenty yards away from me has my dick even harder. For a full minute I stare at her door, envisioning kicking it down, and bending her over that purple couch Olivia insisted on getting to replace the one that Franco destroyed.
Just as I’m about to give in to the impulse, her lights go out.
**
Back at my penthouse at Dragovari Tower, I get a couple of hours restless sleep before I give up, strip, and step into the shower.
The water is scalding, pounding against my back as I close my eyes.
I have a bottle of her Bergamot & Basil bath oil, and I squirt it on the shower floor.
When the hot water hits it, the smell of her fills the bathroom. I’m hard instantly.
Standing in the shower with one hand against the cool tile, the other on my cock, I stroke myself, picturing Siena in the shower at the Edge.
The way her tongue darted across her lower lip.
The water beading up on her tits and rolling off, pebbling her nipples.
Her fingertip disappearing inside her sweet cunt.
How fast she rubbed her clit. The way she stared at my lips.
Her pupils dilating. Her lips brushing against mine.
I come hard, shooting my load against the shower wall with a guttural groan.
Fuck. Immediately, the pressure in my balls begins to build back up, but I don’t have time to stay in the shower for round two in the hopes that it will finally be enough to sate me, to get her out of my fucking head for five minutes.
Before I’m done dressing, my phone starts blowing up with notifications.
The tracker app lets me know that Siena has left her home and then arrived at work.
The cameras record automatically around the clock, but notify me when a new person enters her office or home, and it looks like she’s seen two clients already.
And the app I used to clone her phone tells me that she has already texted Vin.
Hi, this is Siena. Princess, remember? I have a quick question for you if you can
give me a call at this number. Thanks.
Princess ?! I know that Vin called her that a few times—he calls all women that. But she likes it enough to remind him of it?
Vin responds to her text, and I click on the notification.
I know who you are, Siena. How did you get my number?
Seriously, just a really quick question. Can you call?
No .
A surge of satisfaction rolls through me. Good. If Vin shuts her down, there’s nothing to worry about. But he should be texting me right now to let me know she reached out. He doesn’t. Instead, another text comes through from Siena to Vin.
Please .
FUCK. Rage explodes through my veins, and I want to snap my phone in half. She should be texting ME. She should be begging ME. I stare at the screen, waiting for his response.
One Pearl Park Plaza, Ste 1800. One hour.
Thank you!
He won’t call her, but he’ll invite her to his office? What the fuck is he thinking? Why didn’t he text me to tell me, to ask me if he could meet with her—especially if he’s meeting with her privately in his office and not in a public space?
Fuck that. This isn’t happening.
I’m downstairs within minutes, still fixing my tie and shrugging into my jacket when I hit the lobby .
Eleanor’s face registers alarm when she sees me, and she tries to stop me, but I step around her, avoiding eye contact. Nothing is going to come between me and Siena today.
In the car, my mind is spinning faster than my tires, justifying what I know is unhinged behavior.
I’ve spent weeks keeping my distance, giving her space to protect her.
But if she’s with Vin, she might end up on Aurelio’s radar.
She needs me there to protect her. Whether she needs my protection from Vin or Aurelio, I don’t know yet.
When I pull into our private lot for One Pearl Park Plaza, it’s empty, which means Vin isn’t here yet. Helpful. I pull to the back of the lot, out of sight of the private elevator, and park, then jog back to the elevator, each step echoing off the concrete walls.
According to the tracker app, Siena is already in the building.
Shit. I stab my code into the elevator keypad lock.
She’ll be using the public elevators and have to wait outside the office door until Vin arrives.
Thankfully, the private elevator I’m using opens inside the offices, so I won’t pass her.
When the elevator doors open on Vin’s floor, I step into the darkened office suite. As expected, it’s empty.
I look around the expansive space, waiting for my gut to tell me where to go, what to do, how to handle this. Nothing happens. What is it about this woman? My head is fucked. I can’t think.
Before I can make a decision, the elevator I just arrived on dings and whooshes back down to the parking lot. Vin will be on his way up momentarily.
I hear a soft knock and then Siena’s voice, traveling faintly through the public entrance to the suite.
“Hello?” she calls out.
Fuck, she’s so close. My stomach twists, and my cock twitches, my heart pounding loudly in my ears.
Part of me wants to grab her and drag her out of here, stop the meeting before it begins. Another part needs to see how Vin handles this and what exactly she wants.
My adrenaline levels morph into something sharper, more controlled as the elevator dings announcing Vin’s arrival.
I step back into the shadows, a murderous calm settling over me.