“Because you could talk to him, tell him I won’t tell anyone.”
I downed the rest of my drink as I thought about what my next move should be.
“Living on the streets,” she moved on with her story, “you learn how to process the bad things you see. You develop a sort of mental armor, because nine times out of ten, you’re witnessing something that could seriously scar you. So, I dealt with the dock situation the way I always dealt with those things and moved on. Mariano checked on me a few times to make sure I was handling it. He seemed pleased that I dealt with it so well.”
“I bet he was, but spare me the intimate details on Mariano, please, Sienna.”
“There aren’t any. We are not a good fit,” she shot back. “He needs an Anna, wild, fun, and careless. I think he wants to be with someone like me someday, but he’s not there yet. I’m not sure I can ever be an Anna.”
“I’m glad you can see you’re not compatible.”
She ignored that and spoke through a tight jaw. “Anyway, after you and your father shut down the story, I was going to leave, but then he offered me an even more intriguing story.” She looked away from me.
“Which was?”
She stood and walked over to the dining room table then picked up her purse, and after a little digging, she found her phone.
“Was that hit at the dockyard yours?” She tossed her question at me again, and for some reason I couldn’t answer her. It wasn’t our hit, so why couldn’t I just say that? Maybe because I was sure she would run. I wanted to say that my life was too complicated. So, I changed gears.
“What was the new story?”
She shook her head sadly then stared down at her feet. “You say you want me back, but you still won’t be honest with me.”
“You’ve been keeping things from me, too, Sienna.”
“Okay.” She shrugged moving her hands to her hips, and I knew more was coming. “Mariano knew from my article that I had been searching for someone. He told me that he was friends with a man nicknamed The Finder, and he could set up a meeting with me.”
My blood turned cold as I listened. I felt her eyes burning a hole through my forehead.
“I was nervous, but he told me he would be there the entire time. The Finder was nice enough, told me his story, but the one thing I kept noticing was that he would speak about his history with the Santoro brothers but often mention them in the present tense as if they were still alive.” She moved to the window with her back to me. I clenched my jaw, afraid to speak in case my voice would out the raging anger building in my gut.
“When I questioned him about it, he glanced at Mariano, who gave him a nod. Little did I know what that simple gesture meant.” Her finger traced the city skyline across the glass as she thought.
“Well?”
“Your best friend then gave me another surprise, an introduction to Tieri Santoro.” She turned to look at me. “That was what showed me who Mariano really is.”
“You met Tieri Santoro?” Incredulous, I carefully placed my glass down on the table and moved closer to her as if my being near her now could protect her somehow. My anger at Mariano bubbled just beneath the surface. I could feel the burn of it and knew I had to push it down if I wanted her to continue.
“I did, and as charming as he thought he was, all I could smell on him was the blood of all the people he killed.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing much, really.” Her tone was still cold and disconnected. “He just seemed to want to meet me.”
“Why?”
“That’s what I was trying to figure out.”
“Did you get your answer?”
“I’m not sure, but he did give me something before he left.”
“Which was?”
She slowly pushed a button on her phone, and a second later the familiar ring tone that came with that phone filled the room. Everything went still. The air was sucked out of my lungs like a vacuum.She knows.
She slowly turned toward me, and I saw she was crying.