He’d nodded. What could he have said? He’d already known she would leave.
She’d walked up the stairs without looking back at him.
Rolling his trousers up, he dipped his feet into the pool as he’d done with Siena all those weeks ago, the night she’d told him about Stefano’s assault and her mother protecting him.
Taking a deep drink of his whisky, he stared blankly at his lawn. He’d created all this. Everything he’d built had been his own hard work. And now he had everything that had been built on his parents’ blood.
Siena’s footsteps were so light that he couldn’t hear them, but the sudden jolt of his heart told him she was approaching him.
He closed his eyes. He’d thought she would leave without saying goodbye. After all, what was there to say? She was the only one who’d sensed the danger coming. His clever, clever wife had slipped a gun into her suspender belt when no one had been looking. Especially not him.
From the moment their guests had arrived, he’d been unable to look at her.
He couldn’t look at her now.
She sat beside him and put her bare feet in the pool. She’d changed out of her dress into three-quarter-length black jeans and a plain t-shirt.
“Can I have the bottle, please?” she asked quietly.
Keeping his gaze where it was, he held it out to her.
The tip of her fingers brushed against his.
He heard her drink. Heard her swallow. Heard her sigh. “That was quite the performance tonight.”
“But you weren’t surprised by it.” She’d been staggeringly calm… Right until she’d pulled the gun out.
“No,” she agreed. “Despite your denials, I always knew there had to be more to your vengeance than our marriage.”
“You called it restitution.”
“That’s what it is. Everything I have …had… came about because my father murdered my best friend’s father to justify murdering your parents. It’s not generations old. It’s living memory. Everything I had came through the suffering of those I love.”
She meant Gabriella. Siena had been so light in her spirits after visiting her oldest friend. Her beautiful face had been alight with relief and happiness that she’d made the move needed to mend their relationship.
His wife was stubborn and hot-tempered, but she wasn’t so stubborn that she couldn’t change her mind when the facts changed.
Not his wife anymore, he reminded himself. She would remain so on paper until they could divorce, but their marriage was over.
A part of him wished she were displaying her hot temper at him now. Her stoical acceptance of everything only added to his numbness.
She took another drink of the whisky before thrusting the bottle back at him. “Where have you taken my mother?”
“I can’t tell you that, Siena.”
“I’m hardly going to attempt a rescue, am I? Not when it means losing my own life.”
“What is wrong with you?” he suddenly bit out. “Do you value your life so little?”
“No less than you do.”
“That is such…” He cut himself off and shook his head violently as a flush of the emotion he’d experienced when Siena put the gun to her heart cut through the numbness. “Why would you exchange your life for hers? For God’s sake, Siena, why did you put me in that position? You could have walked away. I know damned well you’ve got enough money stashed away to set up a new life for yourself. You could have been as free as a bird,but this fucking deal you’ve made with me means you’ll never be able to leave our city, and it means I might one day have to kill you.”
“It never bothered you before, but if it bothers you now, then get Elvira to do it,” she said blithely. “I’m sure she wouldn’t hesitate.”
“For fuck’s sake, Siena!” he exploded, turning his head to her. “Do you actuallywantto die?”
Her beautiful face whipped to his. Even before she spoke, he saw that the blitheness in her voice was a mask for the agony she was feeling inside.