Page 53 of Savage Heart

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Sienna. Your brother would have hurt you if he got you out of that office. So you defended yourself the only way you could. You have nothing to feel guilty about, baby. Believe me.”

Tears fill her dark eyes. “Will I ever feel okay again?”

I nod as I push her hair off her beautiful face. “Yeah. You’ll stop beating yourself up and realize he created the situation you had to handle. He took you from your life, and he would have given you to God only knows who if he had the chance. Never forget that.”

“I didn’t go there to do that. I know it seems like I did, but I didn’t. I just wanted to make him understand that I knew he put that hit out on me and I wasn’t going to take him pushing me around anymore. I bet you think it was foolish of me considering what he tried to do to me with Lucius.”

Leaning down, I press a kiss to her lips and smile. “I think it was foolish because you could have gotten yourself killed. That’s all I ever cared about.”

“I’m sorry I said those things to you about your family. You were right about everything. That’s why I felt like I could finally tell Matteo I wasn’t going to put up with his nonsense anymore. I guess I didn’t think about what could really happen.”

“I’m just glad he didn’t hide you away so I couldn’t find you. When I was rushing over there from the hotel, that’s all I could think about. He’d put you somewhere and I’d never see you again.”

“I should have listened to you, Alaric. I’m sorry.”

She closes her eyes as I smile down at her. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m just happy you weren’t taken from me. I love you, Sienna, and I promise you’ll feel better soon. For now, just sleep.”

I don’t know how long it will take her to accept that what happened was because Matteo set it all in motion, but she’s here with me and safe, and that’s all that matters.

As Sienna rests in my room, I head over to Helix’s office to find out if Gideon told him any details about what happened after she and I left the Amalfi Coast. I suspect her brothers know who killed Matteo by now.

Just before I reach the doorway, I hear a familiar voice that shouldn’t be here on the island. Unable to stop myself, I poke my head in and see Helix standing with the last person I expected to see today.

Maddox Rule.

I stand stunned as I watch the two of them talk like old friends. What the hell is my father doing here? And why is my uncle acting like there hasn’t been bad blood between them for decades?

“Alaric, come in. Join us!” Helix says like everything is perfectly normal.

My father turns toward me, and I’m stunned at how different he looks from the last time I saw him. How is it possible he’s aged so much in such a short amount of time?

Then a horrible thought occurs to me. My mother isn’t here. The only thing that could make my father look so terrible is the loss of my mother.

My brain spins with grief as I step into Helix’s office. “What’s going on? Why are you here talking like this?”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Helix says to my father. “Again, I’m sorry, Maddox.”

His words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. He’s sorry. That can only mean one thing since the only person other than me who’s related to this brother that he likes is my mother.

Left alone with my father, I feel like I’ve been thrown into a room with a stranger. I don’t know what to say, and as much as I want to know what happened to my mother, I don’t want to ask.

“It’s good to see you again, son,” my father says in a somber voice. “Your uncle told me you just returned a few days ago after being in Italy.”

He’s making small talk, and all I want to know is why he’s here. “What’s going on? This island isn’t exactly a place you just end up at. Why did Helix say he was sorry?”

I can’t bring myself to speak the next logical sentence to find out what happened to my mother. Regret fills me for how I wouldn’t stay at the house to talk to her the last time we saw one another. I should have stayed, even for a little while. I could have made her smile instead of being my usual self. Then at least the last time she saw me wouldn’t have been like it was.

Fuck, I should have stayed.

I couldn’t, though. That place is nothing but bad memories for me.

My father’s expression grows even sadder, and he hangs his head. “No, this isn’t somewhere you just end up.”

We stand there in silence as I watch the man I’ve spent the last few years trying to forget attempt to find the words to explain why he’s come to this place where he vanquished both my uncle and me. The unhappiness I see in him now brings me no joy, as much as I was so sure it would all those nights I lay in bed cursing him for what he did to me.

Finally, I can’t stop myself from asking the single question filling my mind. “Dad, what happened to Mom?”

He lifts his gaze to meet mine and shakes his head. “Nothing. Your mother is back home handling everything, just as she always has.”

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