Page 27 of Stone

Chapter Fifteen

Stone

It’s been two weeks since the morning I was dismissed at breakfast, and I’ve not been requested to join meals since. I’ve barely seen Sienna, but I can still feel her. She’s the reason my heart beats and my blood pumps. Her scent lingers in my room morning and night. Her cherry body wash freshens my pillow as if she’d only lain on it the night before. I smile to myself as I stuff the last of my T-shirts into my backpack, then glance at the pillow. Yeah, that’s coming too.

The sooner I get this job done in New Jersey and the fight won, the better. As much as I hate living here, I hate being away from her more.

A knock on my bedroom door makes my spine snap straight. Nobody ever comes down here, and they sure as shit never come to my door. I turn toward it when it opens, and Czar steps inside. He stares at the wall behind me, and the lack of eye contact makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my palms sweat.

“You leave in two hours,” he states.

“I know. Don’t worry, I’m all packed.” I wave toward my backpack, and he nods despite not looking at it.

“I wish you luck, Stone.”

The solemn way he speaks has my pulse racing.

What the fuck is happening? He clearly knows something I don’t.

He turns and heads toward the door as I stare at him with a nervousness I’ve never felt around him before.

“Czar?”

He turns his head over his shoulder but looks straight past me. “Yeah?”

I drag my hand over the back of my neck, trying not to sound like a nervous idiot. “Is-is there something I should know?”

His gaze finally meets mine, and my heart pounds in my chest as he stares at me with a detachment I’ve never witnessed from my brother before. “No.”

My shoulders sag. He’s not going to tell me what the hell is going on. Why would he tell me anything now? I’ve never been allowed in the inner circle before, always on the outside looking in. The bastard child is never good enough to be a real family member.

“Sienna isn’t coming to the party tonight. She isn’t feeling well,” he states.

I wasn’t even aware there was a party somewhere, but again, why would I? It’s not like I’ve ever been taken to one before. I’m only taken to the auctions. My eyebrows shoot up at him opening up to me.

He exhales loudly. “I told her to take a walk in the garden for some fresh air.” There’s something final in his tone, a hint of something I can’t quite detect, but I’m pretty certain he’s telling me to say goodbye to her before I leave.

Without another word, he exits, closing the door behind him and leaving me with a million questions and not a single answer.

All I know is, they’re keeping secrets from me, and secrets can feel like lies. I fucking hate liars.

Chapter Sixteen

Sienna

When Czar told me to stay home and take a walk in the garden instead of joining them at some socialite’s engagement party tonight, I rocked back on my feet. I never get to sit out of events. My father likes to parade me around like a prized pony ready for auction to the masses.

Stone is leaving for a fight tonight, and as I walk barefoot through the grass, I contemplate going to his room one last time, but something stops me. Maybe it’s the knowledge of my impending marriage, or maybe it’s the promise of his punishment hanging over me, but something tells me not to go and say goodbye.

My heart aches at the thought.

An emptiness takes over me. Is this what it will feel like without him in my life?

Giving myself over to another man when the only man I want is him feels like the worst punishment possible. I don’t want another man’s hands touching me, and the thought of touching them repulses me.

To Stone, my marriage will be a betrayal, but nothing can be bigger than the secret I already hold, and I know he’d hate me for it.

So instead of saying goodbye, I find comfort in the clear night sky and head toward the rose garden.

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