Page 102 of Scorching Sienna

I pull her towards me as she releases her emotions, her sobs loud enough to draw the attention of a few guests nearby.

They can go fuck themselves.

It takes her ten minutes for the tears to subside, both destroying me and adding to the fuel for what is to come.

When she finally pulls back from me, her eyes are puffy, and her nose is red.

I hand her a handkerchief and then lead her towards an exit on the side, out into the garden area.

It is dark outside, with only a few stars in the sky andsolar lights dotting the garden beds.

“There is a bathroom there,” she says, pointing to a small structure on the other side of the property, close to the chapel.

She doesn’t even say anything when I enter after her, my lesson learnt at Lady Chatman’s. Unless it was our bathroom at home, there was no way my rainbow would be going in alone.

Sienna splashes water on her face and then dabs it dry with tissue paper before peering in the mirror. Her eyes meet mine, and a slight smile pulls on her lips.

“How do I look?”

“Always beautiful,” I respond as she turns to face me while leaning against the basin.

“What happens now? Do we hand him over to the police?”

I shake my head.

“He is already hanging in my warehouse, ready for his punishment. Handing him over to the law would be too easy. You understand? I can’t go back on my promise. Do you remember what it was?”

She nods, reciting the words I said back to me, word for word.

“So we will. I will be your tool for vengeance, Sienna. I will make him beg on his knees before you for mercy and then show him your wrath. My hand will be yours. My darkness will do the bidding of your light.”

I nod, and she smiles a sad smile.

“The benefits of having a photographic memory.”

What, how the fuck did I not know this. Then it dawns on me.

“That means that that night of The Reaping…Fuck, Sienna.” I step towards her and pull her into an embrace, the realization of what she must have gone through still goes through, hitting me like a fucking sledgehammer. To be able to remember every detail vividly must be torture. Fuck! I will make him pay. I'm so consumed by rage that when Sienna's hand caresses my back, the gentle contrast to what I feel inside makes my stomach coil. I want to throw up. This gentle woman has been subjected to this. It makes me madder than I have ever been.

“I remember that night, yes, but I also remember our time. When The Reaping happened, I cursed my gift. But you brought me out of that darkness, Damon. I wouldn’t trade it for a second. Not even to have The Reaping never happen. I can remember our first touch, our first kiss, and our every interaction like a beautiful and vivid photograph. It makes those images appear sad and washed out, so I’m not sorry for my gift.”

I hug her tightly, using her words to pull me back from the edge, back to control.

This also changed things. I couldn’t expect her to watch what happens tonight only to replay it in her mind like a goddam movie later.

I pull back, creating some distance between us.

“I was going to give you a choice, Sienna. A choice to see or even take part in what I have planned tonight. I will have vengeance, you understand?”

She nods her head slowly.

“What will you do?”

“The worst. Worse than you can imagine. And there is no talking me out of it.”

She stays silent for a long time, eyeing me as she reads between the lines. She knows I am a dark man. She knows I havekilled. She knows this is as personal for me as it is for her because of my obsession.

“I want him to suffer.”

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