Page 30 of Decadence

He furrowed his brow; handsome-but-repulsive, dangerous, infuriating. “I’m a paying customer. That kind of attitude isn’t very good for business, darling.”

How she hated it when he called her that. “Well, this is a private business, and I can choose to serve whoever I want. We’re doing just fine, thank you. Now leave, before I call Enforcement.”

“You should at least let me pay out that Syndicate debt of yours. Consider it a favor to an old friend.”

Connor’s big, burly sidekicks nodded sagely. Out of habit, one of them flexed his knuckles.

Seriously?

Sienna glared. Seriously, fuck these guys. “How did you know about that?”

“As I said, word gets around. Should’ve come to me first. I can’t go against the Syndicate, but I can pay out your debt at a fair interest rate. Our business is good in their books. They’ll honor any agreement from me.”

What, so you can own me? Like you thought you did last time? “No thanks.” She folded her arms and stubbornly stuck her chin out. “Go away. I’m waiting…”

“Suit yourself.” Connor unfolded his long, lanky body from the chair and stood, putting his empty coffee cup down on the table. The two goons on either side of him mimicked him, rising to their feet. “Maybe I’ll stop by in a few days time, see how you’re doing…”

“You won’t.”

He looked at her insolently. “You’ve got a good thing going here. I can see you’re hustling, but you’re too much of a nice girl to do what needs to be done. Everyone needs a Godfather in this town, Sienna.”

She shook her head. You have no idea where I’ve been; what I’ve seen. You don’t know what lurks out there in space. Your so-called Godfathers wouldn’t be able to do anything against them. “Fuck off.”

One of the sidekicks glowered. “She’s got some kind of mouth on her. You seriously gonna let her talk to you like that? After you went to all this trouble to check up on her?”

Slowly, menacingly, Connor walked toward her, his shiny leather shoes loud on the pavement. “As I said, I was just doing you a good thing. That fuckin’ attitude is going to be your undoing, woman.”

Ah, there you are. Well, that didn’t take long, did it?

The constant put-downs had been a feature of their short, toxic relationship. At first, she’d been the guilty one, always apologizing for some perceived slight or failing, when really, he just had these completely unrealistic expectations.

It had taken a while for the fog to clear, but once she’d seen the cold, hard truth, she would never mistake it for anything else ever again.

After Michael; after Connor, Sienna had sworn to herself that she was going off overbearing assholes for a while, no matter how charming or mysterious or spectacular they were.

But then those fucking aliens had appeared out of nowhere, stealing her away as easily as if they were catching fish for the market.

And then there were the Kordolians…

It was a small miracle that she was even functional right now. She should be a lot more traumatized, but weirdly, she felt stronger.

Strong enough to tell a Ryan boy to fuck off.

Compared to what she’d been through, there wasn’t much on Earth that could scare her now.

Sienna slipped her hand into the front pocket of her apron, where she found a small paring knife. Her fingers closed around the wooden handle. She knew she wouldn’t do anything stupid with it, but in some deep, dark, primal part of her brain, a small voice yearned for violence. She felt an increased need to defend herself and her people and her property, by whatever means necessary.

And she didn’t like that Connor Ryan had just shown up out of the blue; a phantom from her past appearing all of a sudden, after she hadn’t even so much as thought about him for years.

What the actual fuck?

Cleo appeared in the doorway, one finger on her Link, her face as serene and composed as ever, even though there was a hard glint in her dark eyes. “You want me to call the Enforcers now, Sienna?”

Sweet Cleo. Bless her.

Always backing her up.

Connor laughed. “Go ahead, darling. Call them if you want. We’re just leaving.” As he reached Sienna’s side, his scent washed over her—a mixture of old-fashioned cigar smoke and overpowering cologne. It made her slightly queasy. He leaned in. “Nice building you’ve got here,” he whispered. “I’ve had my eye on this block for a while now. Old brownstones like this are hard to come by.”

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