Page 63 of Throne of Sin

I go to the bar, taking off my jacket and rolling up the sleeves of my dress shirt. “Where’s Sienna?” I ask Robin, who’s behind the counter.

“She never showed up for work today.”

I grunt, my lips pursing with annoyance. Sienna has never missed a day of work since she started. Robin knows better than to continue a conversation and pretends to clean glasses.

Max whistles at me like I’m his dog, moving his head toward my office. My fingers curl into each other, my knuckles turning white from the strain. Since he’s showed up at my club, there has been nothing but problems.

I walk behind my bar, ignoring my brother to pour myself a whiskey. He walks over, waiting at the counter. I down the shot before I pour two more. I hold it out in a silent cheers. We both look over the room in silence as we take our time finishing our drinks.

“You’re not going to like this, but it can’t be avoided,” Max replies.

“And the blows keep coming,” I mumble, pushing off the counter and walking toward my office. When we’re alone, I ask, “What’s the issue now?”

“She’s not coming back.” My brother’s voice is low, far too quiet for his normal demeanor. My heart sputters out of control as I stare at him, void of expression. My first thought is I’d mess any person up when they hang around me too long. There’s nothing about my life that screams kid. Then I realize he’s not talking about Demi, he’s talking about Sienna.

I narrow my eyes. “How and why would you know Sienna is not coming back?” I add her name to add clarification, just in case I’m wrong.

He taps his fist on the arm of his chair, looking down at it before he looks back up at me. “I’m the one who told her to come here to work, because I knew her family would never dare to check here.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I’ve had a hard time following the bouncing ball of what he’s talking about. My head is too scrambled over the bomb Demi dropped on me to focus at my best.

“She belongs to a motorcycle club a few cities over. Her father is a long-time member, and they think she killed one of theirs. I helped hide her, without you knowing.”

My tongue pokes at my inner cheek as I realize my brother has been pulling the strings without me realizing for...who knows how long? A slow poke at my temple announces the start of a headache.

“Let me guess, she was the one stealing money from me and you found out she was responsible for the IP address you were looking for.”

“It goes a little deeper than that, I think. I still have no proof. My guess is that Jameson found out who Sienna was and was blackmailing her, and that’s why we saw them together. As for the IP address, Jameson was the drug dealer to the guy who tried to hurt Savio’s wife. They were using Sienna for the computer access.”

I nod, wishing that, at moments like these I could just stand up, walk out of the door, and say, “I quit.”

“Does Savio know any of this? I’m sure he would like to know how this is connected to his wife.”

“Not yet. But I can assure him his wife is safe. The only danger to her would be the fire they keep throwing on her family, but that’s for another day and time.”

“Good chat,” I say, rubbing at my temples.

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would.” He stares at me quizzingly.

I wave my hand for him to leave. “I need some time to process.”

Max nods, standing to leave. When I’m alone, I drop my head into my hands. I’ve never seen a positive, moral role model in my life.

A kid. Demi has come so far without me.

I’d drag her farther down if she stayed.

She deserves so much more in life.

I’ve always been able to give her monetary and materialistic things, but never what she needs. It’s why we never worked. I don’t know how to give more. It’s time I stepped out of my fantasy world I bubbled us in.

Chapter 32

Demi

Mywholebodyisagitated and I can’t stop pacing around Dante’s house.

“Miss.” I jump at the sudden voice.

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