Page 25 of The Secrets We Keep

Once she was older, it had taken some convincing, but eventually her father agreed to let her go to university and get a degree. The irony was, she had the career she'd always envisioned having. Except now she was trying to tear Gallo Industries apart instead of protecting it from their enemies. Her loyalty to Nero Gallo had died with her family.

It had taken her more time than she wanted to admit to accept the truth. That her uncle had slaughtered his own brother, his own nieces and nephews—innocent children. She’d spent countless hours trying to reason it out, trying to pin it on one of their enemies.

Shortly before the massacre, a man threatened her father after he refused to haggle over a weapons sale. Then they’d needed to punish a foreign contact when they caught him double dipping.

But with every new bit of information she was able to uncover, every system she successfully hacked, a new picture emerged. She should have suspected Nero from the moment she chose to flee the country instead of run to his protection. But she’d reasoned with herself that she ran to keep him safe. In case whoever hurt her family wanted to hurt him too. She was a fool.

He’d grieved in the papers. Nero was nothing if not meticulous about the public’s perception of him. Still, none of the news articles she’d found online matched the records she’d hacked her way into. Bare police files proved the entire investigation was nothing but a show for the press.

When the realization finally penetrated her blind loyalty, it had nearly broken her. As evil as her uncle was, she’d never doubted he loved his family, that family always came first. She’d loved her uncle and was excited to finish her graduate program and work for him.

But he’d taken everything from her. And for what? What purpose did it serve to kill them? What reason did he have for murdering innocent children? His own flesh and blood.

Deciphering the why of it consumed her in the beginning. She filled pages and pages of her journals, trying to reason it all out, trying to make it fit, and nothing made sense. Her father and brothers, her nephews, sweet little Pietro with his whistling gapped teeth. How were they a threat?

Nero had an heir and a spare in Stefano and Dante. And Stefano had been newly married then, the promise of producing his own heir on the horizon.

She might have driven herself crazy trying to make it make sense. Nothing about it ever would. So she’d decided to set aside her search for why and plan her revenge. Nero had obviously ordered the hit, and he deserved to pay for it.

She couldn’t come back to the island as Sienna Gallo. She likely wouldn’t have made it onto the island at all, let alone close enough to kill her uncle, if he knew she was still alive. So she’d waited, and she’d watched for an opportunity to get close to him, for a job opening at Gallo Industries.

Catching him by surprise at the office was the only way her plan would work. It was the only place he let his guard down. And as long as no one recognized her, she could go relatively unnoticed when she accessed the executive floor with Ciro’s credentials.

Something she’d have before her head hit the pillow tonight. A spark of annoyance flashed through her as she edited a piece of code and saved her work. Luca had effortlessly convinced her to change her plans, to give him what he wanted with a simple promise that she’d get what she deserved in time.

It had never taken much convincing for him to get his way. From the moment they met, she’d only ever wanted to say yes to him. But this was too important to give up on why she was here. She might care about Luca, but she didn’t care about their little war. And she would not sacrifice avenging her family so they could win it.

Jack’s head appeared over the top of the partition between their desks, dragging her back into the present, and she offered him a smile.

“Heading out then?” she asked.

“I am. We won’t see you in the office tomorrow, right?”

“No,” she confirmed. “Wednesday is one of my work from home days. But I’ll be back on Thursday.”

“And home again on Friday,” Jack replied. “I should have thought to negotiate that one for myself.”

Sienna smiled, saving her work and stretching out her sore back. “I got lucky they agreed. My last position was entirely remote, and it spoiled me.” Isa snorted, and Sienna pretended not to notice. “You want to grab a drink?”

“That’s my line,” Ciro said, smiling as he blocked the only way in and out of her cubicle.

“Well, you haven’t asked me, so I’m taking matters into my own hands.”

“Mea culpa,” Ciro said, pressing a hand to his heart and stepping back when she stood. “I forgot about a prior commitment I had yesterday.”

“You forgot your wife’s birthday?” Isa said with a grunt, and Sienna forced herself to bite back a grin at Ciro’s narrowed glare.

“Why are you keeping track of other people’s birthdays?” Ciro muttered, mashing the button for the elevator.

“We’ve been working together for almost four years. It’s not a crime to remember things.”

“When’s my husband’s birthday?” Jack wondered as the elevator doors opened and they all got on.

Isa sniffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Sometime in March.”

“May,” Jack replied with a teasing grin. “But close.”

Sienna’s phone buzzed in her purse, and she dug it out, smiling at the message from Luca.

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