Chapter 5

*SIENNA’S POV*

I can’t believe that Lorenzo Vitale had just offered to kill someone for me, to take revenge for my sister.

But in the same breath, he reminded me why I couldn’t trust him—not after his cruel remarks about my parents’ demise and the justice system. He was right; their death and how fast the case closed were strange, especially since our car was hit by a truck and the driver was cited for drunk driving.

I shake my head to rid myself of the thought of my parents’ death and the crude nightmares I don’t want to deal with.

Because that was years ago, and I needed to think and focus on the present, what’s in front of me, and that is my sister.

The doctors had given me the update on her condition and her vitals being grave and allowed me to see her.

Yet I’ve been standing in front of her door for over ten minutes, scared out of my mind, and guilt grips me.

“You can do this,” I whisper as I pull the doorknob open to the room, even though the hospital had given my sister a private ward—and something tells me it has a certain Vitale’s hands all over it.

I stopped midway into the room, my hands clasped over my mouth. I had never expected our reunion to be something heartbreaking.

I headed closer to the bed to find my sister in such a state. She was induced into a medical coma for her body to rejuvenate her cells from the internal bleeding, but that didn’t mean her exterior was any less bad.

My eyes lingered on the cast on my sister’s left hand, broken from the fall; then to the bandage on her head; and to the oxygen mask while she slept.

“Oh my god, puppy, I am so, so sorry I came so late for you,” I whimper, grabbing onto my sister’s unconscious hands and kissing them. I sit there for a long time, gazing at her sister for hours until I get tired and fall asleep.

A few hours later I wake up to the noise of the nurse opening up the blinds and greeting me.

“Good morning… Oh no,” I whispered as I fumbled for my phone, checking it as I saw the time. It was my last test at the internship to grade our scores, so I shot up when I realized it was today!

I left a kiss on my sister’s cheek, quickly freshening up before I raced out of the hospital. I took a cab, thanking God I always kept a spare uniform in my bag as I headed into the institute.

On stage, I found a relieved-looking Luca who looked like he had been buying time.

The moment he sees me and our eyes meet, I see him perk up, and the worry fades before our group is introduced for their thesis.

Even with little sleep, I climb the podium, brilliantly giving my side of the thesis before the test comes to an end.

I head towards the waiting room, where only the sound of the TV echoes while the room is empty, or at least it was. Not until I saw the man I was looking for; he sat by the window, still, looking down at the other students.

“You’re late.”

“I know, I am sorry; I really am sorry.” I apologized over and over again. I rambled that he would text if he knew that I met with Lorenzo.

Especially since the warning came from Luca himself and how dangerous his brother was, yet that same brother helped me.

“It’s very unlike you. What is going on? You know you can tell me, right?” he asked me as I lay with worry. “Come on, Moretti, from the seminar, to miss my own party…”

But where do I start—with the fact that I lost everything, my job as a stripper, or the fact that I almost lost my sister?

And how I have been hanging on a thread and lying to him and everyone else I was barely thinking anymore

. Along with my own fears and juggling other pooled emotions. And worse, the fact that the party that I missed was one that I was going to strip for him and be paid like a slut. All while I keep that past of my life as a stripper a secret from Luca, who is supposed to be my best friend. I couldn’t respond.

I mean, where was the same girl that just cursed out the most dangerous bachelor billionaire in New York a few hours ago?

“I called you, you know… after the party… it was a mess and I missed you,” he mutters, making my heart skip a beat, playing with my heartstrings.

“I will make it up to you. In fact, I have something for you,” I say as I begin to dig in my bag. I had sworn his gift was here; it wasn’t. I groan in frustration—nothing was working out.

“Luca, I am sorry…”

My words stop when I look up to find his eyes weren’t even on me anymore but glued to the TV. That’s when I pause and turn to see what he was watching so intently.

“That’s insane. It sucks to be these people,” he mutters as I face the TV.

It’s news of an explosion in the downtown district and shows firemen trying to calm the flames. But what catches my attention and makes my stomach drop is the topic of the news.

“Foster home burns in unexpected explosion.”

My blood runs cold and the grip on my bag stiffens as my bag falls to the ground, yet my eyes are still glued to the screen.

IT couldn’t be the same house, right? But I was immediately proven wrong when the news showed old pictures of the house, as pictures of the owners, Rita and her husband, smiling hit the screen, and my guts churned.

It was their house!

My mind reels back to the call Lorenzo took in the car; his inducements to burn their house down weren’t a bluff.

And god, what have I gotten myself into?

—

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.NOTE

HE BURNED IT DOWN.

Sienna is in danger. Not from the fire—but from the man who lit it.

Luca is getting suspicious.

Gabi is still in the hospital.

Renzo just proved he's not a man to cross.

And Sienna? She's stuck in the middle of it all.

COMMENT YOUR THEORIES: What happens next? Will she confront Renzo? Will Luca find out the truth?

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