Page 107 of Brutal Heir

“Promise me,” I whisper, fierce and low. “That no matter what happens today, no matter what you see, you’ll come back with me.”

“I promise.” Her eyes shine in the dim office light, more serious than I’ve ever seen them. “I love you, Alessandro, and I’m all in.”

And damn it if I don’t believe her.

I smirk, then press another kiss to the seam of her lips. “I better get that shower started before I change my mind.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

Of course my naughty little nurse would never let me go without checking on my bandages.

Then I force myself to head for the door with one last look at the woman standing there like sin incarnate—half-wild, half-mine, and all the reason I have to keep fighting.

Let La Spada Nera come.

They have no idea what they’ve just awakened.

The club’s basement is colder than usual. Not only temperature-wise, the old vents never worked properly in the former office of the Velvet Vault, but also in the way the shadows hang like bad omens in the corners. The low hum of the fluorescents overhead does nothing to soften the atmosphere.

Sienna sits across from me, spine rigid, hands curled into white-knuckled fists in her lap. She looks like she’s trying not to cry. I don’t care. Not yet.

I lean back in the chair behind the old desk, slow and deliberate, letting the silence stretch. Pressure builds in silence. It’s better than threats. She’ll talk…eventually.

Rory stands against the wall near the door beside Jimmy, arms crossed, silent but alert. Her eyes flick between me and Sienna, and I can feel her watching me. Judging. Not because she doesn’t trust me. But because she does, and she needs to know how far I’ll go. I hate that she’s here, but I know her well enough to understand that objecting wasn’t an option.

I drag in a breath, slow and sharp. “Start talking.”

Sienna flinches. “I—I told Vincent already. Everything I know.”

“Then tell me again.” My voice is steel wrapped in velvet. “And this time, don’t leave anything out.”

She hesitates, eyes darting toward Rory as if hoping for a reprieve. Rory doesn’t move. Good. She knows this isn’t her fight. Not directly.

“I didn’t want to steal,” Sienna says, voice cracking. “At first, it was just a few hundred here and there. Jace said he needed it, that he was in trouble?—”

“You knew who he was,” I cut in. “You knew he wasn’t some poor bastard who couldn’t make rent.”

“I didn’t know he was part of a gang!” she cries, sitting up straighter, desperation bleeding into her voice. “He never said anything about La Spada Nera. Not at first.”

I go still.

At first.

There it is.

“You kept seeing him after you found out.” It’s not a question.

Sienna swallows hard. “He said he’d kill my sister. That he’d… he said he’d send her back to me in pieces if I didn’t do what he asked.”

Rory gasps softly from the corner, and I clench my jaw, forcing myself not to react. Not to soften. Sienna’s voice shakes, but there’s no lie in it. Just fear.

“What did he want?” I ask flatly.

Her eyes brim with tears now. “Information. Anything I could get. Layouts of the club. Schedules. Who was coming and going. He wanted dirt on the Geminis too. Business accounts. Passwords. Anything.”

“You gave it to him?”

She hesitates too long.