He never retreated. He met me blow for blow, pushed just as hard as I did. With him, I was Sienna, not Stella, not Enna, not the Sienna who had survived the last eight years. I was the Sienna from before, the Sienna… who was alive.
Feeling the weight of eyes on us, I finally broke eye contact, crossing my arms in surprise to everyone. Not out of submission, but to avoid drawing attention. He sighed and leaned back in turn knowing this wasn’t a victory. “Now,” he growled, removing his hand from my neck but draping his arm over the back of my chair, “tell me how you became friends with the Indian mafia, Sienna.”
I saw him glance over my head, I turned to see what had caught his dark gaze and spotted a group of young men seated several tables away.Seriously?
I straightened, adjusting his jacket over my shoulders, and looked in turn at Kenji and Ganesh. They said nothing. They were letting me choose, tell him the truth or keep hiding it. I lifted my gaze to his. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I had to find Valentina and the other women first. I was close. I knew it. Just a little more patience, and I would tell him everything.
And then it would all be over.Definitively.
“I am not friends with the Indian mafia,” I said with a shrug. “But with Anjali, who happens to be the niece of the head of the Indian mafia.” Thethree men stared at me. “We met at a party, and that’s it.”
“And that’s it,” Sasha repeated, rubbing his chin, his jaw tight, a bad sign. “Tell me, Ganesh, do you treat all of your niece’s friends this warmly?” I grimaced, seeing he would get nothing more from me, he was turning to Ganesh, and I hated putting him in that position. Ganesh smiled, tapping the floor lightly with his cane, “I won’t lie to you, Ivanov, Sienna is special to me,” he said, looking at me with a warm gaze and I pressed my lips together. “When I met her for the first time, she immediately reminded me of my daughter.”
The memory of our first meeting made me smile and suddenly tears welled up.Damn it. This old man always found a way to make me cry. Often, a few words were enough.“I know that if mylittle Isha were still alive, she would be exactly like Sienna,” he said with a soft smile, extending his hand across the table. I took it without hesitation. “So I don’t know about my niece’s other friends,” he continued, turning to Sasha. “But Sienna is like my daughter, Ivanov. My family.” His gaze darkened, and it was clear these weren’t empty words. He was sending a message, one that warmed my heart.
“Sienna already has a family,” Sasha shot back, his voice low, his fingers brushing my nape, I slowly turned my face toward him, toward his profile, while he kept his eyes on Ganesh. “She has her sisters, her nephews, her niece, her brothers,” he went on, speaking of Selina and Rafael, and of all the Ivanovs. Then his gaze plunged into mine, his thumb stroking my jaw, a gentle warmth spreading through my body. “Me,” he finished, breathing in deeply. I swallowed at the intensity of his stare.
A family?With him? Could I even dare to dream of it? No. Because I knew something he didn’t. He and I could never be a family. I could not be any man’s family.
“And so what?” Ganesh’s voice suddenly rang out, pulling me from my thoughts. I stepped back, averting my gaze, but Sasha’s touch never left me, his fingers still absentmindedly caressing my nape as he turned his attention to Ganesh as well. Ganesh frowned, withdrew his hand from mine after giving it a gentle pat, and said, “She can have two families, can’t she? Look at my Anjali, tomorrow she will gain a second family.” He sighed, a hint of sadness in his voice, I smiled softly at him. “And she will be very happy,” I reassured him, understanding his feelings. After all, Anjali was the last family he had left. Ganesh had once had a brother and a sister. Their parents had died years ago. His sister had passed away a few years later from cancer, leaving behind her daughter, Anjali. As for his brother, he had met a far more contemptible end, one I had witnessed myself, when Ganesh had executed him with his own hands for betraying him.
“Sienna!” the girls suddenly called out to me from the buffet. I waved at them, “I’m going to join them before there’s nothing left,” I laughed, standing up. I moved to remove Sasha’s jacket, but his hand settled against my back. “Keep it. It’s chilly,” he said, his gaze sliding over my outfit. I sighed. “All right,” I replied, walking away, because I was really starting to feel hungry and cold.
And it had absolutely nothing to do with the scent he carried. Nothing at all.
—
I leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the sight of Anjali laughing and glowing while the women of her family, seated around her, sang. The villa’s living room had been decorated with flowers, leaves, and yellow fabrics for theHaldiceremony. The evening had come to an end, and most of the guests had been sent to nearby hotels to return the next day for the wedding. Only the close family had been allowed to stay, and I was honored to be among them. Suddenly, the married women of the family began to approach Anjali, who was dressed in a simple yellow dress, bowls of haldi in their hands. It was a paste they had prepared by mixing turmeric, sandalwood paste, and rose water. They began to apply it to my friend’s body, on her forehead, then her cheeks, her arms, legs, and feet. It was a ceremony symbolizing purification before marriage, a blessing for a happy union, protection against negative energies, and above all, fertility. After the married women, it was the cousins’ turn, and finally the friends’. I was gently pushed toward the bride with a bowl in my hands, “Sienna,” Anjali smiled at me. I returned her smile and took some of the paste, applying it to her cheek. “I hope you will be happy all your life, Anji. You deserve it,” I said, gently pulling my hand away but she caught it before taking some paste from my bowl and rubbing it onto my owncheek. “You too, Sienna. You deserve it too. More than anyone,” she said, her bright gaze locked on mine.
All the years we had spent together, crying, laughing, flooded my mind, and a tear escaped. She had grown up so fast. I stepped back as Anjali was pulled to her feet to dance with her paternal aunts. I sighed, handing the bowl to one of her cousins before slipping out of the room. I was going to cut my evening short. I was exhausted, and we had to wake up early the next morning. I headed toward the second floor, where the few guest rooms were located. I had been assigned the one at the end of the hallway, since I was a light sleeper. Anjali hadn’t wanted me to be disturbed if the festivities lasted late, she knew me so well.
I kept humming one of the tunes that had lodged itself in my head during the dances, and I opened the bedroom door, spinning as I did so, the hem of my dress lifting from the floor, which made me laugh. I had had two glasses, just enough to make me euphoric. A cry escaped me when my body collided with something, someone.
Another body.
Warm.
Damp.
Naked.
I stepped back in a rush, the thought that I had entered the wrong room flashing through my mind, especially since the scent of men’s shower gel filled the air.Fuck, what an idiot.
I stammered apologies with my eyes closed, trying to retreat toward the door, but my feet caught in the hem of my skirt and I gasped as my body tipped backward.Warm hands wrapped around my arms, preventing an embarrassing fall as I lifted my gaze to the person holding me. Blue.Cold.Peace.
Sasha stared at me, eyes wide, his damp hair falling over his forehead Sasha, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.Sasha, standing in the room that had been assigned to me.Hisbrows furrowed as his gaze slid over my cheek, then dropped to my lips, from which my uneven breath escaped.“Enna?!” Kenji’s voice suddenly exclaimed behind me as I pulled free from the Russian’s hold and turned around.Kenji, Ashwin, and several women from Anjali’s family were standing in the doorway, staring at us probably after hearing me scream.
“What… what the hell are you doing in my room?!” I snapped, turning back to Sasha.He didn’t flinch.On the contrary, he crossed his arms over his bare chest and raised an eyebrow, behind me, I heard the girls giggle, which only fueled my anger.What was so funny?
“It’s Anjali who told him to sleep here,” Kenji said, leaning against the doorframe, his hands buried in his pockets, while Ashwin nodded behind him.“Anjali?” I repeated, stunned, once the shock passed, anger surged, “Anjali,” I hissed between clenched teeth before turning back to the idiot.He still hadn’t moved an inch, his gaze fixed on me.
“Very well,” I said, lifting my skirt as I walked out of the room, chin held high, heading toward the door of the bedroom next to mine Kenji’s, “I’ll sleep with Kenji in his roo…”Suddenly, an arm barred my way, braced against the doorframe just above my head, “I don’t think so,” Sasha growled against my ear.I slowly lifted my gaze to his over my shoulder. He was very close. Too close.“Excuse me?” I breathed, my fingers itching to dig my nails into his skin, his pecs, maybe. Or better yet, his back.I clenched my teeth at the sheer stupidity of my thoughts. “You heard me perfectly well,moyamalen’kayagadyuka,” he replied calmly, unfazed by my death glare.“Anyway, Sienna,” Ashwin’s voice suddenly echoed behind me, but this time there was no way I was going to look away first,“Kamal, Suraj, and I were planning to spend the night in Kenji’s room, reminiscing about the good old days.”I frowned and turned sharply, asatisfied smile stretching my lips when Sasha growled as my hair whipped across his face.“That’s fine, I’ll sleep with the girls then. There must be a spare bed somewhere…”“Sorry, Sienna, we’re already full,” they laughed before slipping into their rooms and locking the doors.“Good night, Enna,” the traitor Kenji said as he shut the door to my room, Ashwin’s laughter echoing behind him.
I stared at the closed door, mouth open, unable to believe I had just been abandoned, trapped by my Shadow, the head of the Indian mafia I regarded as a father, his niece, and his men.The world had gone completely upside down.I startled when I heard a chuckle near my ear and turned to see Sasha still in the same position, leaning over me, his hand braced against the door.His blue eyes gleamed with amusement as he laughed harder at the sight of my face.
Damn it, he was sexy.
But right now, my anger outweighed my desire. “You’re laughing,” I said, starting to remove my heavy earrings.His laughter cut off instantly at the tone of my voice, I threw the earrings onto the nightstand, hard enough that one slid behind the piece of furniture.“Sienna, let’s talk,” he said, starting to step back, one hand gripping his towel, only to trip over one of my sneakers lying on the floor.
