Zane meant every word he said. Not because it was the truth, but because he wanted it to be. And more importantly, he could make it true. It wouldn’t be hard to resist a woman. In fact, it was the easiest thing in the world to do. You simply don’t touch them. Period. And now that Mike was with Claudia, it would be even easier, because if there was one thing that kept the band together all these years, it was that they never messed around with the same women. Mike got there first, and that was that. The weird feeling seeing them together the night before was simply him being worried that Mike was about to screw things up for the band. Well, that and maybe the fact that because Mike got there first, she was now off-limits to Zane forever. She was forbidden fruit. Which he knew from experience would taste far sweeter.
NOVEMBER 22, 1996
5:10 AM
Zane lay in bed for a few minutes, feeling hungover even though he hadn’t had a drop. It had been years since he felt this bad. When was it? And why was he trying to remember? It was as if his brain was trying to tell him something significant, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. But whatever it was, it didn’t matter as much as his angry wife. And keeping her waiting would be a very bad idea.
He made his way to the kitchen in sweats and a t-shirt, bleary-eyed and barely able to walk a straight line. Hepoured himself a coffee, then sat across from Sienna, blinking slowly. “Okay, I’m here.”
“Who knows about your connection to the baby? Other than Claudia, Dean, and me?”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure she told her parents.”
She pursed her lips. “All right, well this might not work then, depending on whether they can keep their mouths shut.”
Zane’s eyes opened wide. “Jesus, you sound like a mob boss.”
Sienna’s jaw clenched. “I’ll do anything to protect my family.”
“I’m a little scared at the moment,” Zane said. “Should I be scared?”
“Maybe,” Sienna answered, looking as if she might be enjoying her newfound power. “I’m honestly not even sure what I’m capable of, but right now, I feel like it’s a lot more than even I would suspect.”
Zane narrowed his eyes. “Should I be calling the police?”
“I’m not going toharmanyone, if that’s what you think,” she snapped.
“You said anything, so it’s a reasonable conclusion to reach.”
“I’ve been lying awake this entire time thinking, and I may have a way out of this for all of us. It’ll protect the kids—including your new one … andher, not that I give a shit about protecting her. It might also save your career.”
“I don’t deserve your help.”
“I’m not doing it for you.”
“Understood.”
Sienna had a long sip of coffee and stared out the window, and Zane wondered if she might be about to change her mind about whatever her plan was. Then sheturned to him. “There’s one other man who the world would much rather believe is the baby’s father. And he won’t be able to deny it.”
10 A.M.
SIENNA
There is no greater force than a mother protecting her family. No mind quicker or more shrewd. There is no line she won’t cross. Nothing she won’t do to keep her children safely tucked away on high ground when the dam bursts. Because when the water starts rushing in, it’s not the one who busted it who rebuilds. It’s his wife, whose instincts kick in, causing her brain to see the problem from every angle, and to devise a plan that will fix everything.
Convincing Zane to go along with it had been much easier than she anticipated. After a moment of looking shocked, he quickly agreed their best option was to tell the world his recently deceased bandmate was the baby’s father.
Sienna was both relieved and repulsed by the speed at which he would abandon his newborn son. He offered to call Dean to arrange the meeting, then tried to hug her, which was swiftly rejected with a straight arm.Sorry. Force of habit.
She told him he wasn’t welcome to come.You’ve screwed up our lives enough already. The last thing I need is for you to mess this up as well.The real reason he wasn’t invited was because Sienna was secretly terrified of having her husband and the other woman in the same room. Would seeing her with the baby make him want her? Would he leave hisfamily for something new and shiny? She couldn’t have that.Hewasn’t going to be the one to end things. It was Sienna’s choice to make. He owed her that at least. So she told him to stay home and spend the time looking for a place to rent.
Sienna pulled up to Dean’s loft at ten on the dot, too amped up to feel exhausted despite only having slept for three hours. Yesterday was her day to cry, to rage, to throw rings and call her husband names. Today was about saving them all. Including the two people who deserved it the least.
Claudia’s car was already parked in front of the former warehouse Dean had converted into a home. Sienna sat, staring at the wide wooden door, working up the courage to go face her husband’s lover and his son. It would take everything in her not to cry when she looked at him, not to compare him to her own beautiful babies, not to seek out signs of the man she loved.
Just don’t look, she told herself as she knocked. Dean opened it almost instantly, as if he had been watching from the window. His eyes asked if she was sure about this, and a single nod gave him his answer. She straightened her back and stepped inside, setting her expression to ‘someplace else’ mode from her runway days.One foot in front of the other. Attitude for weeks. No one else in the room matters. Feel nothing. Get in and get the job done.
Only when she entered the living room, the baby was laying on a blanket on the enormous green corduroy sectional, his tiny arms and legs waving in the air. How could shenotlook? It was painful beyond what she could’ve imagined, as if his fists and feet were made of steel and were hitting her over and over in the chest and stomach. He was Parker at that age, right down to the swirl of blond hair sticking up from the middle of his head. She stopped in her tracks and gasped, Runway Sienna disappearing in aninstant as tears filled her eyes. Her arms ached to pick him up, hold him close, smell his neck. She knew what he would feel like against her shoulder. Heavy and warm and wobbly and perfect, just like her babies had been. Her reaction left her shocked and annoyed at herself. Lifting her chin, Sienna stared at the wall of shelving that stretched up two stories. She set her gaze on the top row of albums, studying them as if she were memorizing their order, even though from down here, they were impossible to read.Pull it together. She doesn’t deserve to know how much this hurts.
