“And at the wedding,” she continues relentlessly, “it was so obvious. The way they watched you. The way you watched them. That electricity between all of you that everyone could feel but nobody wanted to acknowledge.” Her voice softens. “And then you left. Disappeared back to California. And the day Dominic ordered them to leave you alone, to wipe your existence from the Carter business—Parker, they looked devastated. Lost.”
Tears prick my eyes. I blink them back.
“It took years for them to seem normal again,” Sienna says quietly. “And now you’re back. With two sons. Born nine months after that wedding.” She lets that hang in the air. “So I’ll ask again. How do Jace, Cal, and Silas feel about Ryan Matthews asking you out?”
I take a shaky breath. “They don’t like it.”
“I imagine not.”
“Cal made jokes. Jace said I should go, but that they’d be nearby. Just in case.” I laugh without humor. “Just in case Ryan forgetsthat touching my arm too much is what got him relocated in the first place.”
Sienna’s eyebrows raise. “They relocated him?”
“Supposedly he got a sudden ‘scholarship opportunity,’” I drain my wine glass. “They manipulated his entire life trajectory because he asked me out at graduation.”
“Of course they did.”
“And today at the McCoy meeting—” I stop. Start again. “McCoy touched me inappropriately and suggested I could work in his clubs. And Silas—” My voice catches. “Silas stabbed him, through the hand and pinned it to the table.”
I wait for shock. Horror. Some kind of reaction.
Sienna just looks at me. “Yeah. And?”
“And?” I stare at her. “He stabbed someone at a business meeting!”
“He stabbed someone who touched his woman inappropriately.” Sienna corrects, “Theirwoman. Of course, he stabbed him. What else was he going to do?”
“Not stab him?” I suggest weakly.
“Parker.” Sienna sets down her wine glass and takes both my hands. “You’re in a world where violence is currency. Where respect is earned through shows of strength. Silas sending that message was him establishing your position in the hierarchy.”
“I don’t want a position established through violence.”
“I know. And that’s admirable. But you can’t rebuild this organization without understanding how it works first.” Shesqueezes my hands. “Did McCoy respect you before or after Silas stabbed him?”
I think about it. About McCoy’s dismissive attitude, his condescending tone. And then, after—the way his face went pale, the way he agreed to my assessment without argument.
“After,” I admit quietly.
“Exactly.” Sienna releases my hands. “I’m not saying violence is always the answer. But sometimes it’s the language people understand. And Silas—all three of them—they’re fluent.”
“There’s more,” I whisper.
“More?”
“He kissed me.” The words tumble out. “Silas. In the hallway after. He just—he kissed me. Hard. Like he’d been waiting years to do it.”
Sienna’s jaw drops.
“Oh,” I say, “thatgets a reaction.”
“He kissed you?” She’s staring at me like I just announced aliens are real. “When? How? Did you kiss him back?”
“Yes,” I admit. “I kissed him back. And it was—” I press my hands to my face. “It was everything. I melted. Let him consume me. And then when we pulled apart, he asked if I was okay, and I asked why he did that, and he said—” My voice drops to barely above a whisper. “‘Why did I do what? The stabbing or the kissing?’“
Sienna makes a sound between a laugh and a gasp.
“And this morning in the car,” I continue, the words flowing now that I’ve started, “Jace. We almost kissed. We were so close. Sharing breath. And then Charles’s voice came through the comm, and we pulled apart like teenagers getting caught.”
