Chapter 2 - THE HOUSE ABOVE MANHATTANSienna expected a dungeon.
Instead, Damian Russo took her to a penthouse overlooking Central Park.
The doors opened onto polished stone floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a view that made her forget how to breathe.
She stepped inside.
"This is your home?"
"One of them."
"How many do you have?"
"Enough."
Sienna looked at him.
"You always answer questions like that?"
"Only when they're unnecessary."
He walked toward the kitchen.
"Sit."
"I'm not hungry."
"That wasn't a question."
She sat.
A woman in her fifties entered carrying a medical kit.
"This is Mrs. Bell."
Mrs. Bell smiled gently.
"Let me see your neck."
Sienna stiffened.
"I'm fine."
Mrs. Bell looked at Damian.
He said nothing.
But Sienna saw the concern in his eyes.
She lowered her head.
Mrs. Bell cleaned the bruises.
"You'll have soreness for a few days."
"Thank you."
When she left, Damian placed a phone on the table.
"Call your brother."
Sienna stared.
"I don't know where he is."
"Try."
She dialed.
Straight to voicemail.
Her shoulders sank.
Damian watched her.
"You haven't heard from him?"
"Not in twelve days."
"Why did he borrow the money?"
"He thought he could build an app."
"What kind?"
"Delivery logistics."
Damian's eyebrows moved slightly.
"What happened?"
"Investors backed out."
"Forty thousand dollars for an app?"
"It wasn't just an app."
Sienna looked down.
"He had employees."
Damian remained silent.
Then:
"Did he tell you who the investors were?"
"No."
"Did he ever mention Mickey?"
"Only after the debt existed."
Damian leaned back.
"Your brother wasn't borrowing money from Mickey."
Sienna looked up.
"What?"
"Mickey doesn't have forty thousand dollars to lend."
"Then who?"
Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yes."
Silas spoke from the other end.
Damian listened.
His face hardened.
"Bring me everything."
He ended the call.
Sienna waited.
"What happened?"
"We found your brother."
Her heart jumped.
"Where?"
"Boston."
"Is he okay?"
"Alive."
Relief flooded her.
"Can I talk to him?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because he's being followed."
Sienna stood.
"What?"
Damian raised one hand.
"Sit."
She sat.
"The people behind your brother's debt aren't interested in fifty thousand dollars."
"Then what do they want?"
Damian stared at her.
"You."
Sienna's blood went cold.
"Why?"
"That's what I'm going to find out."
He walked toward the window.
Sienna followed.
"How can you protect me?"
"I've been doing it for years."
She frowned.
"What?"
Damian turned.
"You don't know me."
"No."
"But I know your father."
Her heart stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"Robert Hayes worked a case involving my family."
"Was he corrupt?"
Damian's silence hurt more than an answer.
Sienna looked away.
"My father made mistakes."
"He did."
"But he wasn't a bad man."
"I didn't say he was."
Damian walked closer.
"He was trying to expose someone."
"Who?"
"My uncle."
Sienna froze.
"What?"
"Your father disappeared shortly after."
"My father didn't disappear."
Damian studied her.
"That's what you were told?"
"He died."
"Did you see his body?"
Sienna's lips parted.
No.
She hadn't.
Her mother had told her he died when she was seven.
There had been no funeral.
No grave.
Just a closed coffin.
Damian saw the realization.
"You never saw him."
"No."
He reached into a drawer.
Then placed a photograph on the table.
Sienna picked it up.
A younger Robert Hayes stood outside a police station.
Beside him was Damian's father.
And behind them stood another man.
Sienna stared.
"Who is that?"
Damian's voice lowered.
"My father's attorney."
"Why is that important?"
"Because that man has been dead for eleven years."
Sienna looked up.
"What does that mean?"
"It means someone has been using his identity."
Silence.
Damian stepped closer.
"And whoever they are..."
He pointed at the photograph.
"...they've been searching for your family."
Sienna's hands began shaking.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Then how am I supposed to trust you?"
Damian looked directly into her eyes.
"You don't have to."
He walked toward the door.
"But until we know why they want you..."
He stopped.
"...you stay here."
Sienna stared at his back.
"What happens if I leave?"
Damian turned.
"Then I can't promise you'll survive the night."
He left.
Sienna remained alone.
She looked down at the photograph again.
Her father's face stared back at her.
And suddenly she noticed something.
Robert Hayes wasn't looking at the camera.
He was looking at the man beside him.
The dead attorney.
And in her father's hand was a small black notebook.
A notebook Sienna remembered.
May you like
Because she had seen it once before.
In her mother's closet.
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