ᴀᴘʜʀᴏᴅɪᴛᴇ // $ᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇʙᴏʏ$

Chapter Forty Two

SCOTT

Sienna's ex-husband Sam was there in New Orleans. I didn't know if that very fact was terribly shocking or completely acceptable. Nuisances always found you, didn't they? I saw him with my own eyes, walking straight into Lieutenant Brooks' home. I knew in my gut that he was there to corrupt what I was doing.

But why him?

I thought about how Ari and I hadn't been completely honest with Aphrodite, about how Sienna's dad was the boss of the Greeks in New York City. That the men who beat her up a while ago near Ari's house worked for him. That Sienna had moved to New Orleans a few years back to get away from her evil dad, Vadik Fotos. And how Sienna had become jealous of Aphrodite for coming into our lives, no longer the only beautiful woman amongst us gangsters.

As I thought about it more, I started putting some pieces together. Could it be possible that Sienna was still alive? Seeing her ex-husband on the screen in front of me made my mind race. I started questioning things I wouldn't have thought to question. A strange feeling of anger sizzled along my skin.

Summit and Jerry were also in the room, waiting patiently and forgetting the need for sleep as the rush of discovering surprising news ran through us. It was four in the morning, but important work had to be done and sleep had suddenly become low on the list of priorities.

I went back to my room to see Aphrodite was still asleep in the bed and tossing around until she was lying diagonally across the mattress, the sheets pulled over her head and body so that only her legs were uncovered. I felt myself roll my eyes as she continued to turn until she was content with her position. The woman was definitely a pain to sleep with, had always been annoying in that area since the first night I had kidnapped her. I watched when her hand reached into the air, trying to grasp whatever it was she wanted as she slept. But I turned away and walked off when I realized that it was my body she was reaching for. I couldn't go to Aphrodite now.

I realized with regret, that some lies couldn't hide in the dark forever.

◇◇◇

ARISTOS

It was dark in the motel and I was so fucking tired for reasons that had nothing to do with physical exhaustion. It was somewhere around eleven at night, and I couldn't sleep. The dim light in the room casted shadows along the wall, a certain one I felt I could never escape from showing up everywhere because she wouldn't leave my heart. I sat on the foot of the bed wearing nothing except for my pants because I felt oddly warm in the chill of the night, glancing around at the pools of black along the wall and watching them take the form of the body that wouldn't leave me alone in my dreams. I was so tired because I was grieving to a point of exhaustion I had never felt before.

What was this feeling? I stared ahead into nothing as the waves of discomfort washed over me again. What was this emotion that was making me so tired, so sad, and so alone? Why was my heart steadily clenching in my chest, so hard that I felt like I could stop breathing? Why was her face haunting me in my dreams and in reality? How could Aphrodite be physically far away from me, away from me for so long and still I felt like she was around every corner?

And why did I feel like I was dying?

Heartbreak felt like death.

I was alone.

The fake Aphrodite, the figment of my imagination made me start taking my pills again. Now that I could think clearly, I thought of all of the horrible scenarios she could be in right now. I thought about how dangerous it was for her to be around Scott once I realized that if I didn't kill Sienna, there were only a couple explanations for what happened to her. Either someone working for her father killed her, or she was still alive.