Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 299

Giovanni:

The silence was suffocating.

Not the peaceful kind that settles after battle. No, this silence had teeth. It bit into my skin and gnawed at my bones with every breath I took. The kind that told me something had shifted, permanently, and I was too late to stop it.

I stood in the center of what was once my sanctuary. The long corridor of my estate was cracked at its spine. Ash coated the marble. The chandeliers no longer flickered with power or grandeur. It was dim, like the light itself was retreating from me. Or perhaps from her.

Tatiana.

The woman who thought herself to be invincible. The woman who believed that she could own everything and that she was the strongest of them all. Little did she know, she was wrong.

I felt her before I saw her. She’d been quiet since Delilah vanished from her grasp, too quiet. But even now, when she entered the hall, dressed in that same ethereal gown that once made men fall to their knees, I saw something different.

She was fraying.

There was a tremble in her steps. A strain in her voice when she spoke. And though she tried to hide it, I wasn’t the fool I once was.

“You summoned them again,” I said, voice low. “You actually went ahead and called for her when you were not supposed to approach her.”

Her red eyes flared as she turned toward me. “I needed her to see the truth. I needed to see the truth for myself.”

“Or you needed to be reminded you’re losing control,” I replied coldly. “You bringing her here was the first mistake, as you may say. You’ve weakened, you’re angry, and you can’t do anything about it. But then again, this is what it is to have a child, isn’t it? A feeling that you don’t even know.”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Careful, Giovanni.”

“No,” I snapped. “You don’t get to play goddess and then sulk like a scorned child when things fall apart. You told me you had everything under control. That they were pawns. That Damon, Sienna, Delilah, they would all crumble. Instead, you brought her here and you spoke to her and she got in your head, you in your, in your. Allowed her and your power.”

“She should’ve given in,” Tatiana hissed. “She should’ve bowed to me. This shouldn’t have happened the way that it did. She shouldn’t have been as strong. But then again, who am I to blame? Should I play in the person who made her as a strong, who carved her not to be afraid? Or should I blame her for being as foolish?”

“You used her,” Tatiana corrected, approaching slowly. “Just like you use all of them. You played her like a fool. You tried to carve her into something that you could use a lethal weapon, and once it was done, once it was weak, he wanted to discard her.”

She reached out to touch my face, but I stepped back.

She froze.

And then she laughed, soft and brittle. “You’re falling too, Giovanni. The man who fought so hard to bring me back is now stepping away. Is that really what you’re trying to do?”

“No. I’m waking up.”

Her laugh died. The air grew cold. She moved to touch me again, but I grabbed her wrist this time. Her skin was cool, colder than before. I could feel the way it drained, how it throbbed with a kind of poison.