Chapter 20: Wilted Sunflower

Sienna

I knew when Dante left that night that things had changed.

The man who once terrified me with his presence now stood as a broken, defeated shell, covered in the blood of his betrayer.

Everything made sense now; his debasing of me, his underhanded bouquet message: disdain, death and revenge. I was nothing but an instrument of vengeance against my father, who he assumed murdered Lenore. I truly meant nothing to Dante, and the thought hurt me more than I care to let on.

But then I am taken back to that night. He called me ‘Sunflower’ as an endearment and when I had to call his brothers, I saw that his phone screensaver was a picture of me taken unaware. Why would he do that if he did not care for my existence if I were nothing more than a pawn in his revenge game?

I put my coffee cup in the sink and walked out of the door to my garden.

It was two weeks later, and I barely saw Dante anymore. Nico said to leave him be for now, and Dario advised to give him time. All I wanted to