His [Book #1]

Chapter 21

Sienna's POV
When I finally told Benny my current situation, he still didn't budge. So I tossed in the puppy dog pout, which I knew would eventually win him over.

"Fine, you can have your job back."

I threw my arms around him, a wide smile on my face. "Thank you, Benny!"

Mateo, who was excitedly cooing in his carseat, drew in Benny's attention. Benny pulled away from me, practically shoving me out of the way to get to him.

Lifting him out of his carseat, he smiled and began speaking in baby babble. Mateo grabbed onto the scruff of graying hair on his chin and pulled.

Benny's deep, New York filled voice returned, a pained look in his eyes as he struggled to pry Mateo's strong baby fingers from his beard.

He has a habit of doing that. He does it to Tristan all the time. Though he does a much better job of concealing his pain, unlike Benny.

When he finally manages to rip Mateo's fingers free from his beard, he places him back in his carseat.

Mateo's not too happy about that and begins to cry. Benny's quick to grab his pacifier and put it in his mouth. Mateo automatically quiets down.

"I don't see why you need to work here anyway," Benny says, gently rocking the carseat back and forth. "Your baby daddy is worth millions- maybe more. I wouldn't work another day in my life if I had access to that kind of money."

"He'll just use it to try and control me like he does everything else." Tying the laces to my apron around my waist, I leave Mateo with Benny so I can get to work.

Halfway through my shift, the bell above the door rings, indicating that a potential customer has walked in.

Not looking up, as I'm currently trying to find Mateo's pacifier, I apologize and let the customer know that I need a minute.

Mateo just woke up from his nap and is really fussy right now. Benny and I can't hold him right now and I just lost his pacifier. He threw it somewhere, thinking it was funny.

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have customers that adored Mateo and didn't mind him being at work with me. He's quite the little charmer.

When I finally find his pacifier, I rinse it off in the sink and clean it has best I can. I'm about to give him his pacifier when he suddenly stops crying.

"Da-da," he sniffles, a pool of tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Looking up, I realize Tristan is the customer who just walked in, two more of his men dressed in black standing guard behind him.

Mateo no longer wants his pacifier as he stretches his chubby hands and arms out. Tristan picks him up, taking the pacifier from me and giving it to him.

"What are you doing here?"

I can feel some of the customers nervously watching us, most of them just now learning that Mateo's father is the Tristan Lucci, Mafia boss.

"I came to check up on the two of you," he replied, bouncing Mateo in his arms.

"For what?" I glance over his shoulder, eyeing Rafe and Angel. "Did they tell you to come here?"

"No. I had a couple meetings, one of them not far from the diner. So I decided to stop by."

"Okay. Well, you can't be here. I've lost enough customers with Rafe and Angel being here. And besides, if Benny sees you- I'll lose my job again."

He growled. "I'll burn this damned place to the ground before I let that happen."

A few more customers flew out the door upon hearing Tristan's threat. I rolled my eyes.

"Tristan, please. Just take Mateo with you and go home. My shift doesn't end for another five hours."

"Then I'll wait."

I had no choice but to let him stay. Nothing I was saying was working. Not that it ever did. Tristan's always going to do what he wants to do.

Benny wasn't very happy about it when he saw that Tristan was here. Especially because every single customer that walked in immediately walked out when they saw him sitting at the booth with Mateo in his arms, his gun visible to anyone who dared test his patience.

By the time my shift had ended, I'd lost count of how many times I apologized to Benny.

"I'd kick him out if I wasn't so afraid of him," he huffed. "Or I could fire you. But then he'd burn my place down to the ground with me in it."

"I'm so sorry, Benny. I'll pay you back twice as much."

Confused, he watched from a safe distance as I walked over to Tristan. Pausing in front of his table, I held out my hand. "Give me your wallet."

Tristan didn't ask questions as he lifted his hips and reached into his pocket. Handing me his wallet, his amber eyes burned with curiosity as he watched me take out a thick wad of cash.

Leaving his open wallet on the table, I walked back over to Benny and shoved the money into his hands. "That should be enough, right?"

He stared at all the green paper in his hands, his eyes wide and his mouth hung open. "Can he kidnap me too?" He asked in a joking manner.

Or at least I think it was a joke.

Smiling at him, I finished helping my co-workers close up the diner. When we were done, I put away my apron and grabbed Mateo's carseat.

I said my goodbyes to Benny, who was still counting the money I gave him. There had to be about ten thousand dollars in his hands. Maybe more.

Shaking my head at him, I followed Tristan out of the diner. Rafe and Angel got back in the car I drove in, while Tristan's men got back in the car they drove here in.

Tristan placed Mateo back down in his carseat and opened the door to put him in the backseat.

Closing the door, he turned to me. "I have somewhere I need to be tonight," he said, gently tugging at one of my curls.

"Another meeting?" I guessed.

"Something like that."

Something tells me it's nothing like that.

Dropping his hand at his side, he walked over to his car and I walked over to the other.

All we did was open the passengers door in the backseat and suddenly, there was a loud explosion, orange and red flames engulfing one of the cars as Tristan and I both went flying.