The next day, I unfortunately have to go to the MMA gym to do some work. Dad and Zayden had to take care of a gun shipment and are going to discuss the future business with Mikhail and Roman. Zayden and Roman will come to the gym later, so that makes me feel a little better.
Fortunately, Josh isn't here right now and I can relax while walking up to the office. Dante stands outside the office, and I've told him that he can use the bathroom in here if he needs to. That way, he's always close and I don't have to explain why I want to lock the door if he leaves for just a few minutes.
Around 5 pm, I decide that it's time to go home. I grab my purse and walk out of the office. Dante follows me down the stairs and I see Roman sparring with one of our fighters in one of the cages. His coach stands outside of the cage and yells to him in Russian.
Zayden sits on a bench and watches them, then calls me over when he sees me. "Hey, Sienna, come and watch for a while."
I sit down next to him and Dante goes to stand by the wall.
"How did it go today?" I ask Zayden a little quietly so no one else can hear us.
"Really well. Joining up with Roman and Mikhail will be really good. I mean, we already work with them, but having Roman here and expanding will be really good for business. It will make everything so much easier. Roman is just as mean when it comes to business as he is in the cage. You should have seen him barking out orders in Russian to his men. I thought dad and I were strict when it comes to business, but he's even worse," he says, chuckling. "I'm glad that we're friends and not enemies."
We sit there and watch him spar. I don't mind watching him, not at all actually. It's like he found out how to train every single muscle in his body just the right amount to make his body perfect, and now it's glistening with sweat, but he doesn't seem to be tired. He punches hard, he kicks hard, and he calculates every move from his opponent. He gets him down easily and gets him to tap out.
I look to my right when the door to the locker room opens. Josh walks out and smirks cockily when he sees me. I look down and try to control my breathing so Zayden won't notice anything, but on the inside, I'm freaking out.
He walks over to us like nothing ever happened. "Hey, Zayden. Hi, Sienna," he says with a smile on his lips, and I shudder. "Looks like I will be getting some more competition this year."
"Yeah, you better step it up a notch if you want to go against Roman," Zayden says, smirking.
"Don't worry, I will," he says cockily and walks away to the treadmills.
Zayden chuckles and shakes his head.
If he knew what he had done, he wouldn't be chuckling right now.
I give him a tight smile and turn towards the cage again. Roman stands leaning with his forearms over his head against the cage and locks eyes with me.
He didn't see my reaction, did he?
His coach starts talking to him in Russian and Zayden walks over to talk to him.
"I will see you at home," I say to him and quickly leave with Dante behind me. I can feel Josh's eyes on me when I walk out.
Dante opens the back door to the SUV for me, and when I've gotten in and he's closed the door, I let out a shaky breath before he jumps into the driver's seat.
"Are you okay, Sienna?" Dante asks me a little worriedly when he drives off and looks at me through the rearview mirror.
I know that he notices too. He's with me every time I leave the house, and he's known me since I was little.
"Yes, I'm just tired," I say, giving him a smile.
He looks at me a little suspiciously, but lets it go.
Just before dinner, dad comes up to me when I'm about to walk into the kitchen. "Can I have a word, Sienna...in my office."
I sigh and follow him there. I'm sure Dante told him that he worries about me. He's done it before and I'm glad that he cares. It's also a part of his job to keep an eye on me and report back to dad, but I feel like I'm running out of excuses.
Dad sits down at his desk and I sit on the chair on the other side of it.
"Dante is worried about you. We all are," he says, and I'm trying to quickly figure out what excuse I will tell him this time.
I hate lying to dad and my whole family, but I can't tell them. I don't know how to.
"You're working too much and you seem really tired all the time. I'm so proud of you for taking such a huge responsibility, but you don't have to work your ass off. If it's too much for you, we will hire someone who can help you."
I internally let out a breath since he thinks that it's just about work.
"We're all hard-working people in this family, but you don't need to work all day and night. If you need a break, all you have to do is tell me. Work should be something you're passionate about, not wear you out. Especially not when you've just started after college."
"But I don't mind it, dad. I like to work a lot."
"I know, princess, but you're young. I'm not telling you to start dating, because I'm really glad that you focus more on work than boys," he says, chuckling sarcastically, "but there are other things than work. You need to enjoy life too. You don't seem as happy nowadays as you did before, and we want you to be happy. That's the most important thing."
"I know, dad," I say, looking down.
"Come here," he says and stands up to give me a hug.
I hold my tears in, because a part of me would like to tell him, let him comfort me and kill the son of a bitch for what he did to me, but I'm so ashamed. To tell your overprotective dad that you got raped is not easy. He would beat himself up and feel guilty even if it wasn't his fault. I don't want him to look at me any differently. I still want to be his innocent little girl. Not the one that was violated in the worst way possible.
"Promise me to go out more and work a little less," he says while still holding me. "Do something fun with Nat. You haven't done that in a while. I'm glad that you're coming with us to Roman's fight on Saturday. It will do you good to take your mind off work."
He kisses my head and I smile at him. He's the best dad. He's always been there for me even if he's busy, and mom too. I love my family. I'm just sad that I have to keep secrets from them...a huge secret that would affect everyone.
I meet Zayden and Roman in the hallway. They just got home from the gym.
"Hey, I didn't see you leave," Zayden says concerned.
"I told you that I was leaving," I tell him.
"I didn't hear that. I just walked over to the cage and you were gone."
I shrug my shoulders and walk toward the stairs.
"Is dad in his office?" he asks me.
"Yeah, he's there."
ZAYDEN
Fuck, Sienna is acting so weird. I know that something is bothering her and I'm starting to feel like it's not just work and heartbreak.
I walk into dad's office and sit down. Roman went to his room to rest for a while before dinner.
"Did you talk to Sienna?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I told her to ease up on work and that we can hire someone if it's too much for her. I'm thinking about letting someone else handle the gym in town."
"Do you think she will go along with it?"
"No, but she can't keep this up, working day and night. She's not happy. I mean, we're technically workaholics all of us, but she doesn't seem to have an off button anymore, and that bothers me."
We're all hard working in this family. Mom is still helping out a bit with our businesses, but she's started focusing more on housework and managing the diner now when Sienna has taken over the parts that she was handling before. The difference between Sienna and me is that I take time to enjoy myself. Work doesn't feel like an obligation, it's fun, exciting, and I'm psyched as hell to take on more responsibilities to one day be able to take over. Sienna was liked that too when she graduated from college. She was eager to work and help out, but now, she's like a robot. Work is no longer fun, she just does it as a routine and has gotten so caught up in it that it's all that matters.
No fun, no nothing.
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