Chapter 30

Sienna’s POV

I have no idea how to feel.

There are a thousand thoughts moving through my mind, an impossible scenario facing me. More impossible than I ever thought could be.

Had Mia come here to find him?

I wouldn’t deny that my heart was breaking at the thought.

For the rest of the day and the following, I barely left my room. I ignored my duties, left my chores undone,and refused to speak to Asher.

After at least a full day of ignoring him, he banged on my door — albeit politely.

“Sienna,” he sighed, definitely annoyed with me. “You need to be present for this one, okay?”

Annoyance prickled at me, remembering when he said my youth was showing.

Those words had stuck with me since the moment he’d said them, a sour reminder of how he really saw me.

Only four years younger and apparently still wildly immature.

“What?” I snapped back, huddling against my blankets.

“Lucius has a really important meeting for us today. For you, and Nightwind.” He spoke so gently, like he was afraid I’d break at the tiniest thing.

Well he was right — I would.

“And that meeting is?” I grumbled, sitting myself up, officially intrigued.

“A partnership with one of the investors withdrawing from Nightfall.”

I froze in bed, my breath even seizing in my lungs.

“Did you just say…” I trailed off, wondering if I heard him wrong.

“I said it. You know I said it. Believe it.”

A smile forced its way out from my sulking, breaking across my lips and filling me with a dusting of hope.

“I’ll be out in just a minute. Ten minutes.”

I was up and to the shower, taking a record breaking three minute one, speed drying my hair and throwing on a presentable outfit, looking as though I’d spent much more than just ten minutes on myself.

When I opened my door, Asher was there, leaning against the wall in the hallway.

“It’s good to see you,” he murmured, the corner of one side of his mouth twitching upward like it always did when he was hiding a smile.

You notice all the little things about him, don’t you?

“You too,” I said as calmly as I could. It was good to see him.

And it was good to know that I had his attention.

“This is really big,” Asher grinned, like all our problems were, at least for now, forgotten.

Excitement buzzed through me, the thought of having such a high level partnership making me think that maybe…this would all work out.

Asher and I stepped out, heading to the main square to meet this mystery investor.

When we arrived, the man introduced himself simply as Robin, a longtime investor of Nightfall.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Sienna,” he said with a smile on his face. “I’ve thought a lot about this, and I know it probably comes as a shock to you.”

“I’m honored, sir,” I said with the bow of my head. “Thank you for considering Nightwind.”

“I’ve noticed Julian’s great decline,” Robin sighed, shaking his head sadly. “It’s tragic to see, but the truth is, he doesn’t deserve any support with the attitude he possesses now.”

“No, sir, I don’t believe he does,” I affirmed, a smile curling at the edges of my lips.

His expression turned even more serious. “I’m aware of what happened at the Ball. My honest opinion is that he should have been punished that very day.”

“Yes, sir.” There was an awful lot more I could say, but I held it in.

“I just can’t support him any longer, and I hope you know I’m not doing this out of anything like pity.”

“That never once crossed my mind, sir. My focus is keeping Nightwind healthy and sustainable for everyone, and I will do everything in my power to make this the best possible choice for you.”

Hope burned in my veins, the idea that Nightwind might finally catch a break driving me to sell it even harder.

“You don’t need to convince me any further, Sienna. My decision was already made before I arrived here.” Robin grinned, holding his hand out to shake.

My eyes widened, though I quickly took his hand in mine.

“I want to help rebuild Nightwind and keep the legacy of your parents alive,” he smiled at me, and something broken within me began to mend.

“You won’t regret it,” I whispered softly, taking his hand in mine in a firm shake.

Robin cleared his throat. “See, I think we’re going to do great things with Nightwind. I see a lot of good on our horizon.”

Part of me couldn’t believe this. A top investor, one that made Nightfall as successful as it is, was willing to work on this failing pack of mine.

It was a real miracle.

My eyes met Asher’s, and I found him grinning at me, too, just as proud.

He knew this was a huge break, and as Robin and I signed the final contract, my spirits officially began to lift up again.

Robin was going to do very good things for us in Nightwind.

Once he’d gone, and it was just Asher and I left in the square, our eyes locked.

“This is the big break we’ve been needing,” Asher murmured, grabbing me in a huge hug.

He said we, like we were really in this mess together.

Something in the way he said it made me believe he didn’t just mean we for another few months. He meant it for a lot longer than that.

“I can’t believe it,” I giggled, tears pricking in my eyes. “We needed this.”

Except like the blink of an eye, all my other problems came crashing back.

The thing was, this partnership certainly would help — but it wouldn’t erase all the problems Nightwind left me with.

And it wasn’t going to delete this rising issue with Mia, either. Not one bit.

I’d have to deal with that one on my own.

Asher saw the happiness dim from my eyes, his brows furrowing slightly. “You know we’ll figure this out.”

“It’s gotten awfully complicated,” I whispered, pulling back from his grasp.

“Let’s go home, talk some things out, and we’ll be better. Yeah?” Asher reached out to take my hand, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

One that said everything is going to be okay.

I let out a slow sigh, pushing back the giddiness that had risen up in me.

“Yes. Let’s talk.” I nodded, heading off through the main square and back home.

I stopped dead in my tracks as we walked up to the Alpha house.

There stood Mia, dazzling as ever — yes, she was extremely beautiful — raising her hand to knock on my front door.

“Oh!” she beamed, turning around as she heard me walking up. “Sienna!”

Mia’s eyes landed on Asher, flaring ever so slightly in curiosity. “And hello there, Asher. Nice to finally meet you.”

The tension in the air was unexplainable.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, the terror sinking into Asher’s expression. This was everything he hadn’t been ready for, but he opened his mouth and responded like the gentleman he was.

“Hello, Mia.”