A Billionaire's Mistake

35|Venice

Chapter Thirty-Five: Venice

Lincoln

I've traveled to Los Angeles before, but it was always for business purposes. I never took the time to do all of the touristy things like the walk of fame, the wax museum, or go and take my picture in front of the Hollywood sign. It was always just a big city with a ton of people, and when I told Sienna this, she almost had a heart attack.

"You're kidding," she says. We just finished our dinner at the fancy Italian restaurant of Sienna's friend Colleen, and on our way out the door, she pulls out her phone and pulls up the contact for her driver. "I'm not going to have you come to Los Angeles and not have you do touristy things. However, I'm also not going to do the cliche tours that everyone else does."

I arch a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Like, we're not going to ride a bus and try to spot famous people or go pay to put our name on a freaking star on the walk of fame. You know, the stupid stuff. I'm going to show you my favorite part of Los Angeles. The place I think every person should tour when they come here."

Seeing Sienna light up talking about this city makes my heart ache for her. I can tell how much it means to her, how happy it makes her, yet she won't return here because of the miserable people that exist inside of it.

"You aren't going to be cold?" I ask, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. She's still in just her trench coat with nothing underneath.

Rather than see me win, she shakes her head defiantly and leans against the outside of the restaurant as we wait for the driver. "I'll be just fine, thank you. I think it'll keep things interesting."

***

"So, where exactly are we going?" I ask twenty minutes into the ride.

"You're so impatient," she replies. "Can't you just wait until—" Her voice catches as we drive past a building. A church to be exact. I just barely catch Old Saint Mary's Cathedral printed on the sign outside, storing that information in an important file in my brain so I don't forget it. This will come in handy later for my research purposes. If I can't have my dream of being a cop, then I can at least put all my schooling to good use and try to help Sienna catch this fucking creep. I'm assuming this is the church where everything happened.

The mood has dramatically shifted, and when Sienna senses it too she sits up straighter and turns to face me. "Tell me something that you've never told anyone before."

"I have," I reply. "I've told you about my Dad and nobody knows about that."

"I mean something good. A memory from your childhood, or a fun day you had recently. Just something that is good."

I rack my brain for something to tell her, but the thoughts get all jumbled, and my throat starts to close up. It never occurred to me until now that the memories of my past would be more intimate to tell than the story of my Dad's passing. They feel so close to me. Mainly because I know those days will never happen again. I want to tell Sienna, I do, but telling her about that would be sharing the deepest parts of myself, and I don't know if I'm ready for that quite yet.

"It's okay," she says, seeming to understand. "Another time. We're here anyway."

I tell the driver to stay inside the car so that I can open her door for her, taking her hand to help her out. It's dark outside, but I can hear the ocean not too far away.

"A lot of people think the best place to visit is the Santa Monica pier, and maybe I'm biased because I used to live here, but I don't think that's the case at all. See, the pier is cool and all, but that's literally all you get to do. It takes maybe an hour to fully experience that, but this..." We round a corner, and I'm gaping at the sight in front of me.