Page 68 of Stolen Vows
Leo sits back, pulling himself from under the bed, and places my bare foot on his knee. Carefully, like I’m made of glass, he slides the heel beneath it, securing the strap at my ankle. He’s been quiet since we got up from the bed and showered, and I can’t help wondering if he’s thinking about his earlier question.
I didn’t answer fully before because I wasn’t sure how to admit that now that he’s here, there’s a part of me wishing he’d stay. And maybe I wouldn’t hate that as much as my previous self—my virginal self who thought she loathed him—wanted me to.
“So,” I say as he switches feet, “what’s the plan?”
“The plan?”
“Yeah, you know, to get me this orchid. Are you gonna offer them money? Threaten them?” Leaning back on my palms, I cock my head and rack my brain for more options. “De Tores are big on intimidation, right? Since violence is out of the question while the auction is going on, I guess you could lean heavier on theimplication?—”
“The De Tores no longer exist,stellina.You’re aware that my father is dead, yes?”
Snapping my mouth shut, I nod.
“Good. So you understand that his death left us without a don.”
My eyebrows draw together. “Wouldn’t you have been his successor?”
“I was, but I’m also the one who killed him.”
Reflexively, I draw my hands closer to my lap. He continues with his task, clasping the buckle on my heel, and gently sets that foot on the floor. Wholly unbothered by his admission.
I don’t know why I’msurprised, really. You don’t get called the Demon of Boston because you have a reputation for being kind and anti-violence.
Hell, the first time he went down on me, he was covered in someone else’s blood.
Still, there was a little distance between me and his victims. A cognitive dissonance erected by the belief that he hadn’t killed anyone I knew.
An icy chill skates down my spine.But I knew his father.I remember the way he spoke and the kiss he forced upon me.
When I meet Leo’s gaze, I expect disgust or fear to take precedence in my bones. I brace for the impact of discomfort in my gut, but it never comes.
He isn’t sorry. I can tell that much from the hard, even set of his brows and his unyielding expression.
I’m not either.
“The problem with me as the boss is that the remaining Elders never wanted me in that position, so the system has unequivocally broken down. It was barely hanging on by a thread anyway, with my father at the helm, but my subordinates have spent most of their energy recently on finding a way to get me out. The whole map of crime back home is a shit show these days, with everyone turning informant or siphoning off decent men for their own gain. Some have just been slaughtering anyone who questions them.”
A tiny gleam in his eye tells me which category he falls into.
“So they won’t be any help in this case.” He walks over, then grips my chin with two fingers. “But that’s all right, because I don’t need them to get you the flower.”
I arch my back, leaning into his touch. “Tell me.”
“It’s already mine.” His hold tightens when my head jerks. “I bought it at the auction last night.”
“You—” Confusion worms its way through the wrinkles of my brain, filling my skull with muddy conclusions. “What are you talking about? You had the orchid the entire time, even when Icriedover missing out on it? When I said I didn’t think I’d get a promotion now?”
Nausea roils in my stomach, and I grab his wrist, wrenching out of his grasp. My body aches as I move back on the bed, a painful reminder of what I’ve given up.
He moves, reaching for me, but I scramble away from his touch. Wrapping my arms around myself, I slide from the mattress and put it between us, standing on the opposite side.
“How could you do that?” My eyes burn, and I claw at my elbows, trying to focus on the physical pain. “Why didn’t you say something when I bargained my body for your help?”
Leo’s face remains impassive. I guess my rejection doesn’t sting quite as badly as his did. “You would have ended up in my bed either way,wife. I came here to pick up where we left off seven years ago, not to play silly games. Whether I gave you the fucking flower before or after we fucked, it wouldn’t have mattered. I bought itforyou.”
I blink. “Why?”
“Do you know how much that thing cost? Rampion Core didn’t send you with enough money in their escrow account. You were out of the running by the time the second hand went up.”
