A little laugh bubbled from her lips as her hands fisted at her sides. “You promised to mentor me, but you set me up just as much as he did. You’ve been manipulating us all for your own ends, and you won’t even tell us what they are.”
“Don’t lump me in with them,” Ryuji said. “I haven’t been keeping secrets.”
“Oh, is that right, brother?” Obi challenged. “Tell her why you wanted to buy the Los Angeles club.”
Leona paused. “What do you mean?”
Ryu’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “That’s not fair, Obi. Low fucking blow.”
“Tell her,” he insisted.
“Yeah, tell us, Ryuji.” If I was going down, I wasn’t going down without that fucker.
“Sweetheart, it’s not like that,” he said, hands raised. “The clubs are my businesses?—”
“You wanted a fallback if this did not work out,” Obi said. His carefully crafted facade of calm and control was bursting at its seams. “You were hedging your bets. If we failed to defeat Volpe, you could disappear, and at least you would still have your clubs.”
Leona’s mouth hung open. “Is that true?”
Ryu stared ahead. “It’s not that simple.”
“Tell me the truth,” she demanded. “Were you preparing in case we failed? Has this all just been a giant fucking game to you?” She inhaled a sharp breath. “Is that why Obi told you this was a business partnership? So you’d stop fucking around with me?”
Ryu’s jaw worked as something unspoken passed between them. “I have backup plans for situations exactly like this. You can’t tell me it wasn’t a good decision. Just in case.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I scoffed. “Admit it. You’re a coward. Walk away.”
He launched at me, fist raised, but Obi and Wynn leapt into action to restrain him. I laughed darkly. “How is this supposed to work out when we can’t stay in the same room for two seconds without trying to kill each other?”
Leona took a hesitant step backward. A tear rolled down her cheek and splattered on her shirt, darkening the material. “I don’t know.”
“Baby girl, wait,” Ciel said, the first he’d spoken in all this mess. She took another step backward.
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “Were we fools to think this could work?”
Nobody had an answer.
I sure as fuck didn’t.
She turned and walked out of the kitchen, back toward our bedroom.
“Leona…”
“Leave me alone.” She sounded so fucking exhausted. So done.
“What are you doing?”
“I have no clue,” she said as she grabbed the door. “The only one of you that I’m not mad at right now is Ciel. The rest of you can fuck off.”
Then she slammed it in my face.
My hand automatically reached for the handle, but I paused an inch from the metal.
I knew she’d be pissed when she found out. I knew she’d likely want nothing to do with this marriage. The look in her eye, the sight of those tears dripping down her face, was so much worse.
I’d been trying to protect her, to support her in the best way I knew how. When that door slammed in my face, I realized I’d only been trying to protect myself.
I stepped back from the door. I didn’t deserve to follow her.
