Her uneaten bacon, toast, and fruit still waited on her plate. Where was she?
I pushed away from the table and covered her food with a towel. She never missed breakfast. She’d definitely want to eat it at some point.
As the elevator dinged open to the gym floor, I could hear her in the shooting room at the back. I glanced at the clock hung on the side wall. 5:30 a.m. What was she doing here so early? Why hadn’t she eaten with me?
With a sigh, I slipped into the room and walked up behind her.
She stood exactly how I taught her: feet planted, legs as wide as her hips, knees slightly bent. She fired three shots in quick succession, and they slammed into the target on the opposite wall. She groaned in frustration. Even without seeing the target up close, we both knew her shots were off.
It wasn’t a live ammo shooting range. We had a location secured offsite for that, large enough for even Ryu to practice his sniper shots. But this room we used for target practice and accuracy drills with dummy weapons, and I’d been training Leona in here the last few days. She was a decent enough shot, but she needed to be more precise, especially under duress. Here, she could practice in the safety of the penthouse while still finding some practical application to her real Springfield Hellcat. The weights of the guns were similar, and the shot felt almost exactly the same, even with fake rounds.
With a deep exhale, she squeezed the trigger, and fired two more shots—right into the target’s heart. There. That was better.
I smiled with pride. “Nice work.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I need to get better.”
“You will, darling.”
She set the gun down with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. “I need to get better faster.”
Every time we trained, she said the same thing. She needed to improve, to be stronger, to have better instincts.
I swore I would help her get there. I would help her become the person she wanted to be. Together, we’d create a better New York—one free from trafficking. If I could do that, the cosmic scales may tip back in my favor. The guilt of my past would ease.
When we had built our empire, when her father’s wrongs were righted, mine would also be. I would finally feel absolved of my crimes.
“You haven’t slept.” She looked exhausted. The pressure on us all was heavy. But if she didn’t take care of herself, she’d fall apart.
She reloaded the weapon. “I’ll sleep on the plane.”
The trip. I would miss her.
She fired five more rounds, but three went wide, and she hissed through her teeth. “Shit.”
I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her back. Her breath hitched and her shoulders tightened, but she let me.
“You’re too tense,” I told her as I loosened her elbows before I ran my finger all the way down her spine. “Straight but not tight. You’re over-correcting and it’s making your aim go wide.”
She relaxed against my chest and took two deep breaths. She fired the remaining bullets in the clip.
I grinned. “There. Much better.”
She dropped the gun on the barrier in front of her and then leaned back against my chest. Everything about her felt like itfit. She gave me hope that one day I’d feel worthy of this life, if I just did enough to get there.
“Thanks, Wynn.”
I placed my chin on top of her head, breathing her in. So much about me had shifted since I met her. For the first time since I was a child, I felt like I could breathe again.
My desire to balance out the wrongs I had committed with the good I could do remained unchanged. But it felt less strangling. It felt less like I was Sisyphus rolling his rock up the hill for eternity.
Leona was my duty now. One day, I’d be worthy of her love.
“Have you heard from Fallon?” Leona asked, stepping out of my arms to face me.
I nodded. “She wants to meet in person, but she can’t leave Philadelphia,” I replied, drawing my thumb over her cheek. The dark circles under her eyes stood out against the paleness of her skin. She needed rest. “When Max took out her bars, he made her look weak. She’s been dealing with challengers.”
“Challengers?”
