HAVEN
When Leo leaped over the side of the staircase, I almost had a heart attack.
I rush after him, and when he slows down and drops to his knees on the beach, the shout tearing from him has my heart cracking right down the middle.
I come to a skidding halt and fall to my knees in front of him.
His face is torn with something akin to guilt, and the second his eyes touch on me, he lowers his head as if he can’t bear to look at me.
Not wanting to set him off again, I fight the urge to touch him.
“Hey,” I whisper as if I’m talking to a spooked horse. “Tell me what I can do to help.”
He shakes his head before glancing out over the waves rolling to shore.
“Leo.” I keep my tone soft as I take a risk, slowly reaching out to him until I’m able to place my hand on his fist that’s resting on his thigh. I cautiously scoot closer, and when I’m able to wrap my other arm around his neck, I say, “Shhh…I’m here. I’ve got you.”
His body jerks, and he grabs me to him, burying his face in the crook of my neck.
I see Edoardo running toward us, and I quickly raise my free arm to indicate for him to stop. “It’s okay. Leave us!”
He stops but hesitates and only walks back as far as the veranda from where he watches us from.
I brush my hand over Leo’s hair and hold him until his breaths return to normal.
“Better?” I ask, but when I try to pull back so I can see his face, his hold on me tightens until it becomes painful.
“I’m so fucking sorry for what I’ve done to you.” It sounds like the words are being dragged from the depths of hell. “Because of me, your family was killed, and you were kidnapped.” He gasps, and the guilt he feels is palpable in the air. “The moment you crossed paths with me again, I forced you to marry me. I’m destroying you.”
“You’re not.” I strain against his hold and manage to pull back a little. Placing my hands on the sides of his jaw, I lift his face so he’ll look at me. “You were a teenager when we were attacked. I don’t know why it happened, but you were just a boy, Leo.”
“The attack happened the night my father was assassinated. If I had stayed home…if I hadn’t gone to your house…”
His breaths start speeding up again, and I have to use force to keep him from turning his head away from me.
“No! Don’t blame yourself for something that happened because your father was the head of the mafia.”
There’s so much pain in his eyes, it has tears escaping and rolling over my cheeks.
My voice quivers as I say, “Yes, you forced me to marry you, and there’s nothing we can do to change that, but you’ve also tried so hard to make it up to me the past two weeks.” I brush my thumbs over his stubble on his jaw. “And you can continue making it up to me for the rest of our lives.”
He stares at me, his expression constantly changing from guilt to awe to rage to disbelief.
His lips part, and he sounds broken as he asks, “How will you ever forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive where the attack is concerned, and as for the forced marriage, time heals all.” I try to make light of the situation by joking, “I’m already a quarter of the way to forgiving you.”
Leo closes his eyes, his features tightening with heartache. “How do I live with what I’ve done to you?”
“Look at me.” I lift myself up so I can press my forehead to his. When his eyes open, I whisper, “We’ll deal with everything one step at a time. You and me. Okay?”
A tear rolls down his cheek, and it breaks my heart even more. “Stellina mia.”
I nod as I wrap my arms around him, pressing his head beneath my chin. “Yes. I’m your little star.”
He kisses the point where my collarbones meet then presses another to my throat.
When he climbs to his feet, I try to move back, but his arm locks around me while his other hand grips my butt. I have no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist.
His features are set in a grim expression as he walks back to the house. He doesn’t even look at Edoardo as we pass him on the veranda. I give our guard a thumbs up so he won’t worry.
Leo heads for one of the couches, and when he sits down, he grips the sides of my thighs and forces me to straddle him.
I try to pull his shirt back into place, but then he leans into me and shrugs it off. He also removes the gun from behind his back and drops it on the couch beside us.
My gaze lands on the tattoo over his heart.
Once upon a time, I was so important to him, he marked his skin permanently and placed my stuffed toy in a glass box on a pedestal.
Earlier, when I asked about the owner of the unicorn, he said he loved me and he always would, until the day he dies.
When I tilt my head and brush my fingers over the tattoo, Leo’s eyes lift to my face.
What if he can’t be romantic with me anymore?
Fear bleeds through me, making my heart beat heavy in my chest.
God, I’ve already fallen in love with him.
The realization stuns me, and my voice is filled with apprehension as I ask, “Is it weird for you now?”
“What?”
“Do you see me as a little sister?”
His head jerks back, and I begin to worry that I’ve just grossed him out when he mutters, “Hell no. You don’t have to worry about that happening. Ever.”
I let out a relieved chuckle. “Oh, good.”
The heartache and guilt return to his face, and it has me leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his mouth. “What can I do to help? Will talking about it make you feel better?”
He lifts a hand and rubs over his forehead. “I’m just trying to process the shock. My emotions are all over the place.”
“That’s understandable.”
Leo lets out a heavy sigh before he leans his head back against the couch, his eyes locking on my face. He stares at me for a long moment, then he whispers, “I’m struggling to put the two versions of you together in my mind.” His features soften until he looks at me with love. “I swear I searched for you. There wasn’t a day I didn’t think about you.”
“How could you? You have a little shrine in your bedroom.”
He becomes sad again, and I wish I could magically make him feel better.
His voice is brimming with emotion as he says, “I loved you so much when we were young.” Lifting his hand to my face, he cups my left cheek. “And I’ve fallen in love with you now.” His eyes darken with possessiveness. “I don’t think I’ll be able to let you out of my sight ever again.”
It takes close to two hours before Leo seems to get over the worst of the initial shock, but then rage begins to burn in his eyes, which are still glued to me.
“Tell me again what you remember from after the attack.”
I think hard before I answer, “There was a group of men, maybe five or so. They were all shouting.”
When I don’t add anything else, he asks, “Is that all?”
I nod. “After that, all my memories are of my mom and dad and growing up in Whitefish. I used to see a therapist for the nightmares, and eventually they stopped. She said I probably blocked all my memories and that it was my mind’s way of protecting me.”
“They probably brainwashed you,” he snaps angrily.
He shifts and pulls his phone out of his pocket. I watch as he brings up Massimo’s number, and when the call is answered, he growls, “Bring Dakota Romano to the mansion.”
My eyebrows fly up, and realizing Mom might be in danger, I quickly move off Leo’s lap and climb to my feet. Wildly shaking my head, I say, “Promise you won’t hurt my mom.”
Still on the call, Leo lets out a dangerous-sounding chuckle. “No. If she had anything to do with your kidnapping, I’m fucking killing her.”
Horrified, I keep shaking my head. “She’s my mother, Leo! Even if she was involved, she raised me. I love her. If you kill her, you have to kill me.”
Dropping the phone on the couch without ending the call, he shoots to his feet and comes to stand right in front of me. His rage makes him look unbelievably threatening.
“You were stolen from me by those fuckers you call family. They fucking killed Diego. Your brother, Carina! They shot your unarmed mother and father as if they were dogs. They put two bullets in me.” His voice drops to a low hiss, “I was left lying in a pool of my own blood and couldn’t do shit as you screamed for me to save you.” His breathing speeds up dangerously fast. “Because of the Romanos, I’ve lived in hell for seventeen years.”
Everything in me stills as I listen to Leo’s side of what happened. I lift my hands to the sides of his neck and give him a pleading look. “Hurting my mother will hurt me. Killing her will kill me.” I give him a pleading look. “I’ll never ask you for anything again, just don’t hurt her.”
Leo pulls away from me and picks up his phone before barking, “You still there?” He listens, then his eyes lock on me again as he says, “No, don’t tell her anything. Just say she’s coming to visit. I want to see her reaction when I confront her. Send Dante and a team to Nicolo’s place and have them detain everyone. I want Nicolo alive.”
Leo ends the call, and I give him a hopeful look.
He pushes the phone back into his pocket before he comes to wrap me up in a hug. I listen as he takes deep breaths, then he says, “I won’t hurt her.”
A sigh of relief bursts from me, and I wrap my arms around his waist. “Thank you.”
“I’m only doing it for you.”
I nod quickly before I push my body up on my tiptoes to press a thankful kiss to his jaw. When I pull back, Leo brings a hand to my face and grips my chin between his fingers. His mouth slams into mine, and he kisses the everloving crap out of me. His tongue thrusts past my lips, and the wildness as he devours me makes me whimper and push my body against his.
There’s so much desperation and need, and for a few minutes, there’s only Leo and the way his mouth claims mine.
I taste his anger, his pain, and his crazed obsession with me. It should terrify me, but instead, it draws me in like a moth to a flame.
By the time he breaks the kiss, and we stare at each other, our faces only an inch apart, I realize I’ll allow this man to burn me to ashes.
There’s so much emotion alive in his eyes as he says, “I love you so fucking much it drives me to the brink of insanity.” He sucks in a deep breath, then tilts his head. “Stellina mia.” He brushes his hand over the side of my face, his gaze taking me in as if I’m all that matters to him. “Princepessa mia.”
I nod before pushing up on my tiptoes so I can kiss him again. It’s tender but quick, then I pull away and say, “You need to put on your shirt.”
I pick it up off the couch and hold it open so he can push his arms through the rolled-up sleeves. Moving around him, I quickly fasten all the buttons.
Leo tucks the fabric into his pants while he walks to where his gun is lying, and I feel a spike of anxiety as he tucks the weapon in behind his back.
He said he won’t hurt Mom. I have to trust him.
