I back away, reaching out behind me for Leon. His hand immediately finds mine and pulls insistently. Tugging me out of the room.
Dante hesitates by the door to give Carmen a casual salute. “Princess.” Before slamming it closed behind us.
Leon’s arms are around me in a second, pulling me into his chest as hands cradle my face like I’m something sacred.
And oh, oh. He’s alive. His deep, chocolate eyes bore into mine with the intensity of a man deprived of the sight.
I feel another sob building in my chest, but he kisses it back. His lips are warm and alive on mine.
Alive and alive and alive.
“Mia,” he murmurs, his voice thick with emotion. His hands tremble as they slide over my back and my arms, as though he’s trying to convince himself I’m real.
“I thought—” I half choke on the words as he kisses up my cheeks and across my nose. “I thought you were dead.”
Next to us, Dante clears his throat. “He might be if we don’t get you both out of here right now.”
Leon’s jaw tightens, but he nods, gripping my hand tightly as he pulls away toward the exit. With Dante close on our heels, he pushes open the double doors into some kind of storage room.
Only to freeze when he sees who’s waiting on the other side.
“You bastard.”
Teo Vitale stands up from where he was crouched over the body of…oh…
Behind him, Rocco barks orders at the men who are filing in behind. “I need a B team to escort these guys out immediately!”
But Leon’s focus is on the other don. “I had to get her out.”
“I told you to stay in the hospital!” Teo snaps, striding toward us. “Look at you. You’re about to collapse.”
Leon stiffens, and for the first time I notice how awkwardly he’s holding himself and just how labored his breathing is. Out of the harsh lighting of the interrogation room, his skin is pale and gray.
“What the hell did you do to yourself?” I hiss at him, but he shrugs me off.
“Get out of here now. Rocco’s team will escort you out,” Teo orders before he turns to me. “It’s good to see you, Mia, but please, take this man home. I don’t want to see his face for another month.”
I give my husband a long look. “Let’s make it two. Come on, let’s go.”
His shoulders slump, and he nods, defeated.
I don’t comment as he leans into me as we make our escape. Dante and Rocco are on either side as we push out of the compound.
The hallways are a labyrinth of chaos. Gunfire, shouting, and the acrid smell of smoke fill the air. Leon keeps me close, shielding me with his body as we weave through the wreckage.
By the time we make it outside, I’m gasping for breath, and the man at my side is becoming a dead weight. It takes all three of us to get him into a car, and my arms barely feel strong enough to grip the wheel as I sit in the driver’s seat.
I manage to turn on the ignition, only to find myself hesitating. “Where am I going?”
Despite how pale and broken he looks, Leon cracks a small smile. “Home.”
When I finally pull up to the brownstone, I almost don’t recognize it.
The last time I saw it, the building was charred and broken. But now, it looks pristine—rebuilt and restored with painstaking attention to detail. The front steps gleam welcomingly under the streetlights, the door is inviting and warm.
A sob catches in my throat as I stare at it, tears burning my eyes. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it again.
“You fixed it,” I murmur as we come to a stop just outside.
