Page 104 of Fractured Empire

“I’m dealing with it,” he prefaces, his lips rolling in. “I wanted to keep it from you until it was handled completely, but after tonight, it would feel wrong to have any kind of secret from you—even one that’s meant to protect you.”

“Leon, you’re scaring me a little bit here,” I admit, trying to urge him to spit it out.

“The reason I was out of the house for so long the day that I didn’t want to talk about it? It’s because I was dealing with some very nasty rumors about our family and finding the source of them while punishing the people who dared to repeat them.”

“Our family?” I frown, leaning closer to him. “Like us and the kids? What could anyone possibly say about us?”

“I’d prefer not going into it too deeply unless you want to hear more, but essentially, it has been going around that Leo is our biological son. That you’ve been my mistress for years, and that I either killed Cleo or waited for her sickness to kill her so I could be with you and my other son. It’s a flimsy theory at best, given I would never allow my child to be hidden away from me for three years, and you would never give him to Cleo and I for a year while she slowly died from her condition.”

My mouth falls open, but I can’t think of any words to push out of it.

“And despite Cleo giving me permission to pursue an affair, I never had one. Unless you consider an almost-kiss an affair.” Leon winces like he’s just realized something. “That’s another thing I should probably tell you about. I honestly forgot about it since it was just…nothing. It gave me the courage to ask Cleo for a change in our dynamic or a divorce which led to her revealing her death sentence. So in hindsight, the almost-kiss was a blip.”

“This is so much information at once,” I reply, blinking rapidly.

“I’m trying to lay it all out on the table,” Leon tells me, polishing off his wine in a quick gulp. “The almost-kiss was so long ago, and it didn’t happen, but I feel like I need you to know because it was Rayna.”

I choke on my saliva, coughing it down. “You almost kissed your brother’s wife?”

“No, God no,” he denies, shaking his head fervently. “They weren’t together at the time, they didn’t even like each other, actually. And it wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about me for her either. We were both just lonely and caught up in the moment. She’s a good friend to me, and a great aunt for the kids, but that’s all she is. I promise.”

“I believe you.” I swallow, meaning it. “Thank you for telling me.”

“I should have done it sooner,” he laments, looking regretful as he turns his lips down. “I was always going to tell you about the rumors, I just wanted the people responsible for them to be dead first. I didn’t mean for the almost-kiss to be some kind of secret, though.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” I insist, digesting the information further. “We never really talked about our pasts with other people. It would be unfair to expect you to be fully transparent when the conversation never even came up.” Rayna has never given me the impression that she’s anything other than madly in love with Apollo, and Leon has never given me cause to fear that he has feelings for her either. “And I understand why you would keep the rumors from me. They’re…it’s a bit heartbreaking to hear that someone would try to tarnish our sweet little family for no apparent reason. Did you figure out where it started or why?”

“Where? Yes,” he answers firmly. “Why? Not yet.”

A promise, I realize.

“Tell me everything when it’s done, then,” I offer, leaning back in my chair. “I trust you, Leon.”

“I trust you too, Katya,” he breathes out. “I just wish I didn’t turn our first date into such a mess.”

The corners of my lips edge up into a smile. “I’ve enjoyed every bit of this mess, even the sad and heavy parts. It’s honest, and honesty is the marker of a true relationship.”

He looks lighter, taking in my claim.

“Besides, we still have plenty of time to turn this date around.”

“Dessert?” he asks, eyebrows crawling up.

Maybe I could go for something sweet, after all.

Chapter Forty-Two

Leon

“Nico is going to be so upset he hasn’t been invited to your murder party.”

Despite the seriousness of our task today, I find myself laughing at Apollo’s dull joke. Nico may not be here, but he once helped me brainstorm how I would do this when the time came. He told me to let him know if I wanted to kill someone and I did—two someones in particular—but I was far from ready to execute that desire.

“He’ll get over it,” I claim, rolling my eyes as I look down at the table of weapons before us. We’re suiting up before we head out to our destination, and I like to get a full visual of my options before I arm myself. A hand gun, typically two, is always required. But I like variety, especially when it comes to my knives. “Does he even know you’re here?”

“Not yet,” Apollo replies, rolling up his sleeves and reaching for a slim triangle blade knife to put in his shirt breast pocket. “But he will. He always hears about death and destruction. I’m convinced he’s made Remo create some kind of alert for him whenever mentions of gruesome murders hit the internet.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I reply, shaking my head. “But I don’t need his specific brand of expertise tonight. I only need you to keep me from losing my mind in the act.”