Page 23 of Fall Before Her Throne

Perhaps he would be a useful tool after all.

A wave of quiet went over our group while the first step of the plan settled in. Ciel already had his tablet out. Wynn put his chin on Ciel’s shoulder, watching him type. Leona looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she gave me a small smile instead.

I had spent eleven years planning to destroy them. My family would live in peace, or I would die trying.

7

OBI

Thirty minutes later, we finished our conversation. Ryuji and Caspian would take charge of our men on the ground. Ciel and Wynn would work on reconnaissance. Volpe would provide his information, and Leona and I would work on controlling the gun smuggling and calling in my contacts when we needed them.

Defeating the Camorra would take every piece of planning—every contact—I had.

Leona stood from where she’d sat cross-legged on the floor and stretched her arms above her head. “I want to take a shower. Think the hot water works?”

Without waiting for an answer, she waltzed out of the living room toward the stairs. I cast one last look at Volpe before I followed her out.

Her hips swayed as she walked up the stairs. Every few steps she looked over her shoulder, smirking when she saw me following. Upstairs, she peeked her head into room after room until she deemed one acceptable. I trailed her inside, like a predator stalking its prey, shutting the door behind me.

Every bedroom in this house had an attached bathroom, so it didn’t matter which she chose, but she chose the one I’d planned to give her. It had the largest bathroom, with a remodeled shower that would fit at least four of us, an enormous clawfoot bathtub, marble fixtures, and sleek countertops. When the realtor had sent me pictures of the space, I’d immediately imagined her in here.

We had room for everyone in this house. If she wanted her space, she had it. If not, she’d find a bed in any of the other five choices.

Perhaps six.

If no one had killed him by then.

My jaw ticked, and my fingers flexed at my sides. Volpe’s tattoo and his actions to protect her were making his true feelings increasingly clear. Since the moment I’d watched him chase after her at her family’s mansion the night of her birthday, I had despised him. He’d hurt her time and time again, but clearly he’d also protected her. He’d been with her on the Albanian ship. He’d comforted her in some of her lowest moments, when none of us could. He’d killed Arion Vokshi without question, as the rest of us would have done.

He was clearly in love with her, even if neither of them could admit it yet. I wasn’t sure what that meant or how I felt about it. At the current moment, I didn’t quite care.

From the threshold of the bathroom, I watched Leona peel off layer after layer of clothes, letting them drop to the floor at her feet. She knew I was watching, knew I had followed, but it wasn’t until she reached into the shower to turn on the water and let it heat that she turned and looked over her bare shoulder.

“Care to join me?”

A smile pulled up the corner of my mouth. I crossed my hands over my chest and let my eyes rove over her naked form, cataloguing every piece of that delectable figure. “You are the most beautiful creature.”

Her cheeks flushed pink. “And I’m all yours.”

My cock twitched in my pants. I prowled forward, pulling my shirt over my head. “Mine. Nke’m.”

My arm wrapped around her waist as I pulled her flush against me, dipping my head to take her lips in a slow kiss. For now, in these stolen moments, time ceased to exist. We weren’t facing countless dangers. There was only us.

“Is your arm okay?” she asked.

I glanced at the laceration from the mercenary’s bullet. I’d have to replace the bandages after this shower. “It will heal fine. I’d rather focus on you.”

Her soft lips molded to mine. The feel of her skin was magic beneath my hands, soft and supple yet firm with muscle and strength. She shivered as I dragged my fingertips down her ribs, dipping lower and lower until I cupped her ass.

Any time our safety was threatened, all those feelings of losing my parents, almost losing my siblings, almost losing Leona herself, flashed through my head. Even with all the plans and the image I tried to portray to my brothers, my mind felt…unsteady. Fearful. I had worked too hard for all of it to crumble beneath my fingertips now. I would let no other harm come to our family.

Adrenaline had pumped through my veins since the moment those alarms went off at the penthouse last night. Now, it slipped away, leaving behind an empty anxiety I refused to allow. Instead, I would bury myself in her body.

Steam from the shower fogged the mirror when I finally pulled away. She wound her arms around my neck and squeezed. “Thank you for the house.”

My lips dusted across her hairline. “I’ll buy you anything you wish.”

“All I need is you and the guys.”