Page 79 of Fall Before Her Throne

“But what about him and me?” She swallowed. “Kissing me? Watching me?”

I paused, watching the way her eyes flicked between mine. Questioning. “Leona, my love, I do not care. I have bigger things to worry about than Volpe’s mysterious feelings for you. As long as he’s serving his purpose and not harming you, I have no quarrel with him. Let him watch, stop him, kill him, whatever you want is what I want.”

If he hurt her, I’d kill him. But…we worked well together. He was incredibly intelligent. He was used to thinking strategically. I actually appreciated his ideas.

She let out a heavy breath. “I don’t want to make anyone upset.”

With the back of my hand, I brushed some hair over her shoulder. “For the time being, he’s an effective partner. But if that changes, I will make him leave, or I will kill him.”

“So you’re tolerating him.”

“I suppose.” She sighed and looked away. I turned her face back so I could look her in the eye. “Do you have feelings for him?”

It wasn’t the first time we’d danced around this question.

“I don’t know. Hate is a feeling, I guess.”

I chuckled. “A powerful one.”

“For now, we seem to get along. He feels important to winning this war, and I don’t want to lose what slight advantage we have.”

“I agree. But as far as what he wants long term? I don’t know. The truth of his goals will determine his future.”

“He won’t tell me the truth.”

“Then that’s your answer,” I said. “We can’t trust him if he won’t be honest with us.”

“You’re right.” Her fingers curled around the back of my neck, and she nudged my nose with hers. “Forget him, then. I came in here to spend time with you because I miss you and I want you.”

My hand cupped the back of her neck as I pulled her mouth to mine. Her lips were soft and warm, pliant against me. The urge to devour her expanded from my chest outward. Her legs tightened around me, her hips pressing down on top of my stiff cock. Her teeth nibbled on my lip, and I groaned into her mouth. My palms snuck under her shirt, pulling against her back to bring her as close to me as possible.

“You set me on fire, Leona Vero.”

She could no doubt feel the thickness of my cock beneath her. How I ached to be one. Her teeth scraped against the column of my throat.

Once this was over, once it was all done, we’d rule in peace together. Safe.

My phone rang, vibrating on the desk. Focused on her kisses and the heat of her body against mine, I silenced it with barely a look. It vibrated again, and I only paused at the sight of the name on the screen. Samuel Achebe, our lawyer.

“Take it,” Leona said.

I pressed a hard kiss to her lips while I brought the phone to my ear.

“Samuel,” I said, forgoing our typical pleasantries. “What have you found out?”

When I’d last spoken to him a few days ago, I’d asked him to investigate what the feds had on us and Leona. I doubted the FBI had much on the Shadows alone—we were better at hiding our tracks than that—but if their goal was to connect Volpe to the crimes of the mafia, then it wouldn’t be hard to connect Leona as well, especially after how much we worked together against the Albanians.

“Obi.” His tone was far more serious than normal. “Unfortunately, I do not have good news.”

Leona paused her kisses on my throat, looking up at me with a question in her eyes. I put the call on speakerphone.

“What is it?”

“My informants in the FBI office say the case results from at minimum seven years’ worth of work, which means they’ve sunk too much time and effort into letting it die without bringing someone to trial. Plus, the feds are even more unhappy about Max Volpe’s disappearance. The whole Bureau office has been trying to track him down. Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Oh, Volpe is missing? I know nothing about that.”

Leona smirked, and I brushed my thumb across her lips. Her tongue curled around it, sucking it into her mouth, and I barely withheld the rumble forming in my chest.