Page 95 of Fall Before Her Throne

Wynn came back into the room with one of his shirts. I gave him a grateful smile when he pulled it over my head. I sat back on the couch and tucked my feet under me. Ciel wrapped an arm around me, and I leaned my head against his shoulder, grateful for his calming presence.

“Why did they let you go?” Max finally joined the conversation from his place at the far wall, on the other side of the fireplace, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. He stared at the ground, still looking unsettled, and refused to make eye contact. I blinked multiple times as I tried to place the emotions he struggled to keep from his face.

Was that…fear? I wasn’t positive. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him quite like that before. Not even when we were trapped together on the Albanian ship.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the reaction I knew was coming. “They offered me a deal. If I testified it was you behind all those crimes, they would give me immunity in the case and they’d let me go.”

Ryuji snorted with a big grin. “So you did it. I’m a little surprised, but it was probably the right call.”

Cas’s eyes widened as he stood up. “You gave Max up?”

Obi watched me carefully, and for the first time in a long time, I couldn’t read his expression.

Max straightened, and he finally looked me head-on. His mask was back, but his shoulders slumped. “It was the right call, piccola. This is easier for everyone.”

I frowned. “I didn’t give you up.”

His mask faltered, and confusion split through it as his eyebrows furrowed and he sucked in a heavy, shuddering breath. “What?”

“I didn’t give you up. I wouldn’t snitch on you.”

“Then how did you get out of there?” Ciel asked.

I shrugged and plucked at the hem of Wynn’s shirt. “I told them I’d see them in court. If they wanted to pin all that shit on me, then so be it. I did half of it anyway. The old stuff, from my father’s days, will never stick because I was way too young. Samuel argued with them about releasing me until they said I was free to go. For now. Greer made the ‘for now’ very clear.”

“You…protected me?”

I stood and walked over to face him. “I made a choice. I will not sacrifice your future for mine. I’ll fight whatever I need to fight.” I turned back to all of my men. “We’ll get through it together.”

When I turned back around, Max stared at me like I’d shattered his heart.

28

MAX

How could she do that?

Why would she?

They’d given her the perfect out. A way to protect her family. Give me up and save herself. It would have gotten the RICO case and me off her back in one swoop.

But she didn’t. She made a choice, and it looked like she had chosen me over herself.

“Leona,” I rasped. “That was so stupid.”

Behind her, Ryuji grunted an agreement, but I tuned him out. I tuned all of them out. It was only us—her in Wynn’s shirt that barely covered her thighs with a bandage wrapped around her upper arm, and me still wearing the black combat gear I’d borrowed from Cas. She’d never looked more perfect, and I’d never felt more like a fraud.

Her face contorted into a scoff. “Hah! You’re one to fucking talk. Idiot.”

She tried to turn away, but I snatched her arm and whirled her back to me. “You protected me.”

“I did.” Her chin upturned like she were daring me to fight her.

My mind whirled. She didn’t give me up. She could have handed me over. She could have turned me away, just like I’d rejected her for years and years.

Even though I was protecting her in my own way, I never did for her what she did for me. I thought I had been putting her before myself, trying to get her out of this life and finally free from the mafia, but I knew the truth. I had chosen my desire for revenge over her. It was tearing me apart from the inside out. The guilt. The shame. She was better than me and she always had been. I didn’t deserve her.

I didn’t deserve this.