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‘What’s the real story?’ she asked quietly.
‘Why do you want to know? Hoping to earn a few extra dollars by selling an exposé?’
‘Of course not. I just want to help.’
‘Like I said. You have too many clothes on for that. Not that I don’t love that dress. You know what it makes me want to do?’ He swung his legs to the side and twisted in his seat so that he was facing her, his knees wide, his feet firmly planted either side of her legs. ‘It makes me want to grab those two triangles of fabric barely covering your gorgeous breasts and rip it straight down the middle. Does that shock you, little Lexi?’ He paused and all Lexi could hear was the sound of her own heart beating too fast. ‘Or excite you?’
She knew he was trying to distract her. That he didn’t want to talk about his life story. She also knew that she wanted him to tell her. She wanted to know him. Know the real Leo Aleksandrov. As if seeking to put distance between them, he moved abruptly to stand at the railing, staring off into the balmy distance.
Lexi moistened her lips before asking, ‘What’s the real story, Leo?’
He turned his head and looked down at her. ‘Like horror stories do you?’ His voice was a low growl and Lexi sensed the pain he was trying desperately to hold at bay.
He had the look of a lost child about him and Lexi was reminded of Ty the first time she had met him, mistrust stamped all over his beautiful face. But she wouldn’t push Leo any further. It would be beyond arrogant of her to assume that just because she found it better to talk through her issues, he would too.
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and for a minute she didn’t think he was going to say anything. Then he flopped back down on the chair and stared at the starry sky. ‘I grew up in the Tundra—a hellhole of a place where nothing grows and it’s so bitterly cold in winter you feel like your bones are freezing. My father was a miner with Mafioso connections and my mother was a shop girl who let love turn her blind. When my father drank he turned violent and my mother bore the brunt of his loss of control. At times I tried to stop him but I could never protect her from his brute strength.’
‘How could you—you were just a child?’ she cried.
‘No child wants to see their mother hurt. Of course every time I tried to help he thought it was a great joke and tried to challenge me. Taunted me until I gave in.’
Lexi felt sick and it took a great deal of effort to control the emotion in her voice. ‘How old were you when this started?’
‘Six, seven. I don’t remember.’ He gave a telling shrug.
He remembered all right. Too well, Lexi guessed.
‘I do remember his favourite modus operandi was a sly backhand just when you thought the jibes and beltings had finished.’
Lexi swallowed and made an inarticulate sound of distress. ‘Do you still see him?’ she asked, her breathing ragged and uneven where his was almost meditatively calm.
‘No.’ His eyes when they fixed on hers were empty. ‘He died in prison.’
‘Was that when you were ten?’
He looked at her warily.
‘You said the first ten years were awful. I just wondered if that was when your father went to jail.’
‘Got a sharp brain, haven’t you, angel?’
‘So … things got better after that?’
‘Things did get better. My father went to prison and I went to live with my uncle.’
‘Where was your mother?’
‘She couldn’t look after me. I was too wild. Used to get into fights all the time. Very bad news.’
Lexi was still trying to comprehend that his mother had sent him away when she noticed that his tone had darkened. ‘Your mother sent you away?’
‘Oh, Lexi, with the bleeding heart. Don’t be so outraged.’ He touched her face briefly and then stood up and paced across the balcony, unable to keep still. ‘She had her reasons and it was the best decision she could have made. My uncle wasn’t at all like my father. He was gruff and proud, but he controlled his emotions. Until I came to stay, he had lived his adult life alone. He taught me how to contain my rage.’
Lexi wondered if Leo realised that he had made himself over in his uncle’s image. A man facing the world alone. Her heart went out to him. ‘Do you still see him?’
‘He died. A work-related accident.’
‘On a building site,’ Lexi guessed.
