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“I checked in on Harper. She’s doing much better, and the baby is well. Mysonis doing well.”
Fuck, it feels great to say that.
“A boy? I thought you hadn’t found out yet?”
“The woman thought I knew already. I’m having a fucking son, brother.”
He hugs me tight. “Congrats and all that. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks, man. All I need now is for my wife to come home.”
“She’ll be home soon, and all will be right again.”
“Anyway, what’s up with your dad changing his mind about the Dead Rats and putting you on lead?”
The joy of hearing my good news fades, his eyes showing how tired he is.
“I think he’s testing me.”
No shit. When Leo and Luca cornered me in my room, wanting my backing to go argue with Cas over his choice to step back from town, I was prepared for shit to turn ugly. The fact that Cas changed his mind so easily had all the brothers shocked.
“This should be fun.” Leo doesn’t look like he agrees. “Do you remember when we were kids and we’d sneak into the back room? You’d sit in your old man’s chair and I’d sit in mine?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“You’d bang the gavel down, knowing one day it’d be yours. It was all you wanted. Do you still want it?”
I stay quiet, letting him think about it. Since India was taken from him, he’s been different, forever changed, but I never thought it’d change his hunger for the gavel.
“I watch my dad and see the responsibility constantly pushing him down. When someone’s killed, it hits him hard in the heart. Then there’s the bullshit politics. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve got the patience.”
“The whole point of being at the top is the ability to do shit your way. You’re not your dad, and he knows that.”
“Maybe.” He shrugs. “And besides, he’s not stepping down yet. Your old man won’t let him.”
Holly walks out of the main house, clutching Rayna to her side. Leo finds her like he can feel her nearby.
“Daddy!” Rayna squeals, beaming at her dad.
Leo’s now full of smiles as he takes her from Holly. It’s the only time I get to see my brother, the guy he used to be before his heart was ripped to shreds.
“Hey there, sweetheart.”
He goes on to make her laugh, and I use the time to look at Holly. Her hands are clad in lace gloves. Since she was kidnapped and attacked by that Bert fucker, she wears them to hide the burn scars. I’ve seen them in an array of colours, so she must have quite a number of pairs.
She’s a beautiful woman, so I can’t work out why Leo hasn’t once mentioned it. Any time someone asks about her, or questions if anything is going on between them, he makes it clear she’s only the nanny.
“She didn’t want to eat breakfast until she saw you,” Holly tells him.
I focus on Leo and catch the way he looks at her once he acknowledges her standing there. There’s a warmth in his eyes that I haven’t seen since India.
“It’s okay. I’ll bring her in in a bit.”
She stands there and looks at him, like there’s so much more she would say if I wasn’t here.
“Okay.”
She walks off, and I catch Leo checking out her ass.Well, this is new. Perhaps my brother is still in there somewhere under all his grief.
