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Epilogue
Lucas
I heard Leda’s words, but they barely registered. Let her fight? I couldn’t put her in danger like that. Whenever Leda was around, I couldn’t think straight because I was worried about her and her safety. I wanted her out of danger so that I wouldn’t have to worry about her, but it had no bearing on how strong she was.
She was the strongest person I knew.
“Having you out there fucking terrifies me,” I told her honestly, forcing myself to look at her. “You don’t know what it would do to me if something happened to you.”
She was the weakness that I couldn’t leave exposed. But she was also something I couldn’t lock away. “It’s not an option for me, Leda. I need you safe.”
“Then let me help!” she exploded, throwing up her hands. “You have to trust me that I can take care of myself, Lucas.”
Closing the distance between us, I grasped her upper arms lightly. “I do,” I said softly, my eyes searching hers. “I do, but I just got you back. I can’t risk losing you. Not now.”
“Lucas,” she breathed, tears glimmering in her eyes.
I couldn’t help it. I pressed my lips against hers, wanting desperately to show her how much she meant to me, as well as the concern threading through my veins.
She didn’t pull away from me, participating in the kiss like I had hoped she would, showing me that I hadn’t screwed this up after all.
When we broke free, I pressed my forehead to hers, catching my breath.
“Please,” I begged her. “Don’t make me worry about you, Leda. If you are out there, I won’t be able to focus.”
I couldn’t have her in the middle of the action and not seek her out. Besides, I wouldn’t put it past Adrian to try and take her, considering I just stole her from him. He would be out to prove a point to me and to everyone else, which would make him reckless.
Dangerous.
“Fine,” she finally said. “I will do what you say, but if you do anything like you did tonight, I will kill you myself.”
Smiling, I nuzzled her cheek with my nose. “Never again. I will never give you up.” And that was the truth. It fucking killed me to do it the first time. I never wanted to feel like that again.
Leda sighed, wrapping her arms around my waist and holding me against her. “We really have to work on this thing between us, Lucas. This isn’t how normal people act.”
I crushed her against me, burying my nose in her hair and drinking in her citrusy scent. “Darling, there’s nothing normal about us.”
She was a Mafia princess, one that was forever linked to an asshole hell-bent on making his comeback. I wasn’t even from Mafia blood—in a position of rapidly cooling power with a Mafia that was far from stable.
I was a bastard, both ruthless and rotten to the core.
Yet Leda had found a way to love me. If I had been a better man, I wouldn’t have pushed her away. But I did, and both of us suffered because of it.
Leda lifted her head, her beautiful eyes meeting mine. “Let’s just say we have some work to do.”
I smiled. This was why I loved her. This was why she was clearly the other half of my soul, the better part of me that I didn’t know I needed.
Leda was everything.
“Boss.”
I broke away from Leda and found Rocco standing behind me. “What?”
“He’s got jet-skis,” he said.
Adrian was coming for vengeance. And he brought an army with him.
“Find the guns,” I told him, all warmth fleeing from my body. “We are going to need them.”
