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I watched as Leda slept—partly because it meant I didn’t have to process everything that just happened, and partly because I was afraid that if I went to sleep, she’d be gone when I woke up. She had been sleeping for a few hours now, and dawn was breaking. We needed to get a move on, but I didn’t have the heart to wake her.
Not yet.
I had fucked up with her, with Adrian, and with Rocco.
For just a second, I’d like to pretend that everything could still be unfucked.
Taking a deep breath, I walked back over to the barn door and watched as the sun started to make its appearance.
I knew she was pissed at me, and she had every right to be. I fucked up by believing Adrian, thinking that his words would mean things working out. What good did I really think was going to come from taking the fucking woman I loved and putting her back up for auction?
Nothing. And nothing in the world could possibly fix this.
Shaking my head, I flexed my arm and stretched my back. Pain radiated from my wounds as I moved. So much shit had gone wrong last night, from putting Leda up on the block to barely escaping from the yacht alive. There were just too damn many, and when that one fucker rammed the yacht, I knew that we were out of options.
I hadn’t expected Rocco to get killed. He’d survive worse when he was a Navy SEAL. To die like he did – bleeding out on a yacht in America – it didn’t feel right.
His words hung heavy in my heart.Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me?
He’d been right.
He was the only other person who knew me better than myself. He never once shirked from his duty. Whatever I asked of him, he did. Someone was trying to get to the hold where Leda was. Rocco went after him.
He did his duty.
And now he was dead.Just add it to the pile.There would be a time to mourn him, but not right now.
Drawing in a breath, I wiped a weary hand over my face.
All I had ever wanted since being named Don was to do good by the people who stood by me. To take this organization and build it to something beyond Cosimo’s wildest dreams. He gave me this position for a reason, and I was fucking it all up.
Rocco was dead, the woman loved wasn’t talking to me, and my own Mafia had splintered. The Battery boys might be running things now for all I knew. My world was in shambles, and honestly, I didn’t know if there was still a home upstate left for me.
Would Adrian and his men be waiting for me there? Would I be walking into a trap?
I hoped not. I had Leda to consider, and despite what she might think of me, she was mine to protect. No one—not Adrian, not even her own fucking father—was going to get within ten feet of her.
But still. I ruined this. I thought like a foot soldier, and not like a Don. I should’ve told Adrian to go fuck himself. I should have struck first. Instead, I let others set the tempo, and opened myself to getting outmaneuvered.
Now I would have to pay for my mistakes.
Glancing back at Leda still sleeping, my chest tightened. I wanted to bury my cock in her warmth and forget that all this was happening for a while, but she would probably snap it right off.
All for good reasons too. Our trust was on thin ice, and I deserved that.
Maybe thiswaswhat I had deserved all along. I wasn’t worthy of anything, including her love and devotion. I was an asshole, a ruthless man that didn’t give a shit about anyone else. At least before, I could still say I was a Don.
Now? I was just a man with maybe a handful of names willing to fight for me.
But the funny part was, I didn’t care about that nearly as much as I cared about what Leda thought of me. It fucking killed me that she sees a monster when she looks at me now.
I pushed away from the door and walked over to Leda’s side, crouching down until I was eye level with her. My eyes traveled down to one bare shoulder peeking out from under her blanket, the barest hint of her beautiful breasts rising and falling with each breath, and that unmistakable citrus scent that was so quintessentially her.
It was intoxicating just being near her again.
Fuck, she was gorgeous. I longed for the opportunity to wake her with a kiss, to trail my lips down her body until she screamed my name.
My name. Not anyone else’s.
