AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
I supposethose parting words were something like a curse.
I have no idea what time it is, but I wake up with a cloth pressed against my mouth so when I try to scream, nothing comes out. For a moment, I think maybe Ari’s playing a sick game, but the smell is all wrong. It’s pungent cigar smoke and booze, and it only takes me a second to recognize the eyes of the figure hovering over me.
“Leo!” I try to scream his name, but the gag prevents it.
He leans in close. “Quiet! They’re on the balcony, and they’ll hear you.”
I laugh against the fabric because that’s exactly what I want.
He seems to read that from the fury in my gaze, and he sighs, though his hand doesn’t move from where he’s pinning me. “All I’m asking is that you hear me out. I’ve done everything I can to reach you.”
My eyes narrow at him as he stares at me.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to take anything away from you. I just need you to listen.”
I let my body go lax. He likely thinks it’s a ploy, but in truth, I want to know why the fuck he’s here. I want to know what he’s willing to risk because there’s no chance in hell he doesn’t know what’ll happen to him if Kane and the boys get their hands on him.
And I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop them.
“I understand that your lovers want revenge,” he says quietly.
His fingers twitch on my shoulder, and I think of all the times he’d spent over the long years of my childhood where he taught me exactly how to escape him. I already see several weak spots, and I wonder just how drunk he is.
“I don’t want to stop them, but their plan is to burn our entire family to the ground. I can’t let that happen, Alice. I can’t let them ruin us.”
I spit against the gag, “There is no us!”
He sighs and shakes his head, but I know he didn’t understand me. “Guido wants to put Marco in charge. He wants my shit-for-brains brother to rule because he’s just like him. He’s weak and pathetic and power-hungry, and he has no idea how to keep men loyal.”
“And you do?”
He stares at me for a second, and then like an act of bravery, he pulls the cloth back.
I lick my lips and repeat my question.
Leo swallows. “I’ve done nothing my entire life but prove myself as a capable and worthy heir. And all that did was threaten his hold on the scraps he’s got left. Instead of trying to better us, Alice, he’d rather turn everyone into a pathetic, dependent junkie who can’t survive without him. That is not how you rule a kingdom.”
“So why do this? Why not talk to Kane?”
Leo gives me a patronizing look. “You think he’ll listen to me?”
I suppose he’s not wrong.
“He took you for a reason, Alice. And I know what he told you—and I know how they treat you—but it won’t be long until they prove to you that you’re nothing more than a glorified incubator for their next generation. They just need you compliant until they give you his last name and ruin any sanctuary you might have outside of the Walsh empire. You think what Guido had planned for you was bad? Just wait until you sign the rest of your freedom away to these men.”
I try not to let his words get to me, but they leave me chilled all the same. “And you’re offering me different?”
“You’re my sister,” he says plainly, like that means something. Like blood has ever, ever meant something in our pathetic family.
“You want something from me,” I point out.
He sighs. “Yes. But not yet. For now, I just want you to stay put, and stay alive.”
Easier said than done, I think to myself, but clearly, he knows that. “And then?”
“And then I’ll explain everything. I swear. I’ll explain exactly how your mother and Isabelle died. I’ll give you a detailed list of every unforgivable sin all four of those men have committed, and you’ll understand exactly why I’ve come to get you out of here. Your entire life, Alice, all you’ve wanted is freedom.”
