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He looks at me evenly for a long moment, then shrugs and relaxes back onto the naked mattress. “Are you the reason they let Rhys go?”
The question surprises me. He either overestimates my influence over Kane, or he underestimates how much Kane loves his family no matter what they do to him.
“I wouldn’t have tried to bargain for his life,” I admit. “I don’t put that much stock in the whole true-love thing.”
“Ouch,” he says, then laughs again, and I wonder if he’s drugged. Possibly, he’s just resigned to his fate. He rolls over and looks me up and down before sighing. “What do they want?”
“To know why you did it,” I say. “And how. And what you were trying to accomplish because it was a massively stupid thing to do, Leo.”
He blinks at me, and I see genuine confusion on his face. He’s never been a great actor. He pushes up on his elbow, shifting over so he can swing his legs down to the floor without touching me.
“What do they think I did? I mean, Rhys, yeah, but…” He stops and shakes his head. “You have to help me out here, Alice.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I don’t want to feed him information because that’s not going to be helpful. But I also think maybe I was right. Maybe they’re looking in all the wrong places. “Leo,” I say slowly, “what were you and Rhys trying to accomplish?”
He groans, dragging his hands down his face. “Fuck. I don’t even really know anymore. I just wanted out.” He looks up at me over his fingers, and I see the truth in his eyes. I see the fatigue and the sorrow. “I’m fucking tired, okay? I don’t want to be like your piece-of-shit father, and I certainly don’t want to be like mine. Rhys and I ended up at the same place at the same time about a year ago and…” He trails off and gives a soft, genuine laugh. “It’s almost cruel how fast I fell for him. He hated me for it too. We had a lot of angry—” He stops and waves the words off. “Sorry. You don’t want to hear about that.”
“No,” I tell him, and I think that Kane would agree with me. I lean further over my legs, which is getting harder to do with how much I hate the feeling of pressure against my growing belly.
Leo notices immediately. “Shit, Alice. You’re really—”
“Yes,” I say. Somehow, hearing the words from his lips feels like it might be torture. “And I’m really in love with all of them. I’m not going with you.”
“I don’t think I’m in the position to offer you anything anyway,” he says quietly. “The only thing I’d try to bargain for right now is just to see Rhys one last time. I know he’s hurt, but I’m…I don’t…”
“I need the truth,” I tell him, interrupting him because maybe this is some sort of emotional manipulation. I’d be saying the same damn things if our positions were reversed. “Not because you love me,” I add.
“Alice,” he starts, but I shake my head.
“Don’t tell me you give a shit about me when you participated in…in everything I went through,” I spit, trying not to get angry. “You were going to let Guido sell me to some old, gnarled pervert who would turn me into some sex doll.”
Leo winces and shakes his head. “Not that. I swear to God, not that.”
I fix him with a hard stare. “I don’t think God holds a lot of water down here.”
His face flinches, and then he laughs and leans back. “Shit. Fine. I know there’s nothing I can say that’ll convince you. But whatever they think I’m responsible for, I swear to fuck it wasn’t me.”
“If it’s not you, then who’s possibly capable of getting past our security?” I blurt.
Leo looks surprised. “Someone broke through your security?” I give him a flat look, and he sighs quietly. “It has to be Marco.” When I snort with disbelief, he laughs. “Yeah. He’s a fucking meathead, but he has money, Alice. And he’s got influence. He’s a fucking puppet, and people will gladly use him to get an edge over your father. There are a lot of people in this city who think they can do a better job than Guido Romano. They just need the opportunity.”
“And you really knew nothing about what he was up to?”
“I’ve been planning to overthrow his dumb ass for years, Alice, and he knows it. I’m sorry to say we don’t have sleepovers and sharing circles like we used to.”
A petty, bitter part of me wants to remind him that there was no pity in a single atom of my body for him. Not when theirsleepovers and sharing circles used to involve breaking into my room, tormenting me, and forcing me to fight like I would die if I didn’t win.
I stare for a little while longer, then deflate. As far as I can tell, he’s telling me the truth, which means we’re no better off than we were before. I don’t think the boys are going to trust him, but this might have saved him a world of torture.
For now.
Rising to my feet, I move to set the chair back, and I can hear him shift behind me.
“I know you don’t owe me anything,” he says, and I turn my head to find him sitting at the edge of the bed, “but can I ask you one thing?”
I shrug. Why the fuck not.
He takes a breath. “Are you doing this of your own free will?”
