AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“After she died—”
The chair legs screech against the concrete as I stand up, running my hands through my hair, curly and tangled. “This is so hard.”
More chair leg screeching, and then Leo stands beside me,overme. His hands fly to my hips, but not in the hungry way they usually do. He holds me softly and kisses my forehead, his whisper causing warm tingles to shimmer over my skin.
I think of Angelica strangely and what Leo said. He’s never lit a single candle.
“Is it us? Me?” he asks.
“No. Well, sort of.”
He says nothing, waiting for me to go on, his hands straying over my back. This feels far more intimate than some lust-fueled fling. I’ve never had a boyfriend, but holding me like this, it’s the sort of thing a good boyfriend would do—giving me the space I need.
“After Mom,” I say, then shudder and almost cry.
He squeezes me comfortingly. “I’m here.”
“AfterMom, I had an episode. That’s what the doctors called it. I loved her so much. I missed her.Missher.”
With my defenses down—they’re impossible to keep up with Leo here—there’s nothing to stop the tears. There’s nothing to stop the sadness pouring out of me. He kisses them on my cheek, hugging me. It’s all so risky.
“For a day, I completely lost it. I went into this weird state where I thought she was still alive. Isawher, felt her, hugged her. I wouldn’t believe Dave or the doctors when they told me she was dead. It was all so real, Leo. I can still see it now. I’m broken. I’m nuts.”
“Never say that.”
He moves his arms to my shoulders, fully embracing me. I bury my face in his firm chest and let the pain out.
“Wait.” Leo strokes my hair. “Did you think the same about us?”
I’m so glad I don’t have to say it. I nod, sobbing ayes.
“Oh, Emma. I said it was a dream, but we’re the most real thing I’ve ever felt: me and you. You’re everything I want. Everything I need. You’re going to be mine forever.”
I’m not sure I heard him right.
Am I having auditory hallucinations too? I grab his arms, lean back in his embrace, and stare at him. Then he softly pushes me away, strides for the door, throws it open, and almost sprints down the stairs. He doesn’t give me a chance to respond.
I’m left in the walled-off garden on my own. He said I was going to be hisforever. Didn’t he? That’s what he said.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Leo
“Been a hectic few days,” Dario says, looking across the car at me.
I can feel the question in his eyes. He’s been looking at me like this ever since I picked him up. It’s the day after the rooftop scene with Emma after I said that she’s mine forever. After I said it, I knew I’d gone too far. I’d let out way too much truth. I couldn’t stop myself from saying it, though.
“And now this meeting…”
He’s probing.
We’ve arranged to meet Fyodor at a busy restaurant in the mall, a public place even the Bratva aren’t insane enough to attack. We both know that hitting a high-traffic location means dead innocents en masse, news coverage, and the Feds. Nobody ever beats the government, not even the Bratva, and Fyodor knows this.
“He’s going to try to make peace again. He wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t know he was on the back foot, and delivering Matvei was a good thing to do.” Dario shrugs. “For us.”
“The locations Matvei gave us…”
“All emptied and abandoned before we got there,” he says. “Nothing left. He knew we’d get the locations, but he still gave us the man.”
