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“It’s fine,” I said in a falsely chipper voice. “Go ahead and continue the conversation I clearly interrupted.”
Ignoring Leo and Evelina glaring at each other and Mikhail’s pitying glance, I grabbed a bagel from the counter and went back outside to eat it.
I’d barely eaten the dry bagel when Leo followed me out. He placed a plate on my lap with a ham sandwich and a cluster of grapes, and my heart softened towards him. Then he took my hand with a serious look in his eyes. Another strike against my goal to remain calm.
“It’s not bad,” he hurried to say, pulling off a grape and offering it to me. I shook my head, waiting for him to continue. “I just have to go to New York to take care of a few things. I shouldn’t be gone for very long. Maybe not even overnight.”
No invitation to go with him, though. I would have loved to see my family after so many weeks away from them. Not asking me if I was okay with staying with strangers. I arranged my face into something that should have passed as a smile.
“Sure,” I said. “Thanks for telling me. Good luck.”
His face fell, and his eyebrows shot together. “What in the hell is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?” I repeated. “Okay, I’ll tell you. Why are you lying and acting like you’re only going up there for a dentist appointment or something when it’s clear you’re going to do something that I’d be worried about.”
He closed his eyes as if praying for patience. “I’m acting this way because I don’t want you to worry.”
I shook my hand out of his. “What’s wrong with both of us?” I asked. “Why are we being the way we are?”
“What?”
“You know what I’m talking about. One of us is going to have to come clean.”
He had to know what I was talking about. I already admitted to myself that I was in love with him, and the way he was acting was proof he must care about me, too. Surrogacy or no surrogacy, he had been going above and beyond to prove he…
Was I wrong? He kept looking at me in utter confusion, and I wondered if I had been fooling myself.
Yes, there was a physical attraction. He was hotter than Hades, with a dozen outstanding qualities that would make most women want to fall into bed with him. But that was all on my side. As for his reasons, maybe he just missed his string of one-night stands. Maybe I was just a way to pass the time while we were stuck together. Having some fun while keeping me safe. Keeping the baby safe.
How was I so certain about his feelings a minute ago and so cast adrift right now? How did I manage to so thoroughly delude myself when I thought I had a handle on my status in his life just last night? Just because he was being kind?
He took my hand back and kissed it, making me melt. That. That sweet kiss on the hand was the sort of thing that was confusing me.
“I have to leave right away,” he said apologetically. “We’ll talk more when I get back, okay? Make sure you eat while I’m gone.”
He dropped my hand and rushed into the house like he was trying to outrun the devil, leaving me too stunned to ask any more questions or argue, even if he had stuck around to listen.
Chapter 27 - Leo
On the jet flying up to New York, I couldn’t concentrate on the task ahead of us, which was to track down and eradicate a menace to my family. Mikhail had offered his help, and I gladly accepted since he knew exactly what I was going through. It hadn’t been that long ago when my sister had a price on her head, and Mikhail would have done anything to keep her safe.
Just as I would do for Samantha.
She was the only thing on my mind. All the books I read told me that pregnant women had mood swings, but the despair I’d seen on Sam’s face wasn’t that. She’d needed something from me but couldn’t find how to put it into words. I suspected she didn’t want me to do what I was about to do, or maybe she was just worried about me. I wished I could have done what she wanted because I would have stepped off the plane at the altitude we were currently at to make her happy.
I only hoped she’d forgive me for what I had to do because, unfortunately, her safety came above her happiness.
Once we landed in New York, I got the most updated information from Evelina. Thanks to my facial recognition software and her surveillance skills, she’d pinned Aldo Gianni down in an apartment building in the Bronx, near the botanical gardens of all places. It turned out his love of flowers had been his downfall, and she picked him up on a security camera buying a ticket. Hopefully, anyone who cared would get some nice ones for his funeral.
“He hasn’t left yet today,” I told Mikhail as we waited for one of my New York guys to show up with a car.
I was jumpy, hungry but couldn’t eat, worried if Sam was settling in okay at Evelina’s, and really needing to get my fist on Aldo Gianni’s face. We had earned our territory fair and square and operated our businesses without getting in anyone else’s. Most people might not believe it, but I was a peaceful guy. I just wanted to write software, have a drink now and then with my men, and keep everyone who worked for me happy and safe.
Gianni’s organization had started creeping in, a little more than annoying at first. I could have ignored them, swatting them like flies on occasion. Then they escalated things so quickly I had no choice but to let them know I wouldn’t stand for it. I had to protect what was mine for the people I cared about.
Mikhail clapped me on the shoulder. “You all right?”
“I just want this to be over.”
