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“But I need youhere,” I insist. Rage sizzles in my veins.
“My loyalty is to my Family, Julian. You know that.” But his voice cracks on the words, betraying the lie.
Hewantsto stay as much as I want him to. “But we’re partners, Leo. We’re in this thing together. You can’t just walk away.”
“I made vows, Castellani. Same as you.”
“And you’ve already broken them,” I point out, but it’s the wrong thing to say. He turns away and goes into the dressing room, where he pulls his leather jacket off a hanger, hard, so hard that it ricochets off the shelving above it.
I can’t think of a single thing to say, and all I can do is follow him, out of my room, out of my wing, down the hallway, down the stairs...
We’re in the foyer before I know it.
“But Leo—why?” I grab his arm, squeezing hard, and he lets me. Stands there and takes it.
“I’ll see you again,” he says quietly. There are guards around. I know they’re looking at us, even if I can’t see them. He knows they’re there, too. “We have to go to my father together, after all.”
“Tell me why you can’t stayhere.”
Leo hesitates. “Because it’s dangerous, Julian,” he says at last. “Weare dangerous. It’s dumb of us to think this’d end any other way than both of us dead, and I don’t want that for you.”
Those words echo in my mind as the doors of Redwood Manor slam shut behind him. I stand alone in the marble foyer, anger and confusion warring within me, but deeper still, a new emotion springs up, a thorny vine stabbing through my gut, far less pleasant than Leo’s fist felt last night.
I stare at the closed doors, my hands curling into fists. Why does this feel different? I’ve had partners leave before. Lovers come and go; it’s the nature of things.
But Leo…Leo was more than that. The thought of continuing on without him here at Redwood leaves an ache in my chest I don’t understand. I’ve never…neededanyone.
But I need Leo.
The realization hits me just as Pedretti enters the foyer, arriving for his shift. “Morning,” he says, oblivious to the tension.
Anger overtakes the confusion in my mind, hot and searing, and I welcome it. This is a rage worthy of my brother, directed solely toward Leo Bernardi.
How dare he?
HowdareLeo make me feel this way only to rip it away again? I trusted him. I let him in, gave away part of my power, and it wasn’t enough.
He chose his Family over me.
Overus.
“Just saw the Bernardi leaving,” Pedretti says as he pulls off his jacket. “Did the Boss okay it?” He comes a little closer. “Julian?”
“What?”
“Do I need to go catch the Lion? If he’s not supposed to wander free—“
“Let him go,” I snap, and then I head back upstairs into my lonely cage.
* * *
I receive a text later that day from Leo in coded language telling me about the meeting with Don Bernardi. Completely impersonal. No indication that he’s even sorry about what happened this morning.
I want tomakehim sorry.
I fantasize about rolling up to this meeting tonight andbehaving badly. Doing all the kinds of things Ciro used to let me do, that Sandro won’t. Things that feel satisfying in the moment, but leave me hollow.
But I have to be strategic. I need information so I can resolve my mother’s murder.That. That is something that will leave a lasting mark on me; it won’t fade away like every other experience. So I respond to Leo’s message with a simpleUnderstoodand then set out on a training run to clear my head.
