Rocco nodded, and I turned back to Leda.
“They won’t take us,” I told her urgently, framing her face with my hands.
She trembled against my touch, and I wanted to soothe her worries, but there was nothing I could say to help her. This was reality.
“We will get through this.” I promised.
“I know,” she whispered, panic in her eyes now. “Please don’t die.”
I brushed off her concern. Hell, yeah, I was hurting, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t felt before in my lifetime. Rocco had given me some pain meds to take the edge off, and luckily only the cut on my thigh had been deep enough for a few hasty stitches. I would be fine, and I had to ensure that she was going to be as well.
But die? Not yet.
“You are going into the hold.” I took her arm and led her toward the set of stairs that would put her in the bowels of the ship, away from the gunfire. It was the safest place, unless the ship was sinking.
Leda fell quiet as we walked down there, and I opened the door, turning on the light as I did so. “There are some things already in place,” I said. “Food, water, and some blankets.”
She turned to face me, and I saw the worry clearly written on her face. “Stay,” she urged. “You aren’t in any condition to fight.”
I wanted to stay with her, but that would be wrong. I was the Don. And it was time for me to law down the law for the mutinous members of my own Mafia.
“You’ll be safe here.” I drew out the gun I had tucked into my waistband after a change of clothes and handed it to her. “Here.”
Leda took the gun, turning it over in her hand with a practiced gaze. I had no doubts that she knew how to use it, but didn’t want to imagine a situation when she would need to.
“Lucas.” She started.
“I have to go,” I interrupted, brushing my lips over her forehead. There was so much I wanted to say to her, but there wasn’t any time. If we were lucky, we would have time later on for me to explain my actions.
“I love you,” she cried out as I turned to the door. “Promise me you’ll come back.”
I kept moving, emotion clogging my throat, and shut the door behind me. It felt good to know that she didn’t wish for my death, but I still didn’t deserve her love. I had fucked her over repeatedly, yet Leda still found it in her heart to love me.
It was something to sort out later, when we had a chance to.
Once I was up top again, I fished out my cell phone and dialed Emil’s number.
“A little busy, boss. Shit’s kind of fucked right now!” Emil said immediately.
I could hear gunfire in the background as Emil spoke.
This was a full-on fucking coup.
“Un-fuck it and do it fast!” I told him as I strode toward the back of the yacht. “Grab who you can and meet me upstate. We have a war on our hands.”
“Yes, Don,” he answered. “Working on it.”
I ended the call and tucked the phone back into my pocket, reaching the back of the yacht. In the distance I could see the bob of lights, still too far to fire at and hit a target.
Rocco joined me a moment later, handing me one of the AK-47s we had on the yacht. He held another in his hands. “Well,” he stated. “You did say the war was coming.”
“Yeah,” I bit out.
“And Leda?” he asked.
“In the hold,” I replied. “If something happens, you go get her and get the hell out of here.”
“My job is to protect you,” Rocco grumbled as he racked the rifle.