My body stilled at the thought and I looked down, finding the black ring encircling my finger. What the hell?
“Lucas?” she asked, looking back. “What’s wrong?”
I backed away quickly, my heart slamming in my chest. No, this couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t have done something like that.
I didn’t want anyone else in my life, in my fucking existence.
I didn’t want to care.
“What the fuck did you do?”
Leda rose from the bed, confusion marring her perfect face. “What are you talking about? Lucas, you are scaring me.”
Scaring her? My eyes flew to her hand, and I swallowed hard at the ring there. “You aren’t my wife.”
“I am,” she said slowly. “This is our honeymoon, remember?”
I shook my head, wanting to free myself of the thought. Honeymoon? No, no, no. I would never. This couldn’t be happening. I would never let someone in. Not like this.
“You’re lying,” I growled.
Leda stopped in her tracks, and tears welled in her eyes. “Lucas, what’s wrong?” she said, holding out her hand. “Please come here. I love you.”
Panic clawed at my throat as I ran to the door, but it was locked. I had to get out. I couldn’t deal with this. This wasn’t what I wanted. I was supposed to chain her, not the other way around! Let me out!
I gasped as my eyes flew open. I was drenched in sweat. Morning light streamed through the windows, and I was in bed, alone.
Taking a deep breath until the dream was nothing but uncertain memories, I pulled myself into a seated position and untangled the sheets. Somehow, I could still feel her body on my fingertips.
I pushed the thought away, climbed out of bed, and wrenched the balcony door open. Walking out bare-assed onto the balcony, I let the morning air cool my skin.That would be the last fucking time I would finish off a bottle of whiskey before bed.
I braced my hands on the balcony, and looked out over the wooded lot behind the house. Leda already wormed her way into my head. How the fuck did that happen? Was it because she surprised me with her escape, or was it something else?
The sheer panic I had felt watching her go over that railing had been a foreign feeling to me. Suddenly I cared for someone else, someone else’s safety.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t need anyone else. I didn’t need to subject myself to feelings like that.
I was a Don, and not one that was going to be soft. I wasn’t about to let my personal life collide with my professional one. I wasn’t going to be the Don that had heirs, or a family, or concerned with his legacy.
I’d live fast, die young, and take all the bastards down with me when I go.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes all of them did: grew weak because my wife or my kids were used as pawns.
Case in point: Carmine. Leda was his weakness, whether or not he wanted to admit it; and I just took his precious princess while he’s watching from the sidelines. I was using her as a pawn. She would end up being sacrificed for his actions.
I didn’t want that to happen to me. To have my attachments to someone else be the reason for my downfall.
My chest tightened and I, swearing, stalked back into my bedroom. Today was going to be a reset day for me, a way to exact my true notions on why I had Leda in my grasp to begin with and not because I liked her.
I didn’t like her.
Liar, my mind told me as I started toward the bathroom.
She had impressed me when she showed that she wasn’t going to wilt under pressure—that I wasn’t going to scare her into submission. She’d fight me tooth and nail.
And last night.