I could only imagine my brother right now, concern in his gaze as he weighed the options before him. I didn’t know if he was near Rory or not. But I felt like if he had been, she would be fighting him for the phone. “I should have known that dad would go after you. I should have protected you better.”
His admission tore my heart in two. “It’s fine,” I forced out. “That’s not why I’m calling you, Nico. Lucas needs help.”
He let out a harsh laugh. “You want me to help the fucker thatboughtyou? Is he drugging you, Leda? Tell me where you are. I will come get you. I will rain hell on his fucking head!”
“No, no,” I said quickly, not sure how much more time I was going to have. “It’s not like that. Lucas saved me from many things, Nico. I don’t want you to hurt him.”
I didn’t want to go into detail over the phone with my brother about my feelings for Lucas. This wasn’t the time for that. I needed him to set things in motion.
“He needs help. Adrian Gallo was one of his capos, and he’s trying to overthrow Lucas. I need you to contact the police and have them stop him.”
“Capo? Overthrow him?” Nico echoed. “What is he telling you? Lucas Valentino is just an enforcer. The police won’t want to get involved in this.”
I wanted to beat the phone upside my head. “Focus, Nico!” I told him. “He’s not feeding me anything. You are his last hope.”
If only I could tell Nico all of it, how Lucas barely had enough to protect himself, much less take on someone who was gathering support day by day. But there just wasn’t enough time to tell him everything.
Lucas meant so much to me, and I knew I sounded like an idiot for even having an ounce of feeling for him. I knew that if I told Nico everything, he’d tell me that I was trying to love a man who couldn’t reciprocate my feelings. Or he’d tell me that I was on the fast track to heartbreak.
But none of that mattered. The only thing I wanted from my big brother was help.
Nico was so silent that I thought he had hung up on me.
“Leda,” he finally said slowly. “If I get involved again.”
“It’s not like that either,” I told him. “I don’t want you to get involved where you can’t protect what you have, Nico.”
“Rory is about to have another child, Leda,” he interjected. “I can’t go to prison.”
“That’s why you need to get the authorities involved,” I told him. “Adrian Gallo is bad news, and I bet they would love to get their hands on him too.” Or at least I hoped they would. I knew nothing about what Adrian was involved in, but I’m sure the NYPD would happily bring him up on whatever charges they could pin on him.
I had to try.
We had to try.
“What aren’t you telling me?” my brother asked lightly. “You’ve been gone forweeks, Leda. I’ve looked everywhere for you, and there’s been no sign of you. Rory is beside herself with worry. She’s run—hell, I don’t know how many articles she’s run, hoping to find any sign of you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, crying in earnest now. “This is my first chance to call you, and I’m safe. He hasn’t hurt me.” Not physically anyway. Lucas had hurt me deep down when he had put me back on that block, and while I could eventually overlook the fact, I still wasn’t sure where his feelings lay when it came to me. He could do wonderful things to my body, but my soul ached.
Nico sighed into the phone. “Please don’t tell me you were involved with the shooting on the river the other night.”
I swallowed hard. “That was Lucas’s yacht. We barely escaped with our lives. Adrian attacked us.” I wasn’t about to bring up the fact that Lucas had tried to sell me to the highest bidder, knowing that I would lose my brother’s support immediately.
“Wait,” Nico suddenly said. “You were in the city?”
“Nico!” I winced. “This isn’t the time!”
“I know that, but a word would have been appreciated.” he interrupted in a near growl. “Leda, I don’t think you understand the shit we have been through, thinking you were dead. Father wouldn’t say anything, and I thought he ordered to have you killed. Your friends are worried, and most of all, yournephewknows something is wrong.”
The mention of little Anthony sent a wave of emotions through me. I blinked back the tears, wishing I could tell him everything. “I’m sorry,” I croaked. “That’s all I can say.”
“Tell me where you are,” Nico said firmly. “And we can figure out the rest later.”
But before I could open my mouth, the phone was snatched from me.
I forgot to breathe as I stared into Lucas’s angry face, his eyes seething. He ended the call and threw the phone onto the floor, clearly not worried about breaking it.
“That was a very stupid thing you did, Leda.”